Global Award for UKZN’s SWAT System

Global Award for UKZN’s SWAT System

Dr Saloschini Pillay, Student Support Services (SSS) manager in the College of Health Sciences (CHS) at UKZN has been honoured with a prestigious global award from Hyland UK.

She was recognised for her development and implementation of UKZN’s automated Student Wellness and Academic Transformation (SWAT) assessment and intervention system. This accolade celebrates the Best Implementation of a Digital Solution for Student Support and Wellness. Hyland UK is the creator of the OnBase Platform that is driving the SWAT Solution.

In 2020, amid the Coronavirus pandemic, SSS together with the CHS Dean of Teaching and Learning, Professor Sinegugu Duma, pioneered a ground-breaking digital strategy to enhance student engagement and holistic wellness. In collaboration with the University’s Information and Communication Division and the Academic Computing Division, and with support from then Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, Professor Sandile Songca, they developed an automated system that is integrated with UKZN’s Learning Management System. Initially piloted with a few Disciplines in 2021, it was successfully rolled out to the entire CHS first-year cohort in 2023, promoting sustainable academic success.

The automated SWAT Assessment, grounded in a student-centred Wellness Model, evaluates holistic wellness across seven domains. It promptly identifies at-risk students in any of these domains and provides automated referrals for timely and appropriate interventions. The seven domains include emotional, psychosocial, intellectual and academic, occupational and career, environmental, spiritual and culture, physical and biological and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Pillay, ‘We anticipate that the technology enhanced model will prove to be of great value in facilitating and enhancing student engagement with Student Support Services and have seen how beneficial it has been to our own CHS students’ academic success.’

Duma said, ‘This prestigious award is testament to Dr Pillay’s commitment to innovative ways to advance student success and great team work of all those who were involved from conception to realisation of this accomplishment.’

It is envisaged that the system will be rolled out to all Colleges in 2025. It can be accessed by the student counsellor, the student, and the administrator as well as the academic development officer to ensure holistic interventions to support student success. The automated system allows for push notifications to both the student concerned and his/her student counsellor and administrator, to escalations and referrals, comments, reporting options and a reflection of the efficiency of automation. It also prioritises the student’s needs on a scale of one to four, with one being high priority.

Professor Victor Borden from Indiana University Bloomington School of Education congratulated Pillay on the innovative automated system. ‘I applaud the work you are doing (and have been doing for so long) and greatly appreciate your attempts to move the processes toward a more accessible and effective “hybrid” system with automation being used to serve more students more effectively. That is all wonderful!’

Pillay’s line manager and CHS Director of Professional Services, Professor Fanie Botha extended his congratulations, ‘The CHS is proud and honoured to have Dr Pillay’s leadership and dedication to student wellness expressed by the Student Wellness and Academic Transformation (SWAT) assessment and intervention system. This system is exceptionally well received and ensures that CHS students are receiving world class support and service to advance student success. Congratulations to Dr Pillay and her team as well as all the collaborators who worked together to initiate and refine this system.’

The UKZN system has garnered international acclaim, with many Higher Education Institutions recognising its significant benefits for their own student success programmes. Pillay has presented this model to Higher Education Institutions in Germany and more recently in South Korea and has been invited to present in Malta and New Orleans.

Pillay serves as a Global Divisional Board member of the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) and is a member of the International Association of Student Affairs and Services. She has an Honours degree in Social Work, a Masters in Medical Science (Social Work) and a Doctorate in Public Administration and Development Management. She completed the Senior Leadership Development Programme through the University of Stellenbosch during the lockdown and won a bursary to pursue a postgraduate degree at the Lincoln International Business School at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom.

Pillay serves on national and international platforms. She is the inaugural President of the Southern African Federation for Student Affairs and Services; the President of the Southern African Association for Counselling and Development in Higher Education and a member of Universities South Africa’s National Transformation Strategy Group. Pillay served as the Higher Education representative on the Professional Board for Social Work (2016-2021) and the outgoing Chair of the Education, Training and Development Committee of the Professional Board for Social Work in South Africa. She represents Student Affairs South Africa at the International Association of Student Affairs and Services and in this role contributed to a chapter in the Handbook on Student Affairs and Services in Higher Education: Global Foundations, Issues and Best Practices. In 2019, she was nominated to serve on the Global Divisional Board of NASPA, where she represents Student Affairs in South Africa and Africa. 

Words: MaryAnn Francis

Photograph: Supplied