WO2012116414A1

WO2012116414A1 - Educational institution selection

Info

Publication number: WO2012116414A1
Application number: PCT/AU2012/000222
Authority: WO
Inventors: Christopher Andrew COSTLEY
Original assignee: Idp Education Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2011-03-03
Filing date: 2012-03-02
Publication date: 2012-09-07

Abstract

A system for selecting two or more educational institutions suitable to be the subject of an application for admission by a prospective student, the system including a student profile manager for presenting a plurality of questions using a first presentation device; receiving responses to the plurality questions using a first input device; and creating or modifying a prospective student profile based on the received responses; an educational institution database containing a plurality of records, two or more data records each being associated with a respective educational institution and containing information about their associated respective educational institutions; an institution scorer for calculating a score for each of the respective educational institutions based on the information in their respective associated data records and the prospective student profile; and an institution ranker for sorting the two or more data records based on the scores calculated for their associated educational institutions and presenting information from the sorted data records using the first presentation device.

Description

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION SELECTION

FIELD

The present invention relates to a method and system for selecting one or more educational institutions, for example colleges and universities, that are suitable to be the subject of an application for admission by a prospective student.

BACKGROUND

Prospective students, particularly those of tertiary educational institutions such as colleges and universities, have a bewildering number of alternative educational institutions to which they may seek admission. This is especially so where the prospective student wishes to study in a country or countries in which they were not raised or completed secondary or other education. In these circumstances, the prospective student often has very limited information on which to base a choice of preferred educational institutions.

Conventionally, prospective students seeking assistance with selecting an appropriate educational institution engage a counsellor who considers the academic record of the prospective student, the desires expressed by the prospective student as to the nature and/or location of the educational institution, and the counsellor's own knowledge of the potential educational institutions to provide a recommendation to the prospective student about the educational institutions to which the prospective student should submit an application. Some counsellors also assist with the admission application process.

As prospective students and counsellors do not maintain thorough knowledge about every potential educational institution, recommendations are made with imperfect knowledge, resulting in counsellors tending to recommend educational institutions about which they have the most knowledge, as they feel unable to recommend educational institutions about which they know little. Developing a system architecture and data processing to address this provides a significant technical challenge. It is desired to address this or at least provide a useful alternative for assisting with the selection of one or more educational institutions suitable to be the subject of an application for admission by a prospective student.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides a system for selecting two or more educational institutions suitable to be the subject of an application for admission by a prospective student, the system including

a student profile manager for

presenting a plurality of questions using a first presentation device;

receiving responses to the plurality questions using a first input device; and creating or modifying a prospective student profile based on the received responses;

an educational institution database containing a plurality of records, two or more data records each being associated with an educational institution and containing information about their associated educational institutions;

an institution scorer for calculating a score for each of the two or more educational institutions based on the information in their associated data records and the prospective student profile; and

an institution ranker for sorting the two or more data records based on the scores calculated for their associated educational institutions and presenting information from the sorted data records using the first presentation device. The present invention also provides a method for selecting two or more educational institutions suitable to be the subject of an application for admission by a prospective student, the method including the steps of

presenting a plurality of questions to the prospective student or a person interviewing the prospective student;

receiving responses to the plurality of questions from the prospective student or the person interviewing the prospective student; creating or modifying a prospective student profile based on the received responses;

calculating a score for each of two or more educational institutions based on information in their respective associated data records and the prospective student profile: sorting the data records based on the scores calculated for their associated educational institutions; and

presenting information from the sorted data records to the prospective student or a person interviewing the prospective student. The present invention also provides a system for selecting two or more educational institutions suitable to be the subject of an application for admission by a prospective student, the system including

a student profile manager for

transmitting question data representing a plurality of questions to a first presentation device for presentation by the first presentation device;

receiving response data representing responses to the plurality questions from a first input device; and

creating or modifying prospective student profile data representing a prospective student profile based on the received response data;

an educational institution database containing a plurality of data records, two or more data records each being associated with a respective educational institution and containing educational institution data representing information about the associated respective educational institution;

an institution scorer for processing the educational institution data in each of the two or more data records and the prospective student profile data to generate a score for each of the two or more educational institutions associated respectively with the two or more data records; and

an institution ranker for sorting the two or more data records based on the scores generated for their associated respective educational institutions, and transmitting result data generated from the educational institution data in the sorted data records to the first presentation device for presentation by the first presentation device. The present invention also provides a method for selecting two or more educational institutions suitable to be the subject of an application for admission by a prospective student, the method including the steps of

transmitting question data representing a plurality of questions to a presentation device for presentation to the prospective student or a person interviewing the prospective student;

receiving response data representing responses to the plurality of questions from an input device operated by the prospective student or the person interviewing the prospective student; and

creating or modifying prospective student profile data representing a prospective student profile based on the received responses;

processing the educational institution data in each of two or more data records and the prospective student profile data to generate a score for each of the two or more educational institutions respectively associated with each of the two or more data records; sorting the data records based on the scores generated for their respectively associated educational institutions;

transmitting result data generated from the educational institution data in the sorted data records to the presentation device for presentation by the presentation device to the prospective student or a person interviewing the prospective student.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are hereinafter described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a system for selecting two or more educational institutions in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a flow-chart representation of a method for selecting two or more educational institutions using the system illustrated in Figure 1 , wherein the prospective student profile is completed before any educational institution selection takes place.

Figure 3 is a flow-chart representation of a method for selecting two or more educational institutions using the system illustrated in Figure 1 , wherein the educational institution selection takes place progressively as the prospective student profile is completed.

Figure 4 - 12 are representations of information displayed on the first presentation device of the system of Figure 1 when executing the method represented in Figure 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A system 1 10 for selecting one or more educational institutions suitable to be the subject of an application for admission by a first prospective student, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention as illustrated in Figure 1 , includes a student profile manager 100 associated with a prospective student database 200, an institution scorer 300 associated with an educational institution database 400 and logically connected by computer network link 150 to the student profile manager 100, an institution ranker 600 logically connected by computer network link 350 to the institution scorer 300 and associated with educational institution database 400 through logical link 450.

The system 110 communicates with a user using a presentation device in the form of a computer visual display unit or monitor 700 and an input device in the form of a computer keyboard and pointing mouse 800, both of which are connected to a client computer 900. The client computer 900 is logically connected to student profile manager 100 through computer network 1000. The user (which is typically a counsellor interviewing a prospective student, but could be anyone, including the prospective student or a representative of the prospective student) interacts with the system 1 10 using the input device 800 and the monitor 700. In one embodiment, the user interacts with the system 100 using World Wide Web browser software 950 executing on the client computer 900. The browser software 950 communicates with a web server 1050. The web server 1050 operates as an interface to the student profile manager 100, with which it is logically connected by computer network link 1 100.

The web server 1050, student profile manager 100, institution scorer 300 and institution ranker 600 may be implemented as computer program code instructions stored in nonvolatile memory (eg a hard disc or optical media) and executed by a computer based on an IA-32 or AMD64 architecture (such as personal computers produced by DELL, Lenovo Corporation or Apple Inc.), supported by at least volatile memory (eg RAM) and communications hardware (such as network interfaces). Alternatively, it will be apparent that at least parts of the steps and processes performed by these components may be implemented in dedicated hardware, such as FPGAs or ASICs, to improve data processing speed.

In addition, each component may be physically proximate, or geographically spread over a large distance and connected by a communication network, e.g. a LAN or WAN. One or more components may be implemented using a single piece of hardware. For example, the display device 700 may also function as the input device 800, if the display device 700 is, for example, a touchscreen display allowing user input.

The web server 1050 (e.g. the Apache Web Server) is responsible for serving data to client computers such as client computer 900 on request over a communications network 1000 that uses the suite of Internet Protocols (e.g. IP, TCP, UDP, HTTP etc), i.e. the Internet. Web server 1050 can also receive information from client computer 900, and, with the assistance of scripts written in languages such as ASP and PHP, can execute instructions based on that received information.

Figure 2 is a representation of a method for selecting one or more educational institutions using the system illustrated in Figure 1 , where the prospective student profile is completed before any educational institution selection takes place. A prospective student, or more usually a counsellor, wishing to select at least one educational institution, visits a site hosted by the web server 1050 by entering the corresponding Uniform Resource Locator into his or her web browser software 950 or by activating a hyperlink which has the site as its target (step 2).

The web server 1050 prompts the counsellor to authenticate using a username and password, in a manner known in the art (step 4). If the counsellor is successfully authenticated, he or she is able to further interact with the student profile manager 100 through the web server 1050. Data used to authenticate counsellors may be stored in nonvolatile memory 1 150 associated with the student profile manager 100. If authentication fails, the counsellor is again asked for a username and password (step 6). Authentication may be by any means, including biometrics, and credential data may be stored to enable access to student profile manager 100 without further prompts for authentication, possibly only for a limited period.

The counsellor is prompted to enter unique identification details of the prospective student who is being interviewed by the counsellor, such as the name and date of birth of the prospective student (step 8). This response is sent to the student profile manager 100 (step 10), which queries the prospective student database 200 using the unique identification details of the prospective student to determine whether a prospective student profile for the prospective student has been stored in the prospective student database 200 (step 12). If a prospective student profile for the prospective student has been stored in the prospective student database, it is retrieved and presented to the counsellor through presentation device 700 (step 14). The counsellor may edit the profile using the keyboard and mouse 800. The educational institution data records are then retrieved (as further described below (step 20).

If a prospective student profile for the prospective student has not been stored in the prospective student database 200, the student profile manager 100 transmits question data representing a plurality of questions to the display device 700, which results in the counsellor being presented with a series of questions on the monitor 700 (step 16). The questions are intended to facilitate creation of a prospective student profile. Accordingly, the questions relate to the prospective student's:

· personal details, such as residential address, gender and native language;

• academic record, including any academic rating scores received by the prospective student and subjects previously studied by the prospective student;

• preferred geographical locations for study;

• budget (if any), including both tuition fees and living expenses; and

· intention to reside on or off campus.

The questions also relate to the relative importance the prospective student places on aspects of the application process or the educational institutions, such as:

• the speed of application;

• the guarantee of successfully obtaining admission;

• the location of the institution;

· the academic rank of the institution;

• the prestige rank of the institution;

• the type of institution ( for example, technical college, college, university, institute etc);

• preferred educational style (for example, lectures, tutorials, practical classes etc), including whether the prospective student prefers examination by course work or formal testing;

• expected or typical class sizes; and

• support services (for example, overseas student bodies, health services etc).

Example screenshot of questions presented to the counsellor or student are shown in Figures 4-12.

Response data representing responses to these questions is received from the input device 800 and used by the student profile manager 100 to create prospective student profile data representing a prospective student profile (step 18). The prospective student profile data contains response data representing responses to each of the questions presented to the counsellor. The prospective student profile data is stored in volatile memory 1200 associated with student profile manager 100, and is preferably also stored in prospective student database 200. The prospective student profile data is then sent to the institution scorer 300. This may occur through transfer of the prospective student profile data across logical computer network link 150. Alternatively, the student profile manager 100 may notify the institution scorer 300 of the address in volatile memory 1200 where the prospective student profile data is stored.

The institution scorer 300 is associated with an educational institution database 400 through logical link 325. The educational institution database 400 contains a plurality of data records, two or more of which are each associated with respective educational institutions and contain educational institution data representing information about the associated respective educational institutions. Accordingly, such data records contain information about the respective educational institutions with which they are associated. In this preferred embodiment, the educational institution data in each data record includes:

(a) data representing the geographic location of the educational institution;

(b) data relating to the geographic location of the educational institution, including:

(i) climate data;

(ii) population density data;

(iii) language data including indication of predominant language:

(iv) cultural data including indication of predominant culture;

(v) public transport data (including data relating to the availability and type of public transport);

(vi) recreational opportunities (e.g. near lakes, the sea, snow);

(c) data enabling conversion of the academic admission threshold of the educational institution into a threshold which may be compared with those of other educational institutions and prospective student academic results;

(d) data relating to historical student admission rates as a function of the academic ranking of the students seeking admission;

(e) data identifying the courses offered by the educational institution, and their associated fees;

(f) the academic ranking of the educational institution in comparison to other educational institutions;

(g) data indicative of the average time from application for admission to the educational institution, to notification of admission by the educational institution;

(h) data identifying the on-campus residential options, and data indicative of the typical expected expense relating to each residential option;

(i) data identifying the off-campus residential options, and data indicative of the typical expected expense relating to each residential option;

(j) data identifying the facilities available on the campus of the educational institution;

(k) data identifying the facilities near residential locations including, for example, the availability of foods or services not associated with the educational institution but more closely related to living at the residential location;

(I) data indicative of the countries of origin of students admitted to the educational institution; and

(m) cultural or other activities conducted in the neighbourhood of the campus of the educational institution.

Each data record preferably also includes data representing information that would assist in applying to the associated educational institution, including:

(n) application forms and hyperlinks to applications computer systems or registrars' offices; and

(o) contact details for people within the associated educational institution responsible for the acceptance of new students.

The institution scorer 300 retrieves data records associated with educational institutions from educational institution database 400 (step 20). For each data record, the institution scorer 300 generates two or more sub-scores. In one embodiment, the institution 300 generates three sub-scores from educational institution data in the data record (step 22). The first sub-score may be calculated from information in the data record that relates to the process for applying for admission to the educational institution. The educational institution data in the data record that may be used to calculate the first sub-score includes data enabling conversion of the academic admission threshold of the educational institution into a threshold which may be compared with those of other educational institutions and prospective student academic results, data relating to historical student admission rates as a function of the academic ranking of the students seeking admission, the academic ranking of the educational institution in comparison to other educational institutions, and data indicative of the speed with which previous applications have been processed. A higher first sub-score reflects an educational institution that has a high academic ranking, a low score for entry into courses, high admission rates, and quick application processing speed. A second sub-score may be generated from educational institution data in the data record that relates to the characteristics of the education provided by the educational institution, which includes data identifying the courses offered by the educational institution and their associated fees, and the academic ranking of the educational institution in comparison to other educational institutions.

A third sub-score may be generated from educational institution data in the data record relating to the lifestyle of students at the educational institution, including data identifying the on-campus residential options and data indicative of the typical expected expense relating to each residential option, data identifying the off-campus residential options and data indicative of the typical expected expense relating to each residential option, data identifying the facilities available on the campus of the educational institution, data identifying the facilities near residential locations, data indicative of the countries of origin of students admitted to the educational institution, and data relating to the geographic location of the educational institution.

The three sub-scores may be generated solely from educational institution data in the data record. Alternatively, educational institution data in the data record may be weighted according to prospective student profile data representing the prospective student profile in addition to educational institution data in the data record, or by itself. For example, an educational institution which has an academic score cut-off significantly greater than the academic score achieved by the prospective student may be assigned a lower first sub- score, as the prospective student is unlikely to gain entry to the educational institution. An overall score is calculated using a mathematical function which depends on the weighted sum of two or more sub-scores, and preferably the three sub-scores described above (step 24). The weightings are generated (or calculated) from information in the prospective student profile data representing the prospective student profile. For example, the prospective student profile data may include data indicating that the prospective student indicated an intention to reside on campus, but is not concerned with the time taken by the application process. In such circumstances, the first sub-score is assigned a lower weight than the third sub-score.

The weightings used to generate each sub-score and the overall score may be generated not only from the prospective student profile data representing the prospective student profile. but also from stored student profile data, being data representing information from one or more stored prospective student profiles. The stored prospective student profile data is stored in the prospective student database 200. The institution scorer 300 has direct access to the prospective student database 200 through computer network link 550. The stored student profile data may be used to weight the data used to calculate the sub- scores and the overall score in a number of ways. The prospective student profile data may be incomplete, and the stored student profile data may be used to fill the gaps. For example, the prospective student profile data may not include any information about whether the prospective student intends to reside on or off campus. However, the stored student profile data may suggest that students from the same country as the prospective student nearly always wish to reside off-campus. It can therefore be assumed that the prospective student is likely to wish to reside off-campus. The counsellor is preferably warned when stored student profile data is used in this fashion and given the option to instruct the student profile manager 100 to ignore stored student profile data in generating the sub-scores and overall score. The weighting applied to the sub-scores and overall score may also be the result of statistical or other analyses as known in the art. including analysis using artificial intelligence, or neural networks.

Where the stored student profile data includes feedback data (described further below) this data may also be used to weight the data used to generate the sub-scores and the overall score. For example, the feedback data relating to the lifestyle of students at the educational institution may be exceptionally and consistently positive. This may increase the weighting given to the third sub-score. After scores have been generated for each of the two or more educational institutions by the institution scorer 300, data identifying the data records associated with the educational institutions, and the overall scores associated with the data records, are passed to institution ranker 600 through computer network link 350. The institution ranker 600 sorts the two or more data records based on their associated overall scores (step 26), and transmits result data generated from the educational institution data in the sorted data records to the presentation device 700 for presentation to the prospective student or counsellor interviewing the prospective student (step 28). The transmitted data includes detailed information from the highest scoring data records (in this example, the top four data records), including, for each data record, data representing:

• the overall score calculated for the associated educational institution;

• an indication of the likelihood of the prospective student being accepted as a student of the educational institution, the likelihood being calculated from the prospective students academic record and the academic admission threshold of the educational institution;

• an estimate of the total cost of attending the associated educational institution (the sum of the course fees and residential expenses), in a currency preferred by the prospective student;

• the courses of study provided by the educational institution;

• the third sub-score associated with the data record, the third sub-score being an indication of the extent to which the prospective student's desired lifestyle will be met by becoming a student at the associated educational institution; and

• the average time from application for admission to the educational institution, to notification of admission by the educational institution.

The methods and systems described above with reference to Figure 2 involve the creation of a prospective student profile, the information in the profile being used to select educational institutions after completion of the prospective student profile. Alternatively, as illustrated in Figure 3, the selection of educational institutions may take place progressively as the prospective student profile is completed.

Steps 2-14 are as illustrated in Figure 2 and described above, and are not repeated for purposes of clarity. In step 16A the student profile manager 100 presents a first single question to the prospective student, or counsellor interviewing the prospective student, using presentation device 700. The response received through input device 800 is received by the student profile manager 100 and sent to the institution scorer 300, which queries, based on the response, the subset of data records that are not marked as irrelevant in educational institution database 400 (step 18A). The institution scorer 300 temporarily marks as irrelevant the data records of the educational institutions which do not match the query (step 20A) thereby reducing the scope of any subsequent search. If the number of data records which match the query is less than or equal to a threshold number (for example, 4), the institution ranker 600 sorts the records (step 26) and presents information from the data records which match the query to the prospective student or counsellor as described above (step 28), all of the irrelevancy marks are cleared from the educational institution database 400 (step 30), and the process stops. If the number of data records is greater than the threshold number, the number of data records matching the query is sent from the institution scorer to the student profile manager 100, which reports this number to the prospective student or counsellor through presentation device 700 (step 24 A). Step 16A is then repeated with a subsequent question.

For example, the first question presented to the prospective student or counsellor may be "In which country would you like to study?" The response, "Canada", is used by institution scorer 300 to query educational institution database 400 for records associated with educational institutions in Canada. All records other than the eleven which relate to Canadian educational institutions are marked as irrelevant, and the prospective student or counsellor is presented with information indicating that there are eleven possible educational institutions. The prospective student or counsellor may then be asked "Do you intend to reside on campus?". The response, "yes", is used by institution scorer 300 to query the eleven records in educational institution database 400 not marked as irrelevant to determine whether any associated educational institutions have on-campus residences. As only two records match the query, their records are ranked by institution ranker 600 and displayed to the prospective student or counsellor. The irrelevancy marks are cleared so that subsequent queries are executed over all of the data records in the educational institution database 400. The methods and systems of the preferred embodiment of the present invention enable feedback to be captured to improve the accuracy of the system. In this regard, the student profile manager 100 is configured to transmit feedback question data representing one or more feedback questions to the display device 700 for presentation to the prospective student or counsellor interviewing the prospective student after the prospective student has been admitted to the educational institution of their choice. The feedback response data representing one or more feedback responses received using the input keyboard and mouse 800 is used to modify the prospective student's profile stored in the prospective student database 200. The feedback responses can modify the weightings given to scores as described above. Alternatively or in addition, the feedback responses can modify data records in the educational institution database 400 to update the information to better reflect the real-life experiences of students at educational institutions. The feedback responses may be gathered more than once after admission. Alternatively, feedback response data may be obtained from an external data source, such as an educational institution computer system storing student academic performance data.

Many modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention, a preferred embodiment of which has herein been described with reference to the accompanying drawings. For example in an alternative embodiment the questions presented to the prospective student or counsellor may be interdependent, such that the answers to questions affect the nature or order of subsequent questions.

The reference in this specification to any prior publication (or information derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or admission or any form of suggestion that that prior publication (or information derived from it) or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the field of endeavour to which this specification relates.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

A system for selecting two or more educational institutions suitable to be the subject of an application for admission by a prospective student, the system including

a student profile manager for

presenting a plurality of questions using a first presentation device; receiving responses to the plurality questions using a first input device; and

creating or modifying a prospective student profile based on the received responses;

an educational institution database containing a plurality of records, two or more data records each being associated with a respective educational institution and containing information about their associated respective educational institutions;

an institution scorer for calculating a score for each of the respective educational institutions based on the information in their respective associated data records and the prospective student profile; and

an institution ranker for sorting the two or more data records based on the scores calculated for their associated educational institutions and presenting information from the sorted data records using the first presentation device.

A system as claimed in claim 1 further including a prospective student database for storing student profiles including at least the prospective student profile.

A system as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein, for each respective educational institution, the institution scorer is adapted to calculate an overall score from two or more sub-scores. 4. A system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the institution scorer is adapted to calculate an overall score from at least a first sub-score calculated from information in the associated record relating to a process for applying for admission to the educational institution, a second sub-score calculated from information in the associated record relating to characteristics of the education provided by the educational institution, and a third sub-score calculated from information in the associated record relating to the lifestyle of students at the educational institution.

5. A system as claimed in claim 3 or 4 wherein the institution scorer is adapted to calculate an overall score using a mathematical function which depends on the weighted sum of the two or more sub-scores, the weighting being calculated from information in the prospective student profile.

6. A system as claimed in claim 5 wherein the weighting is additionally calculated from information obtained from one or more stored prospective student profiles. 7. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the institution ranker is adapted to present information from each of one or more of the sorted data records including the courses of study provided by the associated educational institution. 8. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the institution ranker is adapted to present information from each of one or more of the sorted data records including the average time from application for admission to the educational institution to notification of admission by the educational institution. 9. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the institution ranker is adapted to present additional information for each of one or more of the sorted data records derived from information in the sorted data record and information in the student profile including the overall score calculated for the associated educational institution. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the institution ranker is adapted to present additional information for each of one or more of the sorted data records derived from information in the sorted data record and information in the student profile including an indication of the likelihood of the prospective student being accepted as a student of the educational institution.

A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the institution ranker is adapted to present additional information for each of one or more of the sorted data records derived from information in the sorted data record and information in the student profile including an estimate of the total cost of attending the associated educational institution, in a currency preferred by the prospective student.

12. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the institution ranker is adapted to present additional information for each of one or more of the sorted data records derived from information in the sorted data record and information in the student profile including an indication of the extent to which the prospective student's desired lifestyle will be met by becoming a student at the associated educational institution.

13. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the student profile manager is adapted to

present one or more feedback questions using a second presentation device; receive one or more feedback responses to the one or more feedback questions using a second input device; and

modify the prospective student profile based on the received feedback responses

at one or more times after admission of the prospective student to an educational institution. A system as claimed in claim 13 wherein the second presentation device is the same as the first presentation device and the second input device is the same as the first input device.

A method for selecting two or more educational institutions suitable to be the subject of an application for admission by a prospective student, the method including the steps of

receiving responses to the plurality of questions from the prospective student or the person interviewing the prospective student; and

calculating a score for each of two or more educational institutions based on information in their respective associated data records and the prospective student profile;

sorting the data records based on the scores calculated for their associated educational institutions;

presenting information from the sorted data records to the prospective student or a person interviewing the prospective student

A method as claimed in claim 15 further including the step of storing the prospective student profile in a prospective student database.

A method as claimed in claim 15 or 16 wherein the step of calculating a score for each of the two or more educational institutions includes the step of calculating an overall score for each educational institution from two or more sub-scores.

A method as claimed in claim 17 wherein the step of calculating a score for each of

the two or more educational institutions includes the step of calculating an overall score from at least a first sub-score calculated from information in the associated record relating to a process for applying for admission to the educational institution, a second sub-score calculated from information in the associated record relating to characteristics of the education provided by the educational institution, and a third sub-score calculated from information in the associated record relating to the lifestyle of students at the educational institution.

19. A method as claimed in claim 17 or 18 wherein the step of calculating a score for each of the two or more educational institutions includes using a mathematical function which depends on the weighted sum of the two or more sub-scores, the weighting being calculated from information in the prospective student profile.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19 wherein the weighting is additionally calculated from information obtained from one or more stored prospective student profiles. 21. A method as claimed in any one of claims 15 - 20 wherein the step of presenting information from the sorted data records includes the step of presenting the courses of study provided by an associated educational institution.

22. A method as claimed in any one of claims 15 - 21 wherein the step of presenting information from the sorted data records includes the step of presenting the average time from application for admission to an associated educational institution to notification of admission by the associated educational institution.

23. A method as claimed in any one of claims 15-22 further including the step of presenting additional information for each of the sorted data records derived from information in the sorted data record and information in the prospective student profile including the overall score calculated for an associated educational institution. 24. A method as claimed in any one of claims 15-23 further including the step of presenting additional information for each of the sorted data records derived from information in the sorted data record and information in the prospective student profile including an indication of the likelihood of the prospective student being accepted as a student of an associated educational institution.

A method as claimed in any one of claims 15-24 further including the step of presenting additional information for each of the sorted data records derived from information in the sorted data record and information in the prospective student profile including an estimate of the total cost of attending an associated educational institution, in a currency preferred by the prospective student.

A method as claimed in any one of claims 15-25 further including the step of presenting additional information for each of the sorted data records derived from information in the sorted data record and information in the prospective student profile including an indication the extent to which the prospective student's desired lifestyle will be met by becoming a student at an associated educational institution.

A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims further including the steps of

presenting one or more feedback questions to the prospective student or a person interviewing the prospective student;

receiving one or more feedback responses to the one or more feedback questions from the prospective student or a person interviewing the prospective student; and

modifying the prospective student profile based on the received feedback responses,

at one or more times after admission of the prospective student to an educational

28. A system for selecting two or more educational institutions suitable to be the subject of an application for admission by a prospective student, the system including a student profile manager for

transmitting question data representing a plurality of questions to a first presentation device for presentation by the first presentation device; receiving response data representing responses to the plurality questions from a first input device; and

an institution scorer for processing the educational institution data in each of the two or more data records and the prospective student profile data to generate a score for each of the two or more educational institutions associated respectively with two or more data records; and

an institution ranker for sorting the two or more data records based on the scores generated for their associated respective educational institutions, and transmitting result data generated from the educational institution data in the sorted data records to the first presentation device for presentation by the first presentation device.

A system as claimed in claim 28 further including a prospective student database for storing student profile data and prospective student profile data.

A system as claimed in claim 28 or 29 wherein, for each educational institution, the institution scorer is adapted to generate an overall score from two or more sub- scores.

A system as claimed in claim 30 wherein the institution scorer is adapted to

generate an overall score from at least a first sub-score generated from educational institution data in the associated data record relating to a process for applying for admission to the educational institution, a second sub-score generated from educational institution data in the associated record relating to characteristics of the education provided by the educational institution, and a third sub-score generated from educational institution data in the associated record relating to the lifestyle of students at the educational institution.

32. A system as claimed in claim 30 or 31 wherein the institution scorer is adapted to generate an overall score using a mathematical function which depends on the weighted sum of the two or more sub-scores, the weighting being generated from prospective student profile data.

33. A system as claimed in claim 32 wherein the weighting is additionally generated from stored student profile data. 34. A system as claimed in any one of claims 28-33 wherein the institution ranker is adapted to transmit to the first presentation device result data including data representing the courses of study provided by an associated educational institution.

35. A system as claimed in any one of claims 28-34 wherein the institution ranker is adapted to transmit to the first presentation device result data including data representing the average time from application for admission to an associated educational institution to notification of admission by the associated educational institution. 36. A system as claimed in any one of claims 28-35 wherein the institution ranker is adapted to transmit to the first presentation device additional data generated from the prospective student profile data and educational institution data in the sorted data records, the additional data including data representing the overall score calculated for an associated educational institution.

37. A system as claimed in any one of claims 28-36 wherein the institution ranker is adapted to transmit to the first presentation device additional data generated from the prospective student profile data and educational institution data in the sorted data records, the additional data including data representing an indication of the likelihood of the prospective student being accepted as a student of an educational institution.

38. A system as claimed in any one of claims 28-37 wherein the institution ranker is adapted to transmit to the first presentation device additional data generated from the prospective student profile data and educational institution data in the sorted data records, the additional data including data representing an estimate of the total cost of attending an associated educational institution, in a currency preferred by the prospective student. 39. A system as claimed in any one of claims 28-38 wherein the institution ranker is adapted to transmit to the first presentation device additional data generated from the prospective student profile data and educational institution data in the sorted data records, the additional data including data representing an indication of the extent to which the prospective student's desired lifestyle will be met by becoming a student of an associated educational institution.

40. A system as claimed in any one of claims 28-39 wherein the student profile manager is adapted to

transmit feedback question data representing one or more feedback questions to a second presentation device for presentation by the second presentation device;

receive feedback response data representing one or more feedback responses to the one or more feedback questions from a second input device; and modify prospective student profile data representing the prospective student profile based on the received feedback responses at one or more times after admission of the prospective student to an educational institution.

A system as claimed in claim 40 wherein the second presentation device is the same as the first presentation device and the second input device is the same as the first input device.

processing educational institution data in each of two or more data records and the prospective student profile data to generate a score for each of the two or more educational institutions respectively associated with each of the two or more data records;

sorting the data records based on the scores generated for their respective associated educational institutions;

transmitting result data generated from the educational institution data in the sorted data records to the presentation device for presentation by the presentation device to the prospective student or a person interviewing the prospective student. 43. A method as claimed in claim 42 further including the step of storing the prospective student profile data in a prospective student database.

44. A method as claimed in claim 42 or 43 wherein the step of generating a score for each of the two or more educational institutions includes the step of generating an overall score for each educational institution from two or more sub-scores.

45. A method as claimed in claim 44 wherein the step of generating a score for each of the two or more educational institutions includes the step of generating an overall score from at least a first sub-score generated from educational institution data in the associated data record relating to a process for applying for admission to the educational institution, a second sub-score generated from educational institution data in the associated data record relating to characteristics of the education provided by the educational institution, and a third sub-score generated from educational institution data in the associated data record relating to the lifestyle of students at the educational institution.

46. A method as claimed in claim 44 or 45 wherein the step of generating a score for each of the two or more educational institutions includes using a mathematical function which depends on the weighted sum of the two or more sub-scores, the weighting being generated from prospective student profile data.

47. A method as claimed in claim 46 wherein the weighting is additionally generated from stored student profile data.

48. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 42 - 47 wherein the step of transmitting result data includes the step of transmitting data representing the courses of study provided by an associated educational institution.

49. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 42 - 48 wherein the step of transmitting result data includes the step of transmitting data representing the average time from application for admission to an educational institution to notification of admission by the educational institution.

50. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 42 - 49 further including the step of transmitting additional data generated from the prospective student profile data and educational institution data in the sorted data records, the additional data including data representing the overall score calculated for an associated educational institution.

51. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 42 - 50 further including the step of transmitting additional data generated from the prospective student profile data and educational institution data in the sorted data records, the additional data including data representing an indication of the likelihood of the prospective student being accepted as a student of an associated educational institution. 52. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 42 - 51 further including the step of transmitting additional data generated from the prospective student profile data and educational institution data in the sorted data records, the additional data including data representing an estimate of the total cost of attending an associated educational institution, in a currency preferred by the prospective student.

53. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 42 - 52 further including the step of transmitting additional data generated from the prospective student profile data and educational institution data in the sorted data records, the additional data including data representing an indication of the extent to which the prospective student's desired lifestyle will be met by becoming a student at an associated educational institution.

54. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 42 - 53 further including the steps of transmitting feedback question data representing one or more feedback questions to a second presentation device for presentation to the prospective student or a person interviewing the prospective student;

receiving feedback response data representing one or more feedback responses to the one or more feedback questions from a second input device operated by the prospective student or a person interviewing the prospective student; and

modifying prospective student profile data representing the prospective student profile based on the received feedback responses

at one or more times after admission of the prospective student to an educational institution.

55. A method as claimed in claim 54 wherein the second presentation device is the same as the first presentation device and the second input device is the same as the first input device.