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CAS Closed? Think Again.
By Donal O’Connor, Director of Future Students, University of South Wales
When we first adopted CAS Shield at the University of South Wales, we were looking for a way to improve how we managed international applicants through to CAS issuance. And it delivered on that. The visibility, the speed, the automation. It was everything we needed.
What we did not expect was just how much value CAS Shield would go on to deliver after the CAS had been issued.
Because the reality is, none of our recruitment, admissions or compliance work counts for anything if the student does not enrol. For a long time, that final part of the journey: visa, travel, arrival, etc., has been the biggest blind spot.
With CAS Shield, that has changed.
Post-CAS is where the risk really begins
Before Enroly, once a CAS was issued, our insight effectively stopped. We could see if the CAS was used, and that was it. No detail on visa status. No data on accommodation or travel. No early warning signs if something was going wrong.
Now, we know exactly where students are in the process.
The system automatically follows up with them at key points. It asks, in plain language, what best describes their situation. Have they applied for a visa? Has it been approved? Are they still waiting? Has UKVI asked for more information?
Students do not need to log in or fill out forms. They just tap a button in the email. That simple interaction gives us live data we never had before.
Better triage, better outcomes
Where this becomes really valuable is in how it enables our team to triage and support.
If a student has been asked for further documentation by UKVI, we know about it. If their visa decision is still pending or approved, we know that too. This gives us a real opportunity to intervene early, offer support and avoid issues later.
From there, the system continues to work in the background. It gathers visa documents, checks travel plans, captures accommodation details and flags anything missing, all before the student arrives.
And when they do arrive, it takes care of post-arrival checks as well. For example, we can request stamped visa vignettes and anything else needed for our internal processes or UKVI compliance.
Quietly solving a long-standing problem
This is not something we initially set out to solve. We did not choose CAS Shield for this reason. It just happens to do it extremely well.
It gives our teams visibility where there was none. It helps us avoid last-minute surprises. And it makes sure our investment, in time, in people and in recruitment, leads to enrolments.
In short, it helps us finish what we started.
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From the team at Enroly:
If you would like to see the post-CAS automation Donal is referring to, you can watch a short demo here.
Let us know if you would like a walkthrough tailored to your university.
