Since the start of our partnership in September 2022, UniQuest has worked closely with Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington, to deliver comprehensive international student engagement and admissions support..svg)
What began as a focused effort to guide international prospective students from first inquiry to enrollment quickly expanded within six months to include application processing support – marking UniQuest’s first US implementation of a service already proven successful with many of our UK partners.
Since then, the results have exceeded expectations, and we’ve continued to go from strength to strength. In 2024, international enrollments rose by 92% year-on-year and the student body became markedly more diverse. With momentum building, Saint Martin’s extended our partnership contract through 2026 to continue scaling this success.
The challenge
A private Catholic Benedictine university in the Pacific North West, Saint Martin’s was navigating challenges familiar to many U.S. institutions today – limited internal capacity, increasing student expectations, and growing inbound volumes.
The international office, led by a single full-time staff member, was responsible for both recruitment and admissions. While Saint Martin’s had an effective lead generation partnership with our parent company, Keystone Education Group, the growing number of prospective students made it increasingly difficult to maintain personalized, timely engagement with each and every one. Student expectations around responsiveness and support were rising, and meeting this demand with a small internal team was becoming unsustainable.
Dr. Roger Douglas, Dean of International Programs & Development at Saint Martin’s, felt stuck in constant “fire-fighting mode”, with limited capacity to step back, strategize, and optimize engagement efforts.
Application processing added further complexity. Many applicants entered the funnel without a full understanding of the university’s requirements, leading to high post-admission attrition. Limited capacity also contributed to delays in identifying incomplete applications or providing follow-up support to those who needed guidance.
Saint Martin’s recognized the opportunity to scale its international enrollment strategy by complementing its existing efforts with a more integrated and cost-effective source of support.
The solution
Student engagement
Since launching our partnership, UniQuest has taken full responsibility for managing inbound student communications via phone, email, live chat, and WhatsApp – dramatically reducing demands on the Saint Martin’s internal team. We operate on a follow-the-sun model, aligning our resource with students’ respective time zones to enable timely responses in the students’ local time zones.
We’ve also helped optimize outbound engagement through introducing new initiatives, such as webinars and ad hoc campaigns, to deliver the best possible experience to prospective students.
As an example, we use real-time insights from incoming student FAQs to inform proactive communications strategies that pre-empt concerns – eliminating the need to respond to 100 individual emails through a single targeted, and strategically timed, campaign.
“If we didn’t have the resources UniQuest provides, there is simply no way we’d be able to have this many valuable touchpoints with applicants.”
Dr. Roger Douglas, Dean of International Programs and Development, Saint Martin’s University
Our AI-powered email software continues to enhance performance throughout the cycle, continuously optimizing content style, tone, and timing to maximize engagement. The outcome is an average 80% read rate for Saint Martin’s international applicants.
Since our partnership began, we’ve delivered over 240,000 communications to prospective students. For the Fall 2024 semester, there was an average of 26 personalized touchpoints per enrolled student – a clear indicator of just how much nurturing it takes on the journey to enrollment!
We’ve also supported Saint Martin’s with driving diversified enrollments. In the 2023/24 academic year, Saint Martin’s enrolled students from five countries across two continents. In the 2024/25 academic year, enrolled students came from 14 countries across four continents.
Application processing
“This has been very helpful. Because of you, I got my offer letter and my I-20. You are so supportive to me at all times. It is a wonderful experience!"
Admitted international student
To scale capacity, we’ve increased the bandwidth of the Saint Martin’s admissions team by providing two application reviewers and one credential evaluator who can scale resource up and down as and when required. The admissions support we provide includes the time-consuming tasks of managing the status of applications, establishing whether outstanding information is required, and proactively contacting applicants to speed up their document submission.
It extends to verifying test scores, assessing document validity, and evaluating any personal statements or letters of recommendation. We complete the credential evaluation to determine the applicant’s U.S. degree equivalency and grade point average on a U.S. 4.0 grading scale. The Scholaro Premium database supports our evaluation process in generating foreign credential equivalency reports and reviewing grading scales, education systems, and translated terminology.
UniQuest conducts an initial review of each application and provides a clear recommendation—admit, deny, or requires further review—based on Saint Martin’s admissions criteria. The university then reviews our recommendations and issues the final admissions decision. At every stage, decision-making authority remains firmly with Saint Martin’s.
Our role is to handle the time-consuming groundwork—verifying documents, assessing eligibility, and identifying incomplete files—so that Saint Martin’s staff can focus their expertise where it matters most.
To streamline the process even further, we deliver timely updates to highlight any applications that are ready for review or still sitting, eliminating the need for manual checks and ensuring nothing slips through the cracks.
Now, application reviews are completed within one day of submission and students receive a personalized follow-up outlining what might be missing from their application. This proactive approach keeps everything moving at pace, ultimately resulting in faster decision turnaround times and an enhanced applicant experience.
Support for admitted students
Recognizing that the need for support doesn’t end once a student is admitted, we’ve ramped up efforts to support yield and reassure students that they’re making a great decision by choosing to study at Saint Martin’s.
As an example, we introduced an automated welcome email sent to all newly admitted international students, providing crucial information about next steps and managing their expectations around the enrollment process. This single email has an 83% open rate and a click rate of 29% – far higher than pre-partnership averages.
We’ve also introduced a student-led webinar for admitted students, connecting them with current students to learn more about life at Saint Martin’s and gain insights into the visa interview experience. This virtual initiative not only strengthens emotional connection and reduces anxiety, but it also introduces richer touchpoints that help to develop that all-important sense of belonging even before arrival.
Let’s Talk
Saint Martin’s University is just one example of how UniQuest helps institutions increase capacity, improve the applicant experience, and drive measurable results across the student journey.
Contact us to explore how UniQuest can support your goals with to improve student engagement, application processing, and strategic conversion services.
