Education Managing a student-friendly printing environment

Coping with the challenges of the education sector

Schools, colleges and universities have a fundamental mission in today’s society as the level of education often has a noticeable impact on the standard of living within a region. Nevertheless, educational institutions are facing budget reductions and, at the same time, are being challenged to improve their security infrastructure. Students value a modern learning environment which is convenient, secure and adaptable. Educational institutions are also expected to be more environmentally and socially responsible. Appropriate solutions are required to deal with all these challenges.

Saving costs and increasing user satisfaction

Implement print rules and track cost savings

The IT administrator can track cost savings made through improved printing practices. With this information, improved printing guidelines can be established so a return on the original investment, based on using a managed printing system, can be realized.

Increase security through multiple authentication methods

Users have to be physically standing at a printer in order to release any print job. To prevent unauthorized use of devices, users are required to authenticate themselves at the device using a card login, username/password, PIN code, job code, anonymous login or a combination of these options.

Offering a modern learning environment through mobile job submission

Mobile users can submit their print jobs by email from their phone. Job details are displayed on the phone’s screen so finishing options such as double-sided, staple or hole-punch can be changed directly via the uniFLOW app.

Track environmental improvements

The positive environmental impact can be highlighted in reports which also monitor usage and savings. uniFLOW can illustrate how many trees or how many grams of CO2 have been saved by decreasing the amount of printing.

“50 % of the universities who produce the highest amount of Nobel Prize winners are using uniFLOW”
Source: Statista - In:
https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/167023/umfrage/universitaeten-nach-anzahl-der-nobelpreistraeger/

“With our previous set up, there was a chance that unauthorized people could pick up confidential documents from individual printers. uniFLOW solved this for us; with Follow Me Print and its secure print features, print jobs are only released when an individual is at a device and swipes for access.”
Stephen Porter, Business Manager at Marist College Ashgrove

uniFLOW allows schools to implement an “acceptable use” policy for their students which allows them to only print a certain number of pages every day, week or term free of charge

“Our staff and faculty raved about the ease of use, embraced our green initiatives, and value the fact they could play such a significant role in reducing costs so we can dedicate more resources to educating our students.”
Karen Minton, Business Officer for the College of Nursing at University of Kentucky College of Nursing

Flexible funds management

Unlike commercial businesses, both staff and students need to use printers in schools and higher education institutions. Offering this service for free would place a huge financial burden on institutions and charging students manually for their print jobs would incur still more costs. uniFLOW has therefore developed a simple and convenient solution for this unique challenge.

uniFLOW offers students a variety of methods to top up funds in their printing accounts. MoneyLoader terminals can be placed in public areas so students can add cash to their account. uniFLOW also integrates with popular internet-based credit card payment systems such as PayPal and WorldPay to provide a 24/7 service. Cashiers can add credit to a student’s account manually where a personal cash-based system is required.

Sophisticated secure print management for a modern education environment

Control printing costs

Implementing print policies such as double sided printing, color restrictions, print job authorization, budgets, feature restrictions and job routing to print rooms or a cheaper device reduces costs and supports environmental goals and initiatives.

Profit of device independence (BYOD)

By permitting students to use their own laptop, tablet, smartphone or school devices, students enjoy greater flexibility and education institutions have no need to offer additional devices.

Maintain student records securely

Educational institutions are required to store records e.g. student grades, financial aid information, health records, payroll info and employee reviews. Secure printing features mean print jobs are held in the user’s personal secure print queue until they are released so those records stay secure. This also complies with FERPA law in the US.

Environmentally responsible

With uniFLOW the print output can be reduced significantly, changing an institution’s environmental impact for the better and, additionally, saving valuable resources.

“5 of the 10 highest scoring universities in the academic ranking of world universities 2016 are using uniFLOW”
Source: Statista - In:https://www.statista.com/statistics/226665/academic-ranking-of-world-universities/

"A key benefit is that we are able to track all costs associated with the solution. The additional functionalities save an awful lot of paper and we can pass information to internal and external stakeholders a lot quicker.”
Gary Horne, Vice Principal, Finance and Operations at Colchester Institute

“Since installing the equipment a new mindset has evolved. Students have become more selective about what, how and where they print. As a result, we’ve reduced the amount of paper we use by 20%.”
Chris Foreman, Vice Principal Learning Systems at Homewood School

Around 3,400 educational institutions reduced their paper consumption whilst improving the learning environment by using uniFLOW.

"...the most recent report indicated nearly 75% of all print jobs were released as double-sided pages. On an annual basis, this has saved nearly 500,000 sheets of paper and significantly reduced the cost of consumables. As a result, more than 200 trees have been saved and an estimated 16,293 pounds of greenhouse gases have been prevented from polluting the environment."
The Commonwealth Medical College

Easy document distribution

Students and staff can distribute their scanned documents to the back-end-systems where they are required e.g. email, Dropbox, Evernote®, Google Drive™, ECM systems. This saves valuable resources and time.

Integration with campus card systems

uniFLOW enables all print/copy activities to be tracked and automatically deducted from a students’ account via campus card systems like Blackboard/CardSmith or CBORD i.e. recovery of student printing costs is easier for education institutions.

Location independence

Students and staff can submit secure print jobs from any location both on and off campus via email, Apple AirPrint®, web browser, internet printer driver, uniFLOW app or Google Cloud Print™ then release and collect their jobs at any available network printer within the organization which increases productivity.

Print room usage

In general, education facilities generate high print volumes. By implementing print policies, a large print order can be redirected to a print room where more economical printers are available which reduces costs.

Interested?

uniFLOW is a credible solution for schools, colleges and higher education establishments. It is available worldwide and can be purchased via Canon distribution channels or through any authorized uniFLOW reseller.