In recent years, changes to the international study permit process have led to additional administrative effort on universities and colleges. To relieve this administrative load and streamline processes, the University of British Columbia (UBC) employed various robotic process automations (RPAs). RPA is a low-code software technology that can automate repetitive tasks, including user interface (UI) interactions, to free up human time and resources to work on more complex tasks.

The automations UBC built assisted with two processes that support UBC’s international student enrollment:

  1. Generating the Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL) international students need to complete their study permit application.
  2. Verifying the student's UBC letter of acceptance after they have applied to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

While the letter of acceptance verification program has been a requirement for higher education since 2018, the PAL is a new process introduced in 2024.

In this session, we will cover:

  • Overview of the two business and RPA processes
  • How we built the automations
  • Results of the automations
  • Challenges and lessons learned
  • Next steps

From these two examples, attendees will learn how RPA can be applied to new and existing processes.

Summit Speaker

Dipendar Dhami

Automation Developer, University of British Columbia

Dipendar Dhami is an Automation Developer at the University of British Columbia. He develops automations for various departments.

Summit Speaker

Melissa Medearis

Business Analyst, University of British Columbia

Melissa Medearis is Business Analyst at the University of British Columbia. In this role she works with various units across campus on automating their business processes with RPA solutions.

Technology Track