All departments in tertiary institutions have an association that governs or controls the general activities of the department. There is an executive body comprising of majorly the president, the vice-president, the General Secretary, the treasurer, the public relations officer (PRO), the financial secretary, the director of sports, director of socials, among others.

All the Executives and the senate members have a responsibility in ensuring the department is run smoothly and moved forward, and bulk SMS can help make the work less difficult. Here are some ways the association can use bulk SMS effectively.

• EXCO’S MEETINGS: The department’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) has the responsibility of informing executive members of the association of upcoming executive meetings. Bulk SMS can be used to pass this across fast. Also, if there are assignments given to members of the department executives, reminders and follow-ups can be directed through the use of bulk SMS. Committees can also be organized through the use of this medium.

• CONGRESS AWARENESS: Departmental associations usually hold a congress from time to time, where issues concerning the department are trashed out. The public relations officer (PRO) is in charge of creating awareness among students of the association for this congress. Conventionally, in most schools, cardboards are usually used to get the information across. Most times though many students who don’t see this are not aware of that.

With bulk SMS though, the congress time and date can be communicated with all students of the department and you can be certain everyone gets it.    What's more, it's cheap and very easy to get the phone numbers of the students through the course representative.

• ELECTIONS ORGANISATION/CAMPAIGNS: The present executive of a departmental association administration can use bulk SMS effectively in planning and organizing elections for the incoming administration. Aspirants can be communicated with vital information through SMS, and the entire students can also be informed of the election plans, including the time and date of elections.

Even aspirants themselves can use bulk SMS for their political campaigns. Get across their manifesto through this means and turn up a large crowd for themselves on election days by just a click through bulk SMS.

• ORGANISING TUTORIALS: Many tertiary institutions' departmental associations have programs in place for tutoring junior students. Tutorials are organized where these students are assisted in better understanding their courses.

Bulk SMS can be used in organizing this. Informing students of the programs for the tutorials and even sending some brief and relevant lessons via a text message.

• EXAMINATION TIMETABLE: It is not uncommon to hear of students coming late for exams or even missing out on an examination altogether. The reason for this most times been that most tertiary institutions post-examination timetables on notice boards and can be altered or even torn before every student gets to see it.

In the interest of the students of the department, executives of departmental associations can intimate their students with the examination timetable program for each level through bulk SMS. It can even be an avenue to include a successful wish to them. The students will appreciate this.

• EVENTS NOTIFICATION: All departments have annual events such as the orientation of new students and their welcome party, the general conferences of the national body of the association, and sometimes even launching some products of the departmental associations. Awareness of these events can be communicated with the entire students via bulk SMS. Fundraising for some of the events can also be organized through this means, by sending reminders to people who promise support.

• DUES NOTIFICATION: Every departmental association pays dues either per semester or session towards the smooth running of the associations. Once the students resume, they can be reminded of these dues and the period the payment should be made. This eases up the collection of such dues.

• GENERAL NEWS AND INFORMATION: General information regarding the department and the students can equally be disseminated through the use of bulk SMS. Students' wedding ceremonies, unfortunate losses, success messages, and holiday greetings can equally be sent as a text messages. It’s cheap and reaches everybody, making it very effective.

Every association, small or large, professional or voluntary, needs effective organization to reach its objectives. Bulk SMS has been proven to be efficient in this regard, and tertiary institutions' departmental associations are not an exception.

IF you are planning on running for an executive position in a school departmental association, or currently belong to one, and need an affordable and efficient bulk SMS platform, you can register a free one here.

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