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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, Ja nu ar y 17 ,2 01 9 | 16 We love being part of your community. That's why we've invested in much more, extremely local news coverage. Now, you can get a wealth of community news in your newspaper. Register online for the latest home-grown neighbourhood news, opinions, insight, photos and much more at WaterlooChronicle.ca/register. It's real, local journalism you can trust, dedicated specifically to the place you call home. WaterlooChronicle ca/register Register now to support your local journalism! A new space opened at the University of Waterloo in late 2018 in hopes of im- proving efficiencies for students. The newly-opened space, coined 'The Centre,' is running at Needles Hall, and aims to centralize im- portant student services into an all-in-one space. The Centre merges the tasks completed by the Registrar's Office, as well as the Graduate and Post- Doctoral Studies office. Later this year, the Stu- dent Success Office will be merged into Needles Hall as well. Frontline services such as paying fines, changing courses, on-the- spot transcripts, and proof of enrolment requests can all be completed at The Centre. In the past, students would have to travel across campus to an appropriate location to a pay a fine, ex- plained director of The Centre, Nancy Heide. "(We're) looking at do- ing things more efficiently in one space," said Heide. "Students don't neces- sarily care what depart- ment is managing the ser- vice, they just want to get something done. So what we've done at the universi- ty is combine services, so that students just really need to go to one place rather than having to go to numerous places on cam- pus." Money can also be add- ed to student cards at The Centre. In addition, the on- the-spot transcripts elimi- nate a three to five day wait that existed in the past. Cathy Newell Kelly, who works with the Regis- trar's Office, says the uni- versity is also looking at making more student ser- vices available online. Newell Kelly also ex- plained that the renova- tion at Needles Hall, which began in April 2018, com- bined with two other pro- jects totalled $2.5 million. The centre saw 552 stu- dents come through on the first day of winter term on Jan. 7, and lines were shorter than a normal first day would be in the old set up, according to Heide. Another component added to The Centre is the existence of a queue, where students queue themselves into a kiosk, and have an idea of when they will be served. "What helps us on the back end is we can see why students are coming in and how long they're awaiting so that we can im- prove efficiency on the back end to see how we can make their experience be more efficient and faster," said Heide. "Perhaps, they don't even need to come in and all if we improve our services through adding in some online functions." Also included in The Centre are consultation rooms, where students with more detailed ques- tions and issues can speak to someone in a private space. The grand opening of The Centre is on Jan. 30. NEW CENTRE AIMS TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY FOR STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO NAMISH MODI nmodi@waterloo chronicle.ca COMMUNITY SOFT OPENING WAS IN DECEMBER, GRAND OPENING IS JAN. 30 The Centre at the University of Waterloo opened in late 2018, and is aiming to be a one-stop shop for students to complete important administrative tasks. Namish Modi/Metroland