Universities must swiftly adapt their digital landscape to meet the expectations of digitally native students, emphasising a user-friendly approach for effective modernization.
This anticipation is driven by a preference for a user-friendly approach to digital interactions, reflecting their familiarity with modern technologies.
Having never known a world without smartphones and social media, it’s no surprise that the current generation of students carries an expectation for high-quality and personalised digital experiences in their university lives.
A user-centred approach in universities
Our research found 91% of students believe what their university offers in terms of digital services should be as strong as face-to-face lectures and life on the physical campus. But the reality is when it comes to digital transformation in higher education, many universities are still playing catch up.
For universities, the catalyst for investment in digital services should be that today’s students cite the digital experience as a critical factor when choosing their university.
With students increasingly looking for value from their investment in higher education, as rising tuition fees and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis continue to impact their finances, universities must be bold about their digital offerings. This is why a user-centred approach in universities is so important.
Without a change in mindset, students’ expectations will outstrip universities’ ability to keep up.
The digital challenges lying ahead
So, what are the challenges facing universities when designing and delivering digital experiences for their students?
Whilst thinking of students as ‘customers’ may be a step too far for some, universities would benefit from being more customer-centred in the design of their student experience.
Essentially students are paying customers, although the relationship between students and universities is more complex than simply being transactional. Universities must implement a service-driven culture based on end-user needs when meeting students’ digital expectations.
Off-the-shelf platforms may accelerate the offering of essential functionality. Still, when combined with existing legacy systems, they can end up causing problems when designing a coherent and consistent user experience for students.
Crucially, when we’re talking about the student experience, we aren’t just talking about learning; we’re talking about the need to support students through their whole student life, things like social, cultural, organisational, health and well-being services.
With more students studying remotely or via a hybrid approach, our research found that 86% of students believe that good digital experiences are a great way to build a strong student community.
A user centred approach improves the student experience
Universities also have a critical opportunity to provide a branded, curated journey for students from early higher education touchpoints.
Increasing data capture early can be utilised correctly to provide a more personalised experience throughout a student’s first year and beyond.
Universities have a real challenge regarding how they deliver their content to students. Wrong channels, wrong processes, wrong tactics, and wrong content can all lead to disengagement.
Universities must consider how students want to engage with content, what the content needs to do and how it gets delivered. From our research, those who have embraced using students as content creators and co-creators of the digital experience are showing excellent results when it comes to engagement.
A great example is the University of Lincoln, whose Head of Student Experience works directly with media students to create a broad range of digital content from city guides to well-being.
Understanding the data for personalised digital services
It’s not just about capturing data; it knows how to use it to provide students with more personalised digital content and services, enabling real-time, automated, personal and intelligent communications.
Whilst some universities are further down their data journey than others, most still need to embrace it fully. Fragmented technical architecture makes collecting data and using it intelligently to influence the student experience difficult.
Varying digital literacy of internal teams can also create barriers; many universities need people who can interpret and act upon the data.
One solution to this is to employ senior people from the commercial sector, where data-led and customer-centred thinking is second nature.
By designing a data strategy and setting data standards, universities can develop their digital systems to incorporate existing data to support future ambitions effectively.
Nottingham Trent’s ambition to be the most digitally sophisticated university in the UK
One university leading the way is Nottingham Trent University (NTU), whose aspiration is to be the most digitally sophisticated university in the UK by 2025.
With over 40,000 students and colleagues spanning five university sites, NTU is one of the country’s largest and most influential higher education institutions.
We’re currently working with NTU, whose priority is to put students at the heart of their technological transformation programme. This will help them understand the real needs of their students so they can gain deeper insight into how best to transform their digital offerings.
Focusing on personalising the student experience for their diverse student community, our research will develop in-depth experience maps to illustrate their lived experience of different student groups whilst moving through university. We will marry this with the digital touchpoints available to them now.
The outcome of these maps will indicate where there is an opportunity for improved digital intervention and lay the foundation for a roadmap to digital transformation.
Digital must play a crucial part in the student experience
The route to meaningful digital transformation requires universities to take an agile approach that quickly and confidently defines a strategy that considers the bigger transformational picture.
This can be done by implementing a user-centred approach.
Clearly, the digital services universities provide will increasingly affect whether students feel their time at university delivered value for money. Like all commercial organisations, universities need to consider how they drive value and satisfaction for their ‘customers’ – their students.
Therefore, they must recognise where customer needs are unmet and the areas of the experience they most value. By shifting to a more ‘customer-centred’ design and thinking, services should be designed around the best experience for students rather than what best suits the organisation.
This piece was written by Mo Morgan, Lead Product Strategist at Great State
