Powered Student

The myriad of oft-changing compliance requirements arising from regulators, the professions, academic disciplines and institutions’ own policy settings make it difficult for student service functions to deliver in a student-centric manner. This results in a mismatch between institutional service delivery and student expectations, especially in the time and effort dimensions of CX. Adoption of CX tools based on human-centred design can make a big difference in how students experience services whilst also ensuring that compliance is protected.

Organisations in every sector find it hard to recognise when they are operating from a starting point of supplier convenience, and the same is true in higher education. To create an operating model that truly puts students at the centre of how things are done, the disciplines of customer-centricity must be matched with the disciplines of service design and management. These disciplines help universities build the infrastructure to change the organisational mindset from one of constraint to one of possibility.

The sector witnessed a building boom across the early part of this century, which for many universities left insufficient room for investment in digital service provision. During the pandemic significant investment was needed to transition to online education at scale. The speed and cost of these reforms left little room for the establishment of new technologies or capabilities in student services. Additionally, many institutions have become stuck on the challenge of how best to modernise in their systems of student record given that there has been very little movement in this technology landscape in the Australian market since the turn of the century. The critical shift now is for universities to jointly architect their systems of engagement, record and insight to create a genuine, 360-degree view of student need and service.

Student service functions are awash with data but often have very little insight into the key drivers of student behaviour, motivation and satisfaction. It is also the case that overall SX measurement in institutions puts little emphasis on the CX component. The development of robust service metrics and targets is crucial to understand student service experience and satisfaction, the cost to serve and to drive continuous improvement. Mature practice would also make visible the ways in which CX impacts students’ LX and PX, allowing institutions to achieve overall SX uplift.

Effective partnering is crucial to the modernisation of student services. Students are, of course, the primary partner. While the very useful Students as Partners model is gaining traction in the sector, it is less prevalent in the provision of student services. Operational partnering across professional and academic divisions is a crucial underpinning to student-centric and efficient practice. Additionally, robust partnering with external partners is necessary to ensure the whole service ecosystem is operating well in service of the student.

During the difficult years of the pandemic, many of Australia’s universities reduced staffing levels in student management (alongside other professional and academic staff groupings). In this context, many universities are now seeking to improve the digital tools of trade to alleviate the workload burden on the remaining staff and free up resources for higher value services.