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Delivering a quality student experience is essential to attracting and retaining university students. It’s no surprise that many universities are seeking to invest in this experience as a result. Identifying the distinctive value add of a given university experience is fundamental to attracting the right students and to aligning the whole university to deliver on it.
A post-92 city-centre university with a focus on art, design, and sustainability with a strong emphasis on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) wanted to improve its student experience, recognising the need to hone in on what makes a difference to its students.
How do you centre student voices?
The university engaged Nous to define its target student value proposition and present it in a visually engaging way. This value proposition was to encompass students across all campuses, learning modes, degrees, backgrounds, and levels.
“Putting student voices at the centre of this work meant that nothing would be lost in translation between what they said and what the university executive heard,” says project director Antonia Instone. “The university showed real a dynamism and willingness to change to deliver that target student value proposition. They meant business.”
Working quickly, over the course of five weeks, we set about understanding both current and target for students’ academic and holistic experience at university.
We engaged with students in a range of ways, including through a short survey (receiving more than 1,100 responses) and through nine in-person and online focus groups. This engagement identified what students viewed as unique about the university, the things they liked and disliked, and what they hoped to see moving forward. This was accompanied by conversations with relevant professional and academic staff members to get the staff-side view of student care.
We supplemented these student insights with demographic data, marketing insights, student pulse survey results, student outcomes, existing strategies, and a review of public forums that inform applicant perceptions.
Distilling the data
Our research identified that the university needed to double down on its current identity, putting EDI and sustainability front and centre, and making more of its high-quality care for students with disability. We found that the university’s open, focused, student-centric culture stood out in a sector where many institutions are seeking to be all things to all people. This really was a unique value proposition, critical in a crowded higher education market.
We ultimately delivered a visually compelling one-page snapshot of the ideal student value proposition, along with a supporting report that outlined what the team had heard and found, relevant case studies from our previous work, examples of other universities’ student experience statements, and recommendations to progress towards the university’s targets. During the final drafting stage, the proposition was tested with students and staff – as well as the direct client team – and altered based on their feedback to ensure it aligned best with their collective experiences and perspectives. The final snapshot was supported by ambition statements that summed up what it meant to students to belong to the university.
The student experience now better reflects the university’s ambition
The student value proposition we presented clearly resonated with students. “It gets the vibe of [the university] and covers all the bases,” one student told us “It captures a diverse set of opinions across the board. It reflects the university – not just select groups.”
The university is implementing this new student value proposition, using the materials we created to drive student-centred change, support and attract students, build staff buy-in and engagement, and better understand and respond to the needs of different students.
“We are living in a climate where the cost of a degree, alongside the cost of living, is a really felt by applicants,” says Instone. “In this context, knowing that the investment in studying is worthwhile, and the institution the right fit for a student could not be more critical. It’s key for each students’ wellbeing, and fundamental for the university’s bottom line.”
“Helping a university make their USP clear delivers clear value to all those current and would-be students, and to the whole institution.”
What you can learn from our work on this project
Making the student voice the loudest in the conversation about student experience delivers a distinctive, student-led outcome. Students’ opinions need to be sought and centred in both research and conclusions to keep students at the heart of a university’s priorities.
Students tend to draw on anecdotes to illustrate their experience. Using these first-hand experiences to illustrate experiences can help drive transformation.
Students have multiple touchpoints with a university. Any attempt to define the current or preferred student experience must be holistic.
