Breaking silos: Create a more connected university community experience for your new students
At this time of year the focus for our university partners shifts towards ensuring the successful transition of new cohorts into university life. As a community service partner, we uniquely collaborate across university teams, enhancing this process and working alongside partner teams to deliver a smoother experience for students as well as improved business outcomes (ROI). Over the past eight years, we have developed a proactive approach that not only enhances conversion rates but also fosters higher early retention (83% conversion in 2023).
Working Example - Staffordshire University (Offer Holder Transition 2024)
Staffordshire University has implemented an innovative program of cross-team transition events aimed at maximizing the connectivity students have into and across different parts of the university. By bringing together various departments and support services, Staffordshire ensures that new students receive holistic support and guidance right from the start of their university journey.
Staffordshire University delivers this service through their own fully branded and customized Staffs community app. The app serves as a central hub for students to access information, resources, and support services tailored to their needs and interests. Through the app, students can easily connect with peers, faculty, and support staff, fostering a sense of belonging and community from day one.
How does this benefit students’ transition?
The value to students lies in the seamless support and enhanced experience they receive when our partner universities coordinate a multi-team approach to transition. By bridging gaps between independent units like Careers and Accommodation, universities create a unified and holistic support system that addresses students' needs more comprehensively.
For our university partners, CampusConnect works across units that don’t traditionally work together, helping ensure any communication gaps between teams are minimised, and that overlapping responsibilities and disjointed processes don’t hinder efforts to provide effective support to incoming students.
Impact on experience for new students
Comprehensive Student Support: Access into and familiarity with wider service units and areas covering different aspects of university life, from faculty support to careers, employability guidance and accommodation assistance.
Personalised Guidance: More tailored advice from specialised teams, made available in a more timely manner to align with students’ needs during the admissions and onboarding process.
Streamlined Experience: A smoother experience for students allowing easy and convenient access into relevant teams in one dedicated space (accessed via dedicated, branded mobile app).
Greater Engagement: Promoting engagement in campus activities and initiatives, fostering a sense of belonging and connectivity within the university community.
Improved Satisfaction: Higher levels of satisfaction and well-being among students, resulting in a more positive overall university experience and higher retention rates.
How does it work?
Recognizing the challenge of coordinating engagement across the university, our new multi-team features and processes take a holistic approach to student support. We collaborate closely with various university stakeholders, breaking down silos and fostering interdisciplinary partnerships to enhance the applicant experience and improve conversion rates. This approach ensures that students' concerns are addressed in a timely manner and through channels they are comfortable engaging with. Our community manager plays a vital role in this process, working closely with central teams to identify units and onboard wider team members, thereby facilitating seamless communication and support.
Here's how our approach addresses the challenge:
Identification of Supporting Teams/Units:
We begin by collaborating with a lead team to identify the teams and units that are critical in supporting student transition. These typically include student support services such as advice and wellbeing, fees and funding, accommodation teams, academic skills units, careers and employability services, student support Coordinators, faculty leads, clubs and societies, or student life services.
Engagement with Team Leads:
Our community manager, Adele, engages with a lead from each identified team and unit. Adele ensures seamless onboarding of relevant team members and provides comprehensive system training and ongoing support.
Creation of Team Pages within the Community App:
Each team creates a dedicated page within the community app. They populate essential details including team members, location(s), community groups, and links to social media platforms.
Scheduling of Transition Events:
Teams have the flexibility to schedule various engagement events tailored to student needs. These events can range from live chats and virtual sessions to promoting in-person events as required.
Accessing Resources and Events:
Students conveniently access resources and events through their university community app (Guides, events, push reminders, and task lists keep students on track)
Utilization of Community Intelligence:
Our approach leverages community chat intelligence to determine the necessary teams at specific stages of the student journey.
Continuous Refinement and Support:
We continuously iterate and refine the support roadmap throughout pre-enrolment, enrolment and the first term, ensuring optimal support and enhancing student engagement and progression rates.
Formation of Sub-Community Groups:
Our approach often leads to the formation of sub-community groups based on event participation, such as commuters' groups or parents' groups, further enhancing the sense of community and support.
Delivery through Customized Community App:
This unique approach is delivered through a fully branded and customized community app, tailored to each partner institution.
Unwavering Community Support:
Our unwavering level of community support sets us apart as industry leaders in student conversion and transition services.
