Total student experience: a holistic approach to addressing today’s student expectations

Every university trumpets an improved student experience as a hallmark of its strategic plan for the next decade. This focus aligns well with the raison d’etre of higher education. A meaningful student experience is correlated with many markers of success both during a course of study and beyond: on-time degree completion, workplace preparation, emotional well-being, and more.

In an era of increased marketisation, attending to the student experience can also boost the institutional brand. Buttressed with improved league table rankings, positive results of regulatory surveys, and good word-of-mouth publicity, universities can craft a compelling message about value in the public square.

Part of the problem is inherent to common student experience assessments: they are oriented around an antiquated view of the student experience, one focused overwhelmingly on teaching and learning, as well as career outcomes. And while universities cannot ease off their efforts in that realm, students are nonetheless bringing to campus a much broader set of expectations that influence their experience—and that leaders must be prepared to address

Distribution of focus in major student experience assessments

Despite almost universal agreement on the importance of the student experience, there’s a widespread feeling among higher education leaders that what has worked in the past will not be good enough for the future. Universities have fallen into a game of Whack-a-Mole, chasing after improved performance in a never-ending deluge of surveys.