As part of the face a university conveys to the world, student services and their associated staff play a key role in constructing an institution's external identity. As noted by several researchers, many universities have become large and complex organisations requiring strategic planning of service provision to students.
Students need to be able to access a wide range of resources across an unfamiliar and often daunting university culture. The infrastructure of student services and degree of support can contribute to making the difference between retention and withdrawal.
How universities provide services to students is thus crucial, and makes an important contribution to the extent to which the student enjoys all aspects of campus life, both intra- and extra-curriculum activities.
About 30,000 people from more than 90 countries live and study at our institution, La Trobe University in Melbourne, which offers some 140 undergraduate and postgraduate courses in broad-ranging subject areas, across five faculties. We conducted a study designed to collect students' views about service provision, and explore the ways in which services could be centralised in a student hub or 'one-stop shop'.
Feedback from all participants suggested that locating services centrally would minimise time spent accessing services. Students voiced concerns, however, about potential pitfalls to a hub, including increased waiting times, particularly at the beginning of the year, and the quality and expertise of staff.
They suggested a ticket system with virtual queues and central screens showing the number being dealt with, to eliminate queues and prevent time-wasting. Our results suggest that students want their university to operate like banks and fast-food restaurants.
The perceived efficiency of staff representing student services is important, because support services are complementary and incorporate components of a total learning environment.
At the University of South Australia an integrated, autonomous university-wide model of learning and teaching has been applied.
The Learning Connection Unit provides many services, staffed by academics (learning advisers and academic development staff) and professional staff (counsellors, disability advisers, international student officers and online advisers) working collaboratively with other teaching and professional staff to optimise student learning and ensure that students have the skills and support necessary to successfully complete their courses.
This scheme illustrates shared responsibility for educational quality and student success, while also being a tangible feature that could be incorporated into a student hub, further addressing the whole student.
Ensuring that students have multiple and diverse opportunities to engage with their university can be a challenge and this came up in all focus group discussions. Introducing an electronic calendar in the hub was a suggestion that may partially overcome this.
A regularly updated service was suggested to alert students to academic and administration matters as well as up-and-coming extra-curricular activities throughout the university. This might also support mature-aged students who have particular struggles in a new academic environment.
With the formation of a hub, the complexity of locating services is managed. Similarly, another advantage of integrating services is that students can come in for one service and become aware of others.
While focus group participants generally agreed that services such as counselling should remain in their existing locations because of concerns about privacy, it was suggested that a 'shop front' for students to obtain information or make appointments could be established within the hub. This would also reduce any stigma of using such a service because the student could be coming in for any one of several reasons.
Further discussion in the groups led to the suggestion of a virtual hub online, as a link from the university homepage. Participants further recommended that each area have a preamble outlining the services offered. This would enable students to have a basic working knowledge of each service, while also potentially reducing queues as students would be able to access information from home.
Being able to book for services such as counselling appointments and sporting facilities and paying fees online (for example, for car parking permits) was strongly supported. The use of social software marks a change in the way students communicate. It has been suggested that students entering university today are 'digital natives', with instant electronic communication and information by way of the internet, and email has always been a part of their lives.
The Australia and New Zealand Student Services Association has insisted that admission to higher education is not the only hurdle for current students. Evidence shows that most students who drop-out do so not because of a lack of academic ability, but rather because of a range of life events and circumstances, including mental, physical and financial problems.
This highlights the need for effective, well resourced and easily accessible student support services as they are not only integral to enhancing the engagement of students in lifelong learning, but also play a key role in constructing an institution's reputation among prospective students.
Communicating with students effectively is essential in assisting them to gain a sense of belonging and purpose on campus. If students are busy, stressed, have language difficulties or are shy, they are at risk of slipping through the net.
More flexible communication strategies and the use of a student hub can assist in the provision of administrative, academic and support services, creating a more positive experience while increasing engagement, retention and student satisfaction.
It would appear that a student hub or 'one stop shop' would be valued by students as it would increase access to services through a flexible, coherent, transparent and systematic model of service. To date, seeking services has often been complex and students agree that a hub would diversify and enhance opportunities in both academic and administration matters.
An emerging shift in student communication preferences further illustrates that in addition to the student hub is the use of up-to-date technologies to provide information and resources online.
Overall, it is expected that a restructuring of service provision would provide consistency, equity of access and clarity of service provision for students accessing services. These student-oriented initiatives may additionally help to increase student engagement, retention, satisfaction and the overall tertiary experience.
Students need to be able to access a wide range of resources across an unfamiliar and often daunting university culture. The infrastructure of student services and degree of support can contribute to making the difference between retention and withdrawal.
How universities provide services to students is thus crucial, and makes an important contribution to the extent to which the student enjoys all aspects of campus life, both intra- and extra-curriculum activities.
About 30,000 people from more than 90 countries live and study at our institution, La Trobe University in Melbourne, which offers some 140 undergraduate and postgraduate courses in broad-ranging subject areas, across five faculties. We conducted a study designed to collect students' views about service provision, and explore the ways in which services could be centralised in a student hub or 'one-stop shop'.
Feedback from all participants suggested that locating services centrally would minimise time spent accessing services. Students voiced concerns, however, about potential pitfalls to a hub, including increased waiting times, particularly at the beginning of the year, and the quality and expertise of staff.
They suggested a ticket system with virtual queues and central screens showing the number being dealt with, to eliminate queues and prevent time-wasting. Our results suggest that students want their university to operate like banks and fast-food restaurants.
The perceived efficiency of staff representing student services is important, because support services are complementary and incorporate components of a total learning environment.
At the University of South Australia an integrated, autonomous university-wide model of learning and teaching has been applied.
The Learning Connection Unit provides many services, staffed by academics (learning advisers and academic development staff) and professional staff (counsellors, disability advisers, international student officers and online advisers) working collaboratively with other teaching and professional staff to optimise student learning and ensure that students have the skills and support necessary to successfully complete their courses.
This scheme illustrates shared responsibility for educational quality and student success, while also being a tangible feature that could be incorporated into a student hub, further addressing the whole student.
Ensuring that students have multiple and diverse opportunities to engage with their university can be a challenge and this came up in all focus group discussions. Introducing an electronic calendar in the hub was a suggestion that may partially overcome this.
A regularly updated service was suggested to alert students to academic and administration matters as well as up-and-coming extra-curricular activities throughout the university. This might also support mature-aged students who have particular struggles in a new academic environment.
With the formation of a hub, the complexity of locating services is managed. Similarly, another advantage of integrating services is that students can come in for one service and become aware of others.
While focus group participants generally agreed that services such as counselling should remain in their existing locations because of concerns about privacy, it was suggested that a 'shop front' for students to obtain information or make appointments could be established within the hub. This would also reduce any stigma of using such a service because the student could be coming in for any one of several reasons.
Further discussion in the groups led to the suggestion of a virtual hub online, as a link from the university homepage. Participants further recommended that each area have a preamble outlining the services offered. This would enable students to have a basic working knowledge of each service, while also potentially reducing queues as students would be able to access information from home.
Being able to book for services such as counselling appointments and sporting facilities and paying fees online (for example, for car parking permits) was strongly supported. The use of social software marks a change in the way students communicate. It has been suggested that students entering university today are 'digital natives', with instant electronic communication and information by way of the internet, and email has always been a part of their lives.
The Australia and New Zealand Student Services Association has insisted that admission to higher education is not the only hurdle for current students. Evidence shows that most students who drop-out do so not because of a lack of academic ability, but rather because of a range of life events and circumstances, including mental, physical and financial problems.
This highlights the need for effective, well resourced and easily accessible student support services as they are not only integral to enhancing the engagement of students in lifelong learning, but also play a key role in constructing an institution's reputation among prospective students.
Communicating with students effectively is essential in assisting them to gain a sense of belonging and purpose on campus. If students are busy, stressed, have language difficulties or are shy, they are at risk of slipping through the net.
More flexible communication strategies and the use of a student hub can assist in the provision of administrative, academic and support services, creating a more positive experience while increasing engagement, retention and student satisfaction.
It would appear that a student hub or 'one stop shop' would be valued by students as it would increase access to services through a flexible, coherent, transparent and systematic model of service. To date, seeking services has often been complex and students agree that a hub would diversify and enhance opportunities in both academic and administration matters.
An emerging shift in student communication preferences further illustrates that in addition to the student hub is the use of up-to-date technologies to provide information and resources online.
Overall, it is expected that a restructuring of service provision would provide consistency, equity of access and clarity of service provision for students accessing services. These student-oriented initiatives may additionally help to increase student engagement, retention, satisfaction and the overall tertiary experience.
* Melissa Buultjens and Priscilla Robinson are researchers at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.
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