Student Experience And Other Trends And Challenges In Higher Education

By Scott Pointon, Digital Marketing Officer, Marval Software

According to Marval’s Global Education Survey, which was released last week, Student Experience is a key priority for more than 8/10 of Academic Institutes - and the trend that is more likely to affect their organization within the next five years.

The Higher Education field has become more competitive than ever before. Students nowadays have more options for quality studies and, knowing they are spending a significant amount of money and time on their Education, they are looking for more in return; whether it is academic programs, access to learning resources, facilities and accommodation, internships, scholarships or even leisure and sports activities – it’s all part of their experience.

The pressure gets back to the Service Desk who, according to the Survey, are required to manage increased expectations by both the senior management and the customers, with reduced budget. And while most of the responders have faith in their team’s ability to deliver excellent service (even under pressure), they also worry about lacking the right tools that would enable them to respond to the emerging challenges effectively. In fact, 77% of the responders don’t know what assets and resources are available for use at any time and 84% say they don’t have enough documentation to support business decisions.

Workload seems to be a burden for IT Operations, as well. 95% agrees that their workload has increased slightly or increased dramatically in the past five years. And yet, 93% of the responders believe that their team consumes a lot of time supporting minor requests that could be handled by the users, while another 90% says their self-service portal requires improvement.

The vast majority of the responders seem to have adopted an approach that puts the customer in the centre of their operations. It’s clear that most Service Desk Teams do care about improving the customer experience and delivering an excellent service. And they should be able to do so, should they be more supported; either by the senior management or with the right tools and technology that would allow them to manage their resources more effectively.

With Higher Education organizations entering a new, highly competitive era, the Service Desk is expected to play a key role in helping reach critical business objectives and improve the student experience. The Service Desk Teams realise the challenges and requirements related to their extended role, and understand what their strengths and weaknesses are. With eMSMment, continual support and the right technology, they are ready to thrive.

Download the Marval Global Education Survey 2017 here.