With demand for tertiary education projected to far outstrip current supply by 2030, both in the UK and globally, it is clear that the business model of the university is likely to go through significant changes that affect its every aspect. Key questions to consider include:
How will our students’ needs and expectations change over the next decade and how can we provide a digital experience that will meet or exceed them?
Why is this question important?
The expansion of higher education in the UK and the growing diversity of the student body has been one of the big successes of the past decade. This more heterogeneous student population comes into universities with a different set of expectations.
The tuition fees also contribute to a consumer mind-set among students who expect universities to better address their individual needs. This applies not only to teaching and learning but to every touchpoint between the student (prospective, current, or past) and the institution.
One of the most significant differences in expectations between past and future cohorts is the digital component. In the past, students often came to universities with very little prior experience of IT and encountered new technologies for the first time.
While this is unlikely to now be the case, universities will nonetheless need to at least match the everyday digital experience of their learners, including expectations set at school. This will be particularly important in a context where the traditional university model of face-to-face teaching has been disrupted and students are anxious about how this would affect the quality of their experience.
What strategic consideration or constraints need to be taken into account?
Student population and level of comfort with digital
Research shows that assumptions about the digital native generations can be misleading and doubly so with universities with high proportions of students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. Student expectations will vary by population and universities need to develop an understanding of their student body and their level of digital capability.
International student expectations
For universities with significant exposure to international markets awareness of cultural differences in the perceptions of digital technology will be key as overseas students may value particular elements of the experience more highly than others.
One platform vs many partners
One of the key trade-offs involved in redesigning the digital experience for students is choosing between the use of generalist vs specialist tools. The former often provides greater consistency and simplicity of implementation, whereas the latter may better meet individual needs while creating a fragmented IT environment.
Accessibility and reasonable adjustments
The experience of students with disabilities and those with additional needs is, thankfully, moving up the sector’s agenda. A greater role for digital has the potential to have massive positive impact, as the student experience can be designed from the ground up to be accessible by default (one example of this is the use of electronic textbooks via platforms designed to meet accessibility requirements).
However, this is an area that requires attention – otherwise the risk is that interactions are designed with ‘regular’ students in mind, making the experience more hostile and inaccessible to the rest of the student population.
How can we tackle this question?
Set clear expectations for what must be in place
As a first step, understand what components of the digital experience within universities will become non-negotiable over the next few years and prepare to put them in place quickly. Communicate the importance of these changes both from a regulatory and from a competitive perspective, and prepare to benchmark your institution against peers in the sector.
Heed the student voice
While you can’t predict what future generations of students will expect you can closely involve current students in designing courses and identifying learning outcomes to meet their expectations. Some universities have also run taster course sessions with school leavers to inform future curriculum design.
Remember that students don’t make decisions alone
Engage with parents of current and prospective students to understand their decision making process because they are often a significant influence on student choice of university. School outreach was one of the activities most disrupted by the coronavirus crisis – consider what engagement with schools and teachers will look like in a more digital environment.
What is the role of the campus in our students’ experience and how can we approximate it with digital delivery?
Why is this question important?
The digital campus will be as central to student experience in the next decade as the physical campus has been up until now. Universities have tended to rely on physical proximity afforded by the campus to ensure a basic level of engagement.
For many, the traditional campus experience has been a massive selling point. This point of view risks downplaying the experience of marginalised groups such as commuter students, carers, online learners, etc. This challenge has become particularly evident in the light of the coronavirus crisis.
When a campus model cannot be taken for granted, many universities may need to re-evaluate how they deliver value to domestic and international students if they spend little to no time physically present.
The real opportunity here is to leverage digital technology in ways that recreate and build on the campus experience while affording students’ a full choice of pace and place of learning. Decisions made around the use of campus facilities will have significant implications on the university cost base as well as its sense of place and connection to the local community.
What strategic considerations or constraints need to be taken into account?
Type of campus
Different decisions will be required based on the current role of the campus as well as their number (single vs satellite), location (city-centre vs standalone) and student accommodation arrangements.
Many universities will consider converting teaching spaces into other uses and will need to identify opportunities for providing hands-on experience of practical subjects, even if a course is delivered largely online.
Financial position and scale of investment required
Capital spend and maintenance are among the largest outlays and the university’s ability to make changes will be constrained by the strength of their financial position. However, there may be opportunities to significantly reduce costs or generate additional revenue through different uses of available space.
Ways of working and staff experience
While most conversations about the campus focus on the student experience, the shift to remote working in professional services as well as teaching and learning is likely to have an effect on future plans. Universities will need to consider how they utilise existing space to create the best staff experience and enable new ways of working. Another important consideration is the ability of staff to build rapport with students if opportunities for face-to-face interaction are limited.
Role of research
Research intensive universities will also need to consider to what extent physical laboratory spaces as well as archives can and should be moved into the digital space. Universities will be aware that research spaces are also key to many teaching and learning activities and making the best out of the research based university to improve the student experience.
How can we tackle this question?
Focus on the opportunities
Increased attention on the digital campus has a number of advantages compared to the traditional model. For example, spaces previously used by lecture theatres and physical means of scaling delivery can potentially be repurposed for high value activities linked to the university mission such as employer hubs or shared curriculum spaces where online and campus based students can work together.
Start at the drawing board
Running workshops that encourage staff, students, and other stakeholders to articulate what is important to them about the physical campus and inspire blue sky thinking on how this can be moved into the digital space.
What opportunities does better use of digital technology offer to improve our brand differentiation?
Why is this question important?
Universities face an increasingly competitive landscape in the international as well as domestic market. In order to maintain their advantage or improve their position they need to clearly articulate what if any role digital technology plays in brand differentiation.
Effective use of digital technology, particularly in marketing functions, can open up new markets, whether international students, online learners, or corporate employees looking to improve their skills.
Furthermore, for some universities, particularly those established more recently, a superior digital experience may become a new area for differentiation against competitors establishing a reputation for being innovative and forward thinking.
This will be particularly valuable if coupled with strong data insights into student outcomes, employability and student satisfaction, with annual student experience surveys providing a valuable benchmark, such as:
What strategic consideration or constraints need to be taken into account?
Unique selling proposition
Traditional, established brands will see less benefit from digital as a differentiator – and in fact in some cases their USP may be explicitly focused on face to face interaction, and this liable.
The benefits for them are likely to be around operational efficiency and a less frustrating digital experience for students and staff. For up and coming universities there is a potential opportunity to position themselves as digitally savvy which may appeal to particular student populations.
Differentiation from other online offerings
Universities considering offering online degrees should explore which subject areas offer the most opportunities for growth and align well with the institution’s strengths. For example, there are fewer degrees being offered in practice-based STEM subjects as opposed to MBA degrees.
Non-academic experiences
The potential brand upsides of effective use of digital are not limited to teaching and learning. There are significant opportunities to stand out within the sector by embracing transformational online experiences for students and staff: participation in global networks, engagement with authentic professional communities, contributing to massive open research projects.
How can we tackle this question?
Carry out marketing analysis
To identify the greatest opportunities, open and honest conversations with current and prospective students and staff are key. By understanding their requirements and aspirations, universities can adapt the digital experience to meet the needs of their service users.
Collect data, not anecdotes
There is a lack of robust data on how digitization affects student outcomes, research outputs, staff wellbeing and so on. Having a clear understanding of the specific benefits of digital will help craft a more convincing narrative to support brand differentiation.
Consider both opportunities and risks of digital
For some institutions, a greater role for digital (for example, in the delivery of courses) may present a risk rather than an opportunity, either internally, by undermining the existing USP, or by creating greater competition. In all likelihood, a great digital experience will be required in some areas even if it is not in teaching – for example, by making the application process seamless, pleasant, and personalised.
Other questions to consider
How are student recruitment practices likely to change over the next decade and do we have the digital marketing capabilities to keep up with best practice?
Can long-term savings from scaling online operations enable us to charge lower tuition fees without an adverse impact on university finances?
How would we maintain the sense of our civic mission and connection to the local community if more functions shifted online?
How can we improve employability outcomes by giving students the chance to meaningfully interact with hundreds of local and international employers as part of their learning, and what role would digital platforms play in this?
How will we engage alumni to continue participating in the life of the university after they graduate?
Why resilient business models are important
Significant changes are expected from the way courses are marketed to students, to the target audience that universities need to reach, to the models of delivery and the unique selling point of HE. These challenges are compounded by changes in policy and in the makeup of the student body, which create financial pressures and the need to meet rapidly changing expectations.
To prepare for this increasingly uncertain future, universities need a more resilient business model that makes the most of the strengths of each individual institution. The role of digital technologies in this will vary by institution, but the overarching theme is one of greater flexibility and effectiveness.
Digital technologies will create opportunities to more closely engage students from a wide variety of backgrounds, create genuine choice of pace and place of learning, improve financial sustainability by unlocking new revenue streams and better meet the expectations of graduates, parents, and policy-makers through mass collaboration with employers.