Student Expectations in the Era of Variable Fees

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SROC 2007

• Student Expectations in the Era of Variable Fees

Jon F Baldwin, Registrar
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Overview

• Student Expectations
• The Student Experience
• Challenges
• Beyond 2009

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• Student Expectations

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Which student?

• Full time Home/EU Undergraduate
• Part time Undergraduate
• International students (overseas fees)
• Returning to study
• Postgraduate students taught, research

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Student Motivations

• Gain qualifications
• Improve chances of getting a job
• Improve earning potential
• The student experience
• Learn about interesting subjects
• To be stretched intellectually

UNITE Student Experience Report 2007
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What a student expects

• A high standard learning experience which is
  enjoyable, applicable useable
• Access to academics a readily available
  counselling service
• Definitive timetable
• Reliable information

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What a student expects

• Friendly approach
• Good communication between university students
• Resources e.g. library computers
• Pleasant living environment
• Car parking, good bus service

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What a student can experience

• Academics to be unavailable
• Departments / Services close at 5pm
• Lack of rooms, no timetables
• Out of date information
• Saturation of irrelevant information
• To be passed around
• To have to wait
• Car park full, buses overcrowded

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Student SatisfactionNational Student Survey 2006

• High levels of overall satisfaction with the
  quality of courses - over 80 definitely or
  mostly agree
• 'The course is intellectually stimulating' (81
  definitely or mostly agree)
• 'My communications skills have improved' (79
  definitely or mostly agree)
• 'Staff are enthusiastic about what they are
  doing' (80 definitely or mostly agree)
• 'I have been able to contact staff when I needed
  to' (77 definitely or mostly agree).

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Student SatisfactionNational Student Survey 2006

• Improvement since 2005 survey in the level of
  satisfaction with resources provided by
  universities and colleges.
• 79 (77 in 2005) of students definitely or
  mostly agreed that the library meets their needs,
  and that IT and specialised resources are readily
  accessible
• Innovations and improvements
• New facilities and student support schemes
• Extended opening hours for libraries and other
  services
• New assessment and feedback systems, and more
  effective student consultation procedures

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Student SatisfactionUNITE Student Experience
Report 2007

• Most satisfied with
• Availability of IT
• Standard of teaching or lecturing
• Opportunity to try new experiences
• Least satisfied with
• Customer service received from the University

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Managing Expectations

• What do students expect?
• What do students actually experience?
• How do we square this circle?
• The challenge is to develop managerial
  structures where academic administrative staff
  are pulling together toward the same objectives

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• The Student Experience

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Previous experiences

• Output / input
• Educational context
• Cultural / social context
• Technological context

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Evolutionary Pressures

• Market forces and competition
• The new fees settlement
• Consumer awareness
• Information Technology
• Need for agility and responsiveness

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Rising Expectations

• Accountability culture
• Information in public domain
• Surveying culture
• League tables
• Government accountability (RAE, QAA)
• OIA, Freedom of Information, Data Protection
• Competition in the HE sector (global)
• Branding
• Use of technology
• Accessibility of services
• High quality facilities and services

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A result of variable fees?

• Broader cultural change or variable fees?
• Noticeable shift since top up?
• Too early to tell impact
• Little variation in fees charged
• Levels of personal debt
• Higher fees for PG and Overseas students
• Bursary market

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Impact of variable fees on admissions (so far)

• Increase of 10 in the number of applicants from
  2004 to 2006
• No evidence of correlation in the change in the
  level of applications for full-time undergraduate
  places by institution and the relative generosity
  of their proposed student support arrangements
• Increase of 6.4 applicants from 2006 to 2007
  highest ever level

Universities UK, February 2007
UCAS, Applicants data as at 15 Jan 07
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• Challenges

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Present challenges

• Develop service culture for the consumer student
• Increase modularisation and choice
• Widen access
• Enhanced living and study environments
• Grow PG students and increase research income
• HR Framework Agreement
• Internationalisation

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Responses

• Developing quality of teaching and learning
• Developing quality of facilities and services
• Branding and reputation management
• Customer relationship management
• Accessibility to services
• One stop shops
• Online services
• Student contracts

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Service developments at Warwick

• Online services for applicants
• PG application form, prospectus requests, open
  day booking, accommodation applications
• Online services for students, including
• Enrolment and re-enrolment
• Module registration
• Piloting online course transfer system
• Student portal and access to teaching and
  examination timetables
• Mass mailing for staff from student records
  system
• blogs
• The Learning Grid 24/7 learning resource centre
• The Reinvention Centre classroom space designed
  to facilitate research-based learning

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Principles behind Service Culture

• To provide a high quality experience for students
  a supportive, secure environment which is
  efficiently managed
• To maintain consistency of standards whilst
  recognising local requirements
• To maintain clarity, order and simplicity
• To develop and adhere to threshold service levels
• To provide value for money

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Meeting student expectations

• Seamless student experience
• Pre applicant
• Applicant
• Student
• Graduate
• Services need to be developed in parallel
• Understanding what students want

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A culture of partnership

• Recognise that we are together engaged in an
  academic enterprise
• Work with Departments to understand needs and
  raise administrative capacity
• Strategic approach
• Warwick.ac.uk not Warwick Ltd
• The Warwick Way
• Appoint academically literate administrators
• Joined-up governance culture
• Co-operation not conflict
• Allow staff to do what they are employed to do.

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Recent Developments

• Growing complaints culture
• Accountable when things go wrong
• Increased parental involvement
• Heightened sense of investment
• Concept of investment and return value for
  money
• Contact hours

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• Beyond 2009

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Beyond 2009

• What happens if the cap on tuition fees is
  lifted?
• Differences in expectation according to fees
• Fees market
• Consumer expectations
• Perception / reality of quality linked to price
• Bursaries market to widen access and attract the
  best students
• Possible shifts in perception about the overseas
  market if fee differentiation decreases between
  Home/EU and overseas students
• Increased variation in quality of teaching? (US
  model)
• Increased competition due to demographic downturn
  in Home market?