Exploring ways to enrich student services at Melbourne
Meet Andrew Devine from Student and Scholarly Services, who was awarded the 2023 Universitas 21 Professional Staff Scholarship.
Enhancing and supporting an exceptional student experience is a priority for the University of Melbourne, with significant work underway to enhance the design and operation of the programs, platforms and systems which support students.
As a Project Lead in the University’s Student Services Transformation Program his work addresses priority pain points for students, including self-solving administrative requirements via digital channels, course planning, service channel and tier transitions and uplifting the enrolment experience for students.
Through this and other projects, the University aims to deliver a world class student experience that is personalised, holistic and continuously improving. Transforming student services is a key priority under the University’s Advancing Students and Education strategy.
Working to develop an end-to-end student advising model, Andrew visited five U21 and exchange partner universities in Europe on a Universitas 21 Professional Staff Scholarship. Through reciprocal discussions and insight sharing with global colleagues, Andrew learned how different universities structure and organise student support services and navigate challenges, uncovering some opportunities to explore at the University of Melbourne.
For Andrew, visiting partner universities emphasised how important it is for the University of Melbourne to continue investing in systems and the work that is being undertaken to uplift student services. Speaking to colleagues at other universities about their challenges in adopting technology for different functions, like course planning, he found they still widely used print outs and manual systems which they found quite restrictive.
Andrew recognised how far the University of Melbourne has come in investing in technology like the My Course Planner digital tool and OneCRM for enquiry management.
“I think we need to celebrate the great work that we are doing within Student and Scholarly Services. The scale and volume of work in comparison to other universities I visited is huge and we are doing a terrific job, this benchmarking shows how well we are doing. Now it’s about this continuous improvement which is something our team really embraces.”
At each university, Andrew learned about how they structured their models and networks of student support and managed the roles of shared services and faculty supports. This is something that could be beneficial to explore further at the University of Melbourne, solidifying the partnership between faculties and central services to support the student journey.
“Continuing our work to connect shared services to faculties and better understanding students’ needs can foster great outcomes for students. If we do this well we can connect them to great initiatives and make transitions and hand off points a much smoother experience for students.”
Andrew also learned about ways to support students to self-solve issues. He encountered instances where students could benefit from technology advancements to help them navigate different issues, including considering opportunities to increase and improve knowledge-based articles for students, like at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Many of the universities struggled with visibility of their support services and were actively trying to find different ways to engage with students.
During the trip Andrew saw how different universities were embedding career exploration for students into their curriculum with great success, with sophisticated models built by careers staff being expanded to be included in course and subject offerings. He also saw different requirements for students to progress through their course, with some universities offering less strict rules for prerequisites to allow students more independence to move through their studies, while maintaining the academic rigour and integrity of their subjects and courses.
Andrew found that being open-minded, flexible, and easy going helped him to make the most of the opportunity. He received great feedback for this approach, which he is committed to maintaining throughout his career. Being Andrew’s first time travelling for an extended length of time and navigating Europe on his own, the trip wasn’t without its challenges, but he is incredibly grateful for the growth the experience afforded him.
“This was an amazing opportunity for my professional and personal growth, and I’d really encourage others to take this opportunity and jump right in if they get the chance. I’d like to thank everyone who supported me throughout the scholarship, and I’d like to share a big congratulations to wish all the best to Belinda Fischer for receiving the 2024 scholarship!”
For deeper insight into Andrew’s learning from the scholarship, staff can watch a presentation he gave to the Student Services Community of Practice on Thursday 21 November 2024. Staff interested in more information on the Universitas 21 professional staff scholarship can read more about it here.