Benefits
The Student Experience Programme (SEP) will make student services more consistent and convenient to access by bringing more student services online; creating a consistent experience for all and giving students more flexibility, to access personalised services and continue their learning at times convenient to them.
The Programme will also enable our staff to spend more time on the things that matter to us and our students, by streamlining and simplifying many time-consuming processes
Benefits for students
- We’ll reduce the time students spend queuing and waiting in person for services, by introducing online self-services for things like obtaining confirmation letters and making payments. Students will also be able to make requests online and track the progress of cases (for things like mitigating circumstances, complaints and appeals) – bringing more convenience for students and helping us handle requests faster.
- Students will have access to a wider range of support and wellbeing tools, and receive help and support more quickly – thanks to increased investment in our support services and smarter use of student data.
- Students won’t have to remember when to do important actions (like uploading a student card photo or completing registration) - they’ll receive automatic notifications at the right time through a personalised portal in My Manchester.
- Students will be able to track their work and progress more easily – dashboards in My Manchester will show details like their course units, assessments and research milestones. They’ll also be able to easily contact their academic advisor and supervisor from within My Manchester.
Benefits for professional services staff
- PS colleagues will have more time to focus on the things that matter, as we simplify hundreds of frustrating long-winded processes (like setting up a CAS, or transferring student marks between systems). This will enable staff to do more innovative activities that really add value to the experience of our students.
- PS colleagues will have the right tools to do their work effectively, as we move away from several highly customised, out of date systems to a core set of standardised systems.
- It will be easier for PS staff to see which skills they may need to progress their careers and to share and learn from each other across organisational boundaries, via Communities of Practice. We’ll achieve this by making structures clearer and more consistent, as well as introducing job families and role descriptions based on competencies.
- Colleagues working across PS will be able to better identify opportunities to improve the services offered to students, though access to more sophisticated tools to analyse data related to student services.
Benefits for academic staff
- Academic staff will have more time to focus on their teaching and academic support activities, as we simplify hundreds of frustrating long-winded processes and make many more services available for students to access online (such as the ability to track the progress of cases for things like mitigating circumstances, complaints and appeals). Making things easier for students will reduce the number of direct queries to academic colleagues.
- Admissions tutors will be able to spend more time considering applications and making decisions, as we digitise and streamline their processes to make them less time-consuming. This includes the introduction a single digital area for academic staff to comment on individual applications and view and complete actions specific to their role.
- Academic staff will be able to more easily track student progress and identify those who need support as we introduce a single area in My Manchester for academics to access a full view of their students, alongside engagement data and grades.
- Academic advisors and supervisors will be able to raise any concerns around student mental health and wellbeing in a more streamlined way, as information they pass on to student support teams will be logged in a single system. This will better support the teams working together, to identify concerning patterns and intervene sooner to offer help.