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A NATIONAL APPROACH TO
STUDENT SUCCESSEVOLVING STUDENT SUPPORT AT CQUNIVERSITY
Mr Chris Veraa, Director, Student Experience
A BIT ABOUT CQUNIVERSITY
• Founded 1967 as Capricornia Institute
• Biggest regional university in Australia
• First dual sector university in Queensland
• Key disciplines:
– Nursing
– Teaching
– Engineering
– Allied Health
• Headquartered in Rockhampton, Queensland
A BIT ABOUT STUDENT EXPERIENCE @ CQU
• Around 120 staff
• 18 sites
• 13 towns & cities
• Centralised across all schools (faculties)
• Servicing all HE, VET, International & Bridging
students
• Full span of student lifecyle: from initial enquiry
and admission, to graduation and beyond
A BIT ABOUT STUDENT EXPERIENCE @ CQU
UG admissionsPG admissions
Customer contact centre
Program advice
Outbound recruitment
International student support
Careers adviceAcademic progression
Student communications
Orientation
Graduation
HEPP budget management
Equity scholarships
Counselling
Accommodation services
Widening participation
Front-of-house customer service
VET enrolment
Financial assistance
Retention initiatives
Credit transfer
Social media management
OUR MANTRA
A BIT ABOUT ME
Joined CQUniversity since July 2011
as Director, Corporate
Communications
Director, Student Experience since
July 2013
Prior employment history:
journalism, media relations,
corporate communications
Not a “student services” guy!
WHY DO I CARE ABOUT A GREAT
STUDENT EXPERIENCE?
It’s personal
Our students deserve it
If we don’t deliver, someone else will
CQUNIVERSITY 5 YEARS AGO
9 campuses
3 states
20,000 students
Higher education provider
50%+ of students via distance
CQUNIVERSITY 5 YEARS AGO
CQUNIVERSITY 5 YEARS AGO
• Bulk of student support staff in Rockhampton
• Rockhampton students well serviced
• Distance students well serviced
• Other on-campus students underserviced
CQUNIVERSITY TODAY
Content
CQUNIVERSITY TODAY
26 delivery sites
5 states
35,000 students
Dual sector institution (Cert 1 to PhD)
Push for resurgence of on-campus learning
STUDENT SUPPORT CIRCA 2014
Student location profile - 2014
Students
Brisbane Melbourne Sydney Bundaberg Flex Gladstone Mackay Noosa Rockhampton
Staff location profile - 2014
Chart Title
Brisbane Melbourne Sydney Bundaberg Gladstone Mackay Noosa Rockhampton Emerald Biloela Yeppoon
Call volumes – five-year trend
Minimum service standard
Every campus:
• At least 1 Student Success Advisor
• At least 1 Senior Student Success Advisor
OR specialist student support officer (e.g. counsellor, career advisor, equity adviser etc)
Student Success Advisor handles frontline enquiries, and assists with overflow of centralised enquiries
Senior SSA is the local Student Experience leader + a centralised specialist resource
Regional management structure
• Regional leader in each region
• Voluntary role
• PD for aspiring managers
• Touchpoint for management
• Touchpoint for local campus head
How we made it happen
• Conversion of existing roles to SSAs
• Additional funding for positions (inc. SSAF)
• EOI for regional leader roles
• Revised management structure to support SSAs
centrally
WHY DO WE NEED STUDENT EXPERIENCE
STAFF ON ALL DELIVERY SITES?
CQUNIVERSITY STUDENT PROFILE
Highest ratio in HE sector:
• Low SES
• Mature aged
• First in family
More than 50% studying by distance
Around 70% rural and regional
Indigenous - double the national average
Significant attrition risk
On-campus support
Noosa
On-campus support
Townsville
On-campus support
Cairns
On-campus support
Brisbane
On-campus support
Rockhampton TAFE
WHAT ARE THE RESULTS?
Student retention
• 0.8% improvement year-on-year
International Student Barometer (ISB) - 2015
• Across the board improvement year-on-year
University Experience Survey (UES)
• 74% satisfaction rate for ‘student support’
– 17% higher than previous year (all students)
– 19% higher than previous year (commencing students)
– Higher than the national average
Testimonials
“I wish to commend Leisa [SSA, CQU Gladstone]
for an exceptional assistance she provided me …
Clearly, she genuinely cares about the success of
students … I am so grateful that CQU Gladstone
has a Student Success Advisor.”
Testimonials
“I would like to acknowledge what a terrific job Rob
[Senior SSA, CQU Townsville] did … Rob took it
upon himself to make [my request] possible. If I
was an employer I would want more people like
Rob working for me.”
SUPPORTING THE VISION
Outbound retention campaign
Great student communications
National approach to training & information sharing
NEW CHALLENGES
• More growth!
• Maintaining funding for new roles
• Finding the sweet spot with VET
• Keeping staff training & skills ‘fresh’ despite distances
• Consistency of student experience
LESSONS
• Communicate expectations clearly
• Celebrate great customer service
• Keep staff connected with each other
• Ensure buy-in from local stakeholders
• Encourage innovation
• Let students know help is available!
