Australia’s university students are changing and their service expectations are changing too. Keeping up is harder than ever before.
While investment in improved service experience is on the rise in Australia’s universities, we continue to see students struggling through tasks such as enrolment, fees, timetabling, course progression and graduations, experiencing service provision that is not at the standard they receive in other aspects of their lives.
Where and why are our institutions getting stuck?
To find out, KPMG spoke to senior university colleagues across approximately half of Australia’s universities who are seeking to improve their offerings in student administration and service.
Improving student service delivery – key observations
In KPMG's 2021 report – Student experience in the age of the customer – we observed that university students are becoming more diverse, digital, discerning, demanding and debt-averse and that universities are finding it increasingly difficult to meet students’ needs.
We argued that student experience strategy needs to holistically considers students’ needs as learners, people and customers.
In our 2024 report we examine how these trends are impacting student service provision, which is primarily related to students’ customer experience but has significant impacts on their learner and personal experiences too.
The gap is rapidly widening between service experience in the higher education and what students experience in other areas of their lives.
Talking to senior university executives, we found that:
Rethinking student services
We identified six big shifts that are needed to modernise student services and better meet students’ needs.
Our report lays out the mechanisms to help universities to shift their student service models:
| FROM | TO |
|---|---|
| Compliance-driven | Student-centric |
| Supplier-led | Service-led |
| Disconnected | Digitally connected |
| Insight-poor | Insight-rich |
| Fragmented | Partnered |
| High-cost | High-value |
Watch the webinar
Future of Higher Education
Powering Student Management webinar
14 March 2024
Our webinar delved into best practice in student service transformation.
Find out more
Based on our deep education sector expertise, our team can help you find the right technology solutions to uplift your service delivery processes and respond to the challenges presented by modern student demands.
KPMG's Higher Education Specialists
Morgan McCullough
Partner in Charge, Enterprise Performance | Consulting Sector Lead, Education
AUSTRALIA
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Related insights
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