[May 25, 2016] |
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73% of Students Are Dissatisfied with Their University's Digital Strategy
Unit4, a fast growing leader in enterprise applications for service
organizations, today announced the results of a multi-national research
study on students' perceptions of their campus technology. Amid a
rapidly changing digital landscape, the study finds that around
one-third of students feel student administration systems do not meet
their expectations, making them less likely to recommend the
institution. The survey also found that 7 in 10 students would recommend
that their universities review and change its digital strategy.
Additionally, nearly one-third of students in the US and one-quarter of
students in Canada think less of their institutions because of their
digital strategies, and around half of North American students expect it
to be easier to manage their academic lives because of the costs
associated with their university or college.
The research was designed to deliver insight surrounding the digital1
experience around university administration, and whether providing a
great digital experience to students gives institutions a competitive
advantage. Specifically, the goal was to measure students' perceptions
of their universities' current digital offering for administration. The
survey was conducted by DJS
Research in March and April 2016 among more than 2,000 full time and
part time students studying in the US, Canada, United Kingdom, France,
Germany, Benelux, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
Student responses were fairly consistent across undergraduates and
postgraduates and from country to country, finding that students want
their universities to do a better job in digitizing student
administration and collaboration. Globally, 44% said that student
administration is managed digitally "a little or not at all," and in the
US and Canada, 40% and 35% of respondents, respectively, stated that
administration is so complex it means they spend less time studying.
Additionally, course transfers proved exceptionally problematic for US
and Canadian students with only half of respondents rating their digital
administration process "good."
The research also found that a lack of modern, digital solutions for
student administration has a negative impact on the student's perception
of the university. For US respondents, 44% said they would have a better
experience if they could interact more digitally withtheir university,
and 45% would be more likely to recommend their university if digital
interaction was better. Globally, a quarter of respondents think less of
their university because their systems are poor, a sentiment that was
highest in the US, with nearly one-third of US respondents reporting
poor systems negatively affecting their view of their university.
According to Jami Morshed, VP of the Global Center of Excellence for
Education at Unit4, "This is why we've seen such demand for our new
next-generation Student Management system, as it's simpler and more
comprehensive than anything that's been previously available to
students. Universities face growing competition for students. Those that
embrace digital and deliver a user experience similar to the apps
students use on their many devices every day, will succeed above the
rest."
"One of the surprising results to come out of this survey showed that
over a third of students in the US have three or more logins for
university-related accounts," said Scott Kamieneski, Managing Director,
Unit4 North America. "While this is not only inefficient and cumbersome,
many universities also require that students come to campus to handle
tasks that could be digitized. In order to provide a more streamlined
campus experience, universities across the US need to embrace the
modern, digital solutions now available on the market to allow students
to spend less time dealing with administrative tasks and more time
learning."
When asked what experience they would like to have, 87% of the students
surveyed said they would like a single application accessible from any
device to manage their entire university life. More than 8 out of 10
would be more satisfied if their university implemented a single digital
system to manage all of their administration. Similarly, 87% would find
it useful to have an app that shows their current progress in their
degree, a core component of helping students stay on track.
The findings of the survey have been illustrated in an
infographic.
About Unit4 Unit4 is a leading provider of enterprise
applications empowering people in service organizations. Unit4 provides
student management, ERP and research management solutions to over 1000
colleges and universities globally to help them accelerate growth, boost
student success, improve institutional effectiveness and deliver
research excellence. Clients include Oxford and Cambridge Universities,
HEC Paris, University of Waterloo, American University of Paris, Robert
Morris University, Baylor College of Medicine, Hult International, and
University of Dubai. Unit4 is in business for people.
For more information please visit the website at http://www.unit4.com/about/our-company,
follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @Unit4global,
or visit our LinkedIn
page
US/CANADA WEBSITE: www.unit4.com/us US/CANADA
TWITTER: @UNIT4_NA
1'Digital' was defined to the students as
administration through websites or apps (rather than via email) on their
mobile, tablet, laptop or PC.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160525005878/en/
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