What does “digital” mean to you?
‘Digital’ can mean many things, so when we set out to create the University of Exeter’s 2030 Digital Strategy we reached out to our stakeholders to find out what they wanted us to achieve, and together we co-created a brand-new digital strategy for the University.
The insights we gathered from user research, aligning with the aims of the Universities overall Strategy 2030, lead us to identifying three key problems for our Digital Strategy to solve;
- How do we make the experience the best and most accessible in our peer group?
- How do we enable people to get stuff done?
- How do we generate more value and maximise our reputation?
The insights also generated twelve strategic themes, which will guide what we need to achieve and how we need to do it. You can read these themes and the specific insight behind them on our dedicated Digital Strategy site.
We are excited and ambitious to embark on our journey to fulfil our vision of becoming “the most accessible and connected university destination for any user”.
Alistair Jarvis, former Chief Executive of Universities UK, said the Higher Education sector is about 10 years behind other UK public sectors in terms of digital transformation. We will learn from those already achieving great things digitally and do more to “practice what we teach”, creating an advisory network of digital specialists and academics to support our delivery.
What will the Digital Strategy deliver?
Our initial priorities are:
- Respond to the highest scoring ‘pain points’ raised by students during our user research.
- Develop an accessible and user-friendly customer journey for online education.
The user journey element includes making it easy to search, enrol and pay for online education, as well as access the resources you need to engage, and succeed with your studies regardless of where you are in the world!
What are we already doing?
We have started work on a new University of Exeter App which is being tested by students on our Penryn campus. The app’s initial aims respond to common pain points, including to make it easier to view timetables, book study spaces, and access help and support, improving the overall student experience at Exeter.
Whilst it’s initially aimed at students, we can’t wait to iterate, adapt and scale the app as we learn more. This way of working is called agile and means we can test new products and services quickly. We will add to and improve features of the app regularly based on user feedback.
And that’s not all …
We will create user accounts to enable personalised and lifelong relationships with everyone who interacts with us. We will tailor individual experiences and data will improve our decision making.
Do you want to help re-invent the higher education destination making it more accessible than ever before? University of Exeter students can sign up to take part in user research and testing and opportunities – find out more here.