student journey mapping university

Student Journey Mapping: Redefining the Student Experience

With additional contributions from Richard Garrett, Eduventures Chief Research Officer at ACT | NRCCUA, and Clint Raine, Eduventures Client Research Analyst at ACT | NRCCUA.

The typical vision of the student journey is a single, seamless trajectory, beginning at admission and ending with graduation. In reality, it is more like a highway full of roadblocks and traffic jams. Unfortunately, the cost of adopting the typical view can be high for many schools, blinding them to problems students face in their institutional interactions and how these problems impact enrollment, persistence, or the student experience.

To better represent the reality of student experiences and reshape these experiences from a student perspective, some schools are borrowing a concept pioneered by the corporate world called customer journey mapping —or in the case of higher education, .

Our Research

Journey mapping is not a novel approach: organizations such as Emirates Airlines have deployed journey mapping to ensure all staff members understand what's expected of them with each customer interaction and illustrate the relationship a customer has with the airline. Overall, most journey maps comprise five components —personas, stages, touchpoints, mindsets, and opportunities—which enable stakeholders to illuminate the aspects of the journey. These components are outlined in Figure 1 below.

To understand the extent to which student journey mapping efforts are being used by institutions of higher education, we used Google searches and web scraping to find as many examples as we could. As shown in Figure 2 below, the output of this research revealed:

• 324 webpages had occurrences of at least one of our search terms, 222 of which were non-vendor and institutional sites.
• 34 webpages had either a student journey map or reflected a student journey approach.
• 24 webpages had at least one component.
• Five webpages had student journey maps had four components—the most of any in our sample: Arizona State University, Georgia Southern University, Laurentian University, New York University, and University of New Mexico.

On the surface, our research suggests that very few institutions have engaged in student journey mapping. Because this analysis relied on publicly available information, however, more schools may implement the practice of student journey mapping but decide to keep it confidential. Likewise, of the student journey maps we examined, there is little evidence that most of the institutions implemented the maps as part of an ongoing practice to better track progress of specific efforts for continuous improvement.

The most developed example of student journey mapping and implementation we found is Arizona State University (ASU). Its mapping approach , aligned with its lifelong learning efforts, includes a set of metrics, norms, and processes to better track, understand, and improve the student experience.

Under the leadership of the director of enrollment analysis (Office of the Provost), ASU spent six months gathering 65 data points and "student process artifacts," engaged more than 40 people across 12 departments, and convened more than 30 interviews and workshops. The primary focus of student journey mapping has been on the post-enrollment to graduation portion of the student life cycle, with less attention paid to pre-enrollment or alumni stages.

The Bottom Line

We suggest three considerations for any institution seeking to develop and implement student journey mapping to improve the student experience:

• Place students at the center of the effort: The goal of student journey mapping is to improve the quality of student interactions with the institution. Therefore, it is critical to ensure that any school embarking on a student journey mapping process first recognizes that not all students are the same and that they will experience similar interactions differently. Developing student personas (something ASU has also done), for example, is a valuable way to capture different student types and view how they progress along their journeys.
• Bring together institutional stakeholders: Some institutional maps appear to be narrow (focusing on admissions, for example), focused on one aspect of the student journey. Narrow journey mappings, however, may also signal a challenge in bringing together stakeholders from multiple departments, such as admissions, facilities, teaching and learning, and student support. Developing a journey map that encompasses the entire student journey will require thinking through all the unique touchpoints between a school and its students and the involvement of representatives from each touchpoint.
• Establish key performance indicators for measuring success: It is essential to develop metrics by which institutional leaders can determine whether the student journey map is successful in helping them deliver that quality experience. Without a review of metrics, there is a risk that the student journey map becomes a "point in time" artifact that does not help institutions understand the precise areas where they can improve the student experience.

It is striking that few institutions have embarked on mapping efforts—or that at least few have made sufficient progress to justify public disclosure. The typical institution has no shortage of concerns about student engagement, achievement, and attrition, not to mention disparities by student type and background. The pandemic may force schools to pay more attention to the student journey but may equally sideline ambitious initiatives. It will be interesting to see whether mapping efforts grow in number from today's small base and whether pioneers such as ASU start to reap the rewards in terms of recruitment, retention and reputation.

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UCL Student Journey Map

In 2020 we worked with external partners to develop the UCL Student Journey map in order to better understand students' journeys on UCL undergraduate and master’s programmes. 

We invited students to take part in a series of interactive 'Student Journey Mapping' workshop to exploring what they felt worked well, and where we might improve the UCL student experience, covering everything from induction right through to examinations. 

The UCL Student Journey map highlights the key steps in a student’s journey through UCL. We used this to identify the critical touchpoints and activities to which students attach the most value and expect the highest possible standards of service from UCL, and to inform the five key challenges the Student Experience Transformer aims to address.

• View UCL Student Journey Map as a PDF 

Laying the groundwork

During this stage students connect with their cohort and fellow students ahead of classes

Steps in the journey

• I accept my offer and start to plan
• International students – I arrange my visa

Getting sorted

Students receive clear and consistent messaging from all parts of the University

• On campus students – I prepare to travel to London
• I complete essential admin
• On campus students – I plan my life in London
• I set up UCL systems and apps
• I prepare for my commencement at UCL

Ready to start

Students are communicated with regularly and encounter minimal last minute changes to modules, programmes or timetables

• I set up my new student life
• I prepare for my course
• I get a sense of student life
• I complete role admin

Getting involved

• On campus students – I set up my accommodation
• I get to know UCL
• On campus students – I attend a UCL campus tour and online welcome events
• Remote students – I attend online welcome events, including virtual site visits

Commencement 

Students feel part of a UCL community and have access to a variety of socialising opportunities to meet their needs

Students receive tailored support from academic staff and their Personal Tutor, giving them confidence they are on the right track

• On campus students – I meet other students on campus and connect with those studying remotely
• Remote students – I connect with other students and sign up to online clubs and societies
• I engage with UCL academic staff
• I engage with student reps
• I engage with student life
• I learn how to be a student
• I get set up for term

Students have a comprehensive knowledge of all the support services and resources that UCL offers

Feedback on assessments is timely and delivered in a constructive and sufficiently detailed manner to enable students to learn and improve

Communications are consistent and students know exactly where to go to access information

• I start to access available support services
• I complete ongoing coursework
• I engage academically outside my coursework
• I complete in term assessment
• I get support if I need it
• On campus students – I use the library and study spaces
• Remote students – I use the remove library services and create my own study space
• On campus students – I use other campus facilities
• Remote students – I use remote-student facilities
• My student life extends beyond UCL 
• I am kept informed by UCL
• I make the most of extra opportunities at UCL
• I plan for my career
• I sit in-term exams

End of year

Students have timely access to exam support and a suitable space to complete their exams that does not inhibit concentration

• I plan for the next academic year
• I sit end of year exams
• I plan for a life after UCL
• I find out my results

• Case studies
• Expert advice

Case study: making a student journey map to improve the university experience

This article is based on the first part of the event with Rod Netterfield and Jodie Fielding of Humind , where Rod shared a story of working on a higher education journey mapping project with 300+ participants.

We’re used to talking about journey mapping for B2B and B2C customers: people that use digital services, shop at online and offline stores, visit entertainment venues, and so on. But what about universities where the customer is a student? How do you capture their end-to-end journey, get the right people from the institution involved, and create a map that accounts for all campuses and academic groups?

Read on for an education case study walkthrough to get answers to all those questions, along with seven tips on how to make a true-to-life, scalable, and actionable student journey map.

• 1 Setting the scene
• 2 Project launch: putting together the team
• 3 Engaging students to work together
• 4.1 COVID-19 related limitations
• 5 The finished product: a student journey map + extras
• 6 Turning insights into action
• 7 Three big takeaways
• 8 The recording
• 9 About the author

Setting the scene

The higher education industry in Australia was facing a number of emerging local, national, and global trends and impacts. The journey mapping initiative took place right in the middle of 2020 when campus environments were being largely shut down and moved online in response to the COVID-19 situation. 

The project was centered around quite a mature institution. Rod was a part of the small core team, which worked with a much larger group of people from the university community: students, partners, and employees. Over the course of 12 weeks, they created a student journey map using the Double Diamond framework .

The goal was to understand and document the end-to-end student experience and make recommendations for strategic and tactical improvements.

Project launch: putting together the team

The first step was determining the project’s scope: where the student journey starts and ends. It actually begins before they are selected to join a higher education institution. Prior to that, students talk to agents and communicate with the admissions office. 

The core team received guidance from the initiative’s sponsor and then mind-mapped about 45 participants that they would need along the process. Some of those people were beyond the areas directly within the team’s control but still had an influence on the student’s journey.

The more people work on a mapping project together, the harder it is to get them all in a room at the same time. So next, the team invited colleagues and partners to a series of kickoff workshops, where people could just come to one or the other based on their availability. The goal was to validate a high-level draft of what the core team thought the end-to-end journey looked like.

Tip 1: Figure out what you already have and use it

“What we encouraged was for people to empty out their desk drawers or their virtual desk drawers. So it was about reports, data sets, or business cases, or even journey maps or process maps done for smaller projects. We asked them to bring everything to help us see what we already have.”

Finally, there was a ‘Known and Unknown’ workshop. In these they asked people about the things they didn’t understand, plotted it against the map, and prioritized it. Before going out and talking to students, the team wanted to figure out what were the most important things that they would need to find out.

Engaging students to work together

The total number of students who provided input and feedback into the project was 325. To get their feedback and input on the journey, the team did interviews, focus groups, and observational research sessions, as well as diary studies and online activities. Next, they amassed information from these engagements.

Tip 2: Get a sufficient student sample

“Often in journey mapping, you've gone out, you've spoken with 10 customers or 20 customers, and that’s it. 325 is a very large number. In our specific educational institution, there were also multiple campuses, and a lot of academic groups or faculties. So we wanted to make sure that we had involved enough students that were part of a health area, or a business area, or a sciences area, and so on.”

The team needed to make sure that they weren’t just capturing an aggregate journey but actually understood what the experience was like on a campus-by-campus and faculty-by-faculty basis. It was almost like a big matrix that they were trying to fill in, making sure they’d gotten enough students in each of the boxes.

Putting the data together

The more data you have, the more time and effort it takes to process it. So the team decided the best approach would be to ask for help. Five colleagues joined them to form a broader group, and the extended team worked together in a more tangible and hands-on way.

The team also sought support from students who came on board as part of the project. From a student's perspective, it was good because many of them were learning about some of those tools, techniques, and techniques in their classes. They were able to get real skills in applying that theory to a real case.

Tip 3: Involve students to get a more realistic representation of their journey

“As we had students doing a lot of the synthesis and analysis of the contributions, it made it more authentic in terms of what it sounded like. As opposed to it sounding really corporatized, when we got to the end of the journey map, it sounded like… something a student would really say.”

Dealing with large volumes of data requires a special environment. These days, luckily, there are a lot of great tools, including low-cost and no-cost ones.

Tip 4: Look for tools to save time and effort

“There are some great no-cost tools out there which can help us get large volumes of data, particularly unstructured text data, analyze, and distill that into themes. At the same time, when we're thinking about doing interviews or focus groups, there's now greater transcription services that are getting much, much stronger in terms of accuracy, which really helps clunk through a lot of heavy person hours.”

COVID-19 related limitations

Somewhere in the middle of the project, between the ‘Define’ and ‘Ideate’ phases of the Double Diamond framework, another COVID-19 related lockdown hit Australia. So the team had to figure out how to continue research despite the restrictions. Luckily, they’d mostly gathered the data they needed at that point, so it was more a question of transferring it to online tooling.

Tip 5: Store or at least have a backup of your data online

“We had some really, really big coreflute boards that we would literally move around the university campuses with us. We had to transfer all of that data into online tooling. So it was fortunate we did have an online collaboration tool until we could move to the university. We were able to continue all of our workshops and were lucky that our research tool was already an online-enabled platform.”

The finished product: a student journey map + extras

With a project this big, the journey map was bound to be quite extensive as well. And so it was: the finished product that was made publicly available was a document of 10 stages, 39 steps, and 191 touchpoints . The resulting end-to-end student journey map was both digitized and provided as a hard copy.

Tip 6: Create more deliverables with the data that didn’t make it into the map

“We were amassing all of this data about the process, systems, data touchpoints, and all this. And so rather than just discarding it, we cataloged, categorized, and mapped that as well. It was kept unpublished as a team deliverable so that we could leverage it for future projects. Our unpublished product was probably more of a service blueprint , and there was just as much value in that for us as a team.”

Turning insights into action

Essentially, after the first three phases of the Double Diamond framework were over, the team went through the final, ‘Prototype and test’ stage. There, they worked out the most critical-priority pain points and the challenges or opportunities they were trying to solve. Continuing to involve students, colleagues, and partners and making the map readily available also helped speed the implementation along.

Tip 7: Zoom in on the aggregate journey to discover different experiences

“Outside the published product, we started getting requests from people for slices-and-dices of that data. This is where the benefit of a really large sample came in. So other than the aggregate journey map, we were able to produce samples for different personas or different segments: a particular campus, a faculty or academic group, etc. Specific segments or persona groups ended up having a very different experience from the main (aggregate) journey. So we discussed how we might apply different treatments, projects, or initiatives to correct that.”

Three big takeaways

If your goal is to visualize a student’s journey, there are key considerations to keep in mind: a broad spectrum of different experiences and interactions happening across campuses and faculties and an extended amount of data that comes with it.

Approach your next project with these three major things in mind:

• Leverage what you already have .

The only way to deliver a student journey map with pace is to look at what you already have and use it. This can be about emptying desk drawers or looking at things people already know or have. It can also mean working with the tools that you already have rather than going through the procurement process.

• Get the right tools to help you be more efficient.

There is an increasing number of tools that are improving in quality, particularly low-cost and no-cost ones, that can help you along the process. And with that, you can engage with larger samples of people, seek out underrepresented voices, or interact with students, or customers, in different ways.

• It’s a team sport .

The ‘team’ is not just your whole organization but also your customers, partners, and suppliers. Take those people on the journey with you.

The recording

Watch the full recording of our event with Rod and Jodie for a lively conversation, even more details and examples from the case, and a Q&A session.

Or check out the post on Jodie’s  financial services customer experience  case if you prefer reading.

About the author

Rod Netterfield is a co-founder and director of Humind : a new CX design and consultancy collective aimed at helping organizations discover, design, and deliver experiences with the human in mind. Rod has a 15+ year career working for a variety of mid-tier and large global organizations, designing, and implementing CX strategies.

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Making such a huge artifact in just 12 weeks is impressive! We’ve also tried creating a student journey map in class when I was getting a sociology degree. But of course it wasn’t nearly as big 🙂 Great case.

The State of Student Journey Mapping in Higher Education

Everyone in higher education wants to make decisions based on evidence and logic. We also have a desire to improve our student experience, from investing in food services to peer mentoring, most investments are student-centric. However, few tools give the appropriate first party data to improve the student experience in a way that is customized for our campuses.

Enter Student Journey Mapping .

While the process of journey mapping is certainly not unique to higher education, we do have a unique lens, as our students (in my somewhat controversial opinion) are both our customer and our product. It is critical to understand their journey in order to improve the experiences they live.

Having performed journey mapping exercises across a dozen campuses, I was very interested to explore how this process has evolved in other colleges and universities. To do so, I’ve canvassed the higher education community and interviewed leaders in this area who have implemented elements of journey mapping on their campuses.

Laurentian University Undergraduate Prospective Student Journey as designed by Studio123 .

Source: https://www.jprains.com/student-journey-mapping/

Article Contributors:

• Paul Redfern, Vice President for Communications, St. Lawrence University
• Stacey Funderburk, Director of Publications, Missouri State University
• Joe Winton, Director of Web & Digital Strategy, University Marketing & Communications, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• Joseph J. Master, Executive Director, Marketing & Digital Strategy, University Communications, Drexel University
• Meg Frisch, Associate Director, Digital Strategy, Strategic Marketing and Communications, Temple University

While working with these talented individuals, a few themes emerged as constants through each campus that are consistent with my experiences and thoughts on the future of Student Journey Mapping:

• It can be one of the best ways to shift internal process to become student-centric.
• It fosters the growth of experience-based research within institutional decision making
• It improves communication across campus through sharing the results
• It allows administrators to better understand student experiences in a quantitatively representative sample size while nuancing the results with qualitative data.  

Journey Mapping for Process Improvement

In speaking with these leaders, it became clear that student journey mapping is a practice in which campus administrators and faculty members have extracted tremendous value. For most, this value has taken the shape of process improvement.

One such example comes from Paul Redfern, now the Vice President for Communications at St. Lawrence University and formerly the Executive Director of Communications and Marketing at Gettysburg College. During Paul’s time at Gettysburg College, he was one of the leaders on campus implementing Student Journey Mapping to better understand a specific phase of the student experience.

They sought out to learn more about this prospective undergraduate journey, and specifically discover the sections of that journey where Gettysburg incoming students were struggling.

“We brought together all of the administrators on campus that would have a touch point during this phase of journey and wrote them all out. Understanding where we had overlap and where we had gaps. The experience gave us a much better sense of everything that students would see and allowed us to change our process.”

This work not only improved the student journey, but has also been recognized more broadly at the CASE District II 2018 Accolades with a Gold Award in the Communications and Marketing category. While Paul has since joined St. Lawrence (and has begun a new student journey mapping exercise), he comments that there are many talented individuals who have continued to use this process to improve the student experience at Gettysburg.

Growth of an “Experience Research” Culture

Another trend that came through was the idea that journey mapping (and related concepts) has fostered the growth of an experience-based research culture.

At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Joe Winton, Director of Web & Digital Strategy, has seen a shift in their internal culture. His specific experience with elements of journey mapping take root in a website redesign which included thorough user research as a base for design changes.

“We really started to ask students what they thought and tried to learn how they were using the website. Understanding more of their tendencies allowed us to make changes based on research. We set up a display in a high traffic area of campus and learned directly from students. This type of research is growing as a culture around campus. We’re asking more questions, learning more about our students and creating better products because of it.”

While my conversation with Joe covered many areas of web and digital, we kept coming back to the key concept that this data-driven decision making was shaping operational activities on campus. Departments have increased their desire to collect first party data and influence their decisions around those findings. They’ve gained a deeper understanding student challenges and have been able to address them where they start – with the student.

Another part of my conversation with Joe, which was echoed by multiple leaders, was that communication across teams has improved. As one team discovers student tendencies and shares them with other teams, that becomes the expectation and propels a culture of data-driven decision making.

Improved Cross-Team Communication

This outcome of improved communication was also emphasized by Joseph Master, now at Drexel University as the Executive Director of Marketing & Digital Strategy (speaking primarily of his experiences as the former Assistant Dean, Marketing, Communications and Enrollment Strategy at Temple University’s College of Liberal Arts, a school with more than 400 faculty and 5,000 students.

For Joseph, this communication was increased as the User Experience (UX) team at Temple (which is led by Meg Frisch) was able to dive into a very lengthy student journey mapping process and then communicate the results across their campus. This led to multiple discussions on campus which centred on improving the student experience and allowed senior leadership to have a further understanding of the prospective student thought process, especially from an emotional point of view.

“Journey mapping didn’t just help us understand the prospective student experience; it helped us to build administrative positions and messaging strategies to align with the experiences we mapped. And having deans in the room during the exercise was the best part. They saw all of the emotions – and all of the gaps – unfold in front of their eyes during our mapping exercise.”

More tangibly, the student journey mapping process was a significant factor in changes to the his institution’s enrollment marketing infrastructure (specifically around the recruitment of transfer students). This enrollment process change, which led Joseph to push for the creation of a transfer advising role instead of a transfer enrollment position, led to what Joseph identified as “the largest enrollment increase for the College of Liberal Arts” in five years. More so, it helped build the kind of infrastructure necessary for sustained success.”

“Rather than hire someone on my team, I was able to advocate for a very talented advisor to fill this gap on the advising team, bridging the gap between enrollment, marketing and academic advising.”  

“Journey mapping isn’t just a user experience tool. It’s a communications tool. A PR tool. It is as much a tool for communicating as it is for charting those user journeys. Because once you do it, you realize that the journey cannot be separated from the advisors, the faculty and the marketers. The world gets smaller. And infrastructure begins to make sense. There is a reason journey mapping often leads to a tactical artifact…like a subway map. It is because the exercise can truly show you ‘the way.’ “

Understanding Specific Challenges Faced by Students

As administrators, we are very well versed in the significant challenges faced by students. However, we have a filtered view of them – we only see the questions when they require intervention. We don’t see uncertainties, micro-questions and smaller the stressors students face. When evaluated in a cumulative sense, these uncertainties have significant impact on the student experience.

Stacey Funderburk, Director of Publications at Missouri State University, has used the journey mapping process to explore the experiences of local community college transfer students. Their work led to a deeper understanding of the uncertainties these students have about heading to campus. Their results found that their students were looking for more than checklists to support their transitions. Seems simple, but it’s perhaps not the first thing administrators would have thought of implementing. Stacey sees the journey mapping process evolving to respond to the needs of their institution over time. “It’s been a fantastic foundation for our teams to reaffirm what they are doing. There’s a need to revisit the student journey, as it changes over time. One of the things that gave us traction for this idea, is that we’ve had a wonderful history of enrolment growth. There are times where we think we will plateau, and we’re trying to implement as many plans as we can to continue to grow. We need to understand student needs to continue our sustained growth .”

Similarly, the journey-mapping pioneers at Temple University (as previously mentioned by Joseph Master) have found new insights by focusing their journey mapping efforts on specific audiences. One of these pioneers is Meg Frisch, Associate Director of Digital Strategy, Department of Strategic Marketing and Communications at Temple University.  

Due to their unique and diverse student population, there are specific audiences which they place a focus on.

“Parents and family are very important to us because we have many first generation students. Taking the customer experience mindset, putting our students and their families first is critical. We’ve done a tonne of usability testing and contextual inquiry while backing it up with behavioural metrics from Google Analytics. We have about two million pages and PDFs, we found that 70% of this is internal documents and wasn’t focused towards these audiences.”

“Our prospects were encountering too much information that didn’t relate to their student journey. We needed to focus on the content that relates to our audience and develop an internal content strategy. We’ve now been able to streamline our content and prioritize (from a project management standpoint) our actions based on the questions students are asking. For example, we know students are asking if we have their major, we need to start there.”

Frisch also commented that they have also been able to help people shift their organizational labels from a scenario where they had mirrored the institutions hierarchy to a more articulate presentation that allows students to better identify with an activity’s label. Students don’t know what a Registrar does, but they know how to appeal a mark in a course.

This focus on students has allowed their team to transfer the academic program content from individual schools/colleges microsites to the central temple.edu site. Through this, they’ve seen a dramatic visibility in organic search and user engagement ( pages per session, time on page). It has also allowed them to update the content in a central database, increasing accuracy and reducing duplication.

The Future of Journey Mapping

This brings me to conclude that throughout these conversations, many commonalities point to similar conclusions. As a sector, we need to hear more from our students and improve our process. Many times, this will be motivated by an end result to positively impact student enrolment, however, the process can be used to achieve any number of positive outcomes for our students.

These positive results can, and should be, reached through the mix of both qualitative and quantitative research that journey mapping can deliver. Furthermore, sharing these results (which are quite specific to our individual campuses) across institutions can increase the digital IQ of our industry. As Frisch put it “we could do very well for ourselves if we were more open with each other about our findings.”

In conversations with each leader, I’ve heard that they are all pursuing additional journey mapping activities to further understand sections of the student journey. Whether that is how they engage as a prospective graduate student with our institutions, how international students complete their processes around obtaining study permits, or even about how a specific academic program achieves exceptional degree completion rates. In all of these cases, we have much to learn.

The ways in which journey mapping is being used is also expanding, with origins in changing the tone and voice of communications for students, this process is also influencing the navigation of a website, the internal admissions process and even the signage on campuses.

In summary, we need to use student journey mapping as a way to listen to our students, change our administrative practices, and deliver a student experience that exceeds expectations. The moment we stop learning from students is the moment we stray from a foundational tenet.

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Defining student journey mapping in higher education: The ‘how-to’ guide for implementation on campus

Click the button below to download the full text of the article.

Abstract : A definitive process for reshaping the student experience — student journey mapping — allows for campus administrators to draw unique insights from the perspective of their key audience. Rooted in creating a user-centric experience, the concept of user journey mapping, also known as customer experience mapping, can be a cornerstone for projects in higher education. From changing the way in which students are recruited to the way donors are engaged, the student journey mapping process can help good business practices evolve into great ones. This process will describe how to bring together quantitative and qualitative data from multiple campus stakeholders (staff, faculty, students, etc.) and translate these data into insights that can reshape the student experience. Most importantly, the process describes how to develop this into actionable information that a campus community can understand. This paper will define the process of student journey mapping and provide campus administrators with concrete examples. Additionally, details are provided on how to best capture qualitative and quantitative data sets to inform the journey map. Finally, the connection between these data sets and the implementation plan is detailed to allow for actionable items to stem from the creation of a journey map.

Keywords : student journey mapping; marketing; communications; student services; websites; customer experience

JP Rains is the Director of the Digital Strategy Office at his alma mater of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. He oversees the institution’s digital footprint on the web and through social media while aiming to increase the digital IQ of the campus community. He is also President of Rains Media, where he works as a consultant in marketing and communication to private industry. Prior to this, Rains led strategy for two years as Vice-President of Strategy for Soshal Group, a digital agency working with a focus on clients in higher education. His work at Soshal led to multiple national awards and record setting performance for clients including: York University, University of New Brunswick and Cambrian College. He started his career after graduation at Laurentian University, working in the Office of Student Recruitment, followed by roles in various offices including: Marketing & Communications, Office of the Chief of Staff and Information Technology before joining Soshal Group. Rains has seen multiple years of success in student recruitment, including two years of 20 per cent plus increases to applications. Rains has consulted with over 25 Canadian and US-based higher education institutions and has implemented the Student Journey Mapping process with more than a dozen campuses. Additionally, he has interviewed over 1,000 stakeholders through the journey mapping process in an effort to deeply understand the perspectives of prospective students, current students, alumni and donors. Rains is the board chair of the Post-Secondary Education Web Conference of Canada and is a board member of the Laurentian University Alumni Association.

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Login via your organisation, defining student journey mapping in higher education: the ‘how-to’ guide for implementation on campus.

A definitive process for reshaping the student experience — student journey mapping — allows for campus administrators to draw unique insights from the perspective of their key audience. Rooted in creating a user-centric experience, the concept of user journey mapping, also known as customer experience mapping, can be a cornerstone for projects in higher education. From changing the way in which students are recruited to the way donors are engaged, the student journey mapping process can help good business practices evolve into great ones. This process will describe how to bring together quantitative and qualitative data from multiple campus stakeholders (staff, faculty, students, etc.) and translate these data into insights that can reshape the student experience. Most importantly, the process describes how to develop this into actionable information that a campus community can understand. This paper will define the process of student journey mapping and provide campus administrators with concrete examples. Additionally, details are provided on how to best capture qualitative and quantitative data sets to inform the journey map. Finally, the connection between these data sets and the implementation plan is detailed to allow for actionable items to stem from the creation of a journey map.

The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.

Author's Biography

Jp Rains is the Director of the Digital Strategy Office at his alma mater of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. He oversees the institution’s digital footprint on the web and through social media while aiming to increase the digital IQ of the campus community. He is also President of Rains Media, where he works as a consultant in marketing and communication to private industry. Prior to this, Rains led strategy for two years as Vice-President of Strategy for Soshal Group, a digital agency working with a focus on clients in higher education. His work at Soshal led to multiple national awards and record setting performance for clients including: York University, University of New Brunswick and Cambrian College. He started his career after graduation at Laurentian University, working in the Office of Student Recruitment, followed by roles in various offices including: Marketing & Communications, Office of the Chief of Staff and Information Technology before joining Soshal Group. Rains has seen multiple years of success in student recruitment, including two years of 20 per cent plus increases to applications. Rains has consulted with over 25 Canadian and US-based higher education institutions and has implemented the Student Journey Mapping process with more than a dozen campuses. Additionally, he has interviewed over 1,000 stakeholders through the journey mapping process in an effort to deeply understand the perspectives of prospective students, current students, alumni and donors. Rains is the board chair of the Post-Secondary Education Web Conference of Canada and is a board member of the Laurentian University Alumni Association.

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• You are currently on: Student Journey Mapping

Student Journey Mapping

Since 2016 the University has been using Journey Mapping to tell the overall story of its student experience - from their perspective.

Hundreds of students, from prospect to alumni, have participated in this insightful process which has resulted in numerous University initiatives to increase student success – from Strategy development (like the Student Digital Strategy) to significant capital projects (like Connected Experiences).    

This year we are undertaking a new Journey Mapping exercise to identify the top pain points for Academic roles important to the delivery of key University services,  starting with our Academic Heads. It will complement other planning and prioritisation activities (Business Capability Road Maps, IT Capability Plans, etc) around key University functions and recommend mana-enhancing system, process, and material improvements around each journey.

In parallel, we will be refreshing our existing Māori Undergraduate Student Journey Map.

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Stanford Student Journey Map as an Example of CX

In the academic field, students are at the heart of all initiatives and actions, which is why it’s not surprising that methodologies have been developed to ensure their satisfaction. Let’s explore the Stanford student journey map.

One of the most popular and effective methodologies is undoubtedly the implementation of a Student Journey Map. This tool allows institutions to visualize and analyze every point of interaction between students and the educational institution.

Let’s delve into this popular methodology and take an example from one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the United States: the Stanford Student Journey.

What is a Student Journey Map?

A Student Journey Map is a visual representation or diagram that outlines the various stages, touchpoints, interactions, and experiences that a student goes through during their educational journey. It provides a comprehensive overview of the entire student lifecycle, from the initial awareness of an educational institution or program to post-graduation activities.

A Student Journey Map aims to better understand a student’s perspective and emotions at each stage of their educational journey. It helps educational institutions, administrators, and educators identify pain points, opportunities for improvement, and areas where they can enhance the overall student experience. By mapping out the student journey, institutions can design and implement strategies to provide students with better support, guidance, and resources, ultimately leading to increased student satisfaction, retention, and success.

By creating and analyzing a Student Journey Map, educational institutions can gain insights into students’ emotions, pain points, and successes at each stage. This enables them to make informed decisions to enhance the overall student experience, improve retention rates, and foster a more supportive and conducive learning environment.

Stanford Student Journey Map Example

To better understand this concept, we’ve created a simplified version of what a Stanford Student Journey might look like. In this example, we’ve included some of the common touchpoints found in universities and highlighted a few initiatives announced through Stanford’s website and other media.

Stage 01: AWARENESS

Stage 02: consideration, stage 03: application, stage 04: acceptance, stage 05: enrollment, stage 06: academics, stage 07: graduation, stage 08: advocacy, stanford’s initiatives for ensuring student satisfaction.

The journey of a student is often complex and filled with ups and downs. To address this, Stanford University has implemented various programs to provide their students with more and better options to complete their studies with minimal stress and in the most optimal way possible. Here are some of their key and noteworthy initiatives that can serve as inspiration for your company or educational institution:

Time Away from Stanford: This program allows students to take time away from their studies at the university. They have implemented various levels of leave, as well as the option to withdraw from a Stanford degree program or request reinstatement. This enables students to take a break and complete their program optimally.

Online Documentation: Stanford students have the option to access all documentation related to their academic journey at any time through the university portal. Resources include the academic calendar, schedule of classes, academic forms and processes, academic support, and university policies (Student Policies, GAP). This ensures that students have access to relevant information whenever they need it.

Tuition & Fees Transparency: Stanford believes it’s important for students to understand the tuition and fees associated with their academic journey. The student financial account aggregates charges from various campus services, including tuition, academic fees, housing and dining, health insurance and services, student activities, and more. This provides students with access to critical financial information.

Start Building and Enhancing Your Student Journey!

At QuestionPro, we have developed a range of features to meet any educational need, both internal and external. Some of our standout tools include:

Powerful Survey Software: With our survey software, you can create surveys in just a few clicks to assess critical points in the student journey. Moreover, students can gain free access using their institutional email and utilize our hundreds of templates and advanced features to execute their educational projects with professionalism and excellence.

Customer Journey Tool: If you’re looking to create your first student journey map, QuestionPro SuiteCX makes it easy with its robust platform and diverse templates. SuiteCX allows you to visualize the most important touchpoints in your student journey and enrich them with specific information to clearly understand what’s happening at each stage of their education.

Want to learn more? Contact us, and we’d be delighted to support you in your next major project.

LEARN MORE         FREE TRIAL

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