I have been responsible for developing practical initiatives to improve the student experience for a diverse student body across the student lifecycle for many years. There is a lot of research and advice available on improving the student experience, especially the first year, but I struggled to find information and guidance to help me cover all areas and stages of the student lifecycle.
My response was to develop the Student Experience Transitions Model (SET) for practitioners, academic and professional service staff and students. It is a model that I developed over a number of years using my administrative, academic, research and managerial knowledge and experience. It is applicable to the undergraduate and taught postgraduate student lifecycle. I showcased it in 2005 at the Association of University Administrators Annual Conference. SET provides a framework to support and deliver an integrated whole insitituional approach.
The model enables me to organise and map out the different types of support I need to provide to different students at particular times throughout their journey at university or college. It also provides a framework of what to consider and who to involve when developing initiatives to support students in their learning.
The following pages provide a broad overview of the Student Experience Transitions Model. More detailed information can be found in Improving the student experience- A practical guide for universities and colleges and Supporting student diversity- A practical guide. Both are published by Routledge and contain 40 practical case studies from across the globe.