The student experience encompasses all aspects of student life (i.e. academic, social, welfare and support) with the academic imperative being at the heart of it. Staff at all levels, and across all areas within an institution, are developing and implementing initiatives to improve and enhance the student experience whether they are directly engaging with students or on the periphery. This makes them a ‘Practitioner’ in the student experience. A practitioner could be the admissions administrator improving the information available for potential applicants; the academic improving his/her feedback to students, or central welfare departments ensuring that their services are being advertised and supported within a student’s home unit. Often, these changes are small and incremental and they have occurred because of feedback arising out of a specific activity by certain groups such as students, staff or applicants. Initiatives can be university wide and large scale, driven by external and internal requirements.
To effectively deliver initiatives designed to improve the student experience requires academic and professional service staff (non-academic staff) practitioners across the institution at all levels, and crucially, the student’s academic home unit, to work together. The home unit is a commonly a faculty, department or school and where the primary subject of the student’s course resides. Regardless of how small or large the initiative, it is critical that any changes are at the very minimum communicated to all key service providers, staff and students. The SET model helps students understand their study journey in, through and out of study.