Projects - Macquarie University

Macquarie University

Enhancing the Student Experience

Addressed student retention issues affecting 30% of university students

Impact

Role

User Researcher

Macquarie University needed to address Australia's 30% university dropout rate by better understanding and enhancing their student experience. This project created a comprehensive student journey map to visualise pain points, goals, and needs throughout the student lifecycle.

Role

User Researcher

Impact

Addressed student retention issues affecting 30% of university students

Impact

Addressed student retention issues affecting 30% of university students

Role

User Researcher

The Challenge

In Australia, almost 30% of university students who start their studies do not graduate. This challenge is further compounded by constantly evolving student expectations. Recognising this, Macquarie University sought to enhance their students' experience to adapt to the changing landscape of higher education needs.

The Solution

We developed a detailed student journey map based on extensive research with students and university stakeholders. This visualisation tool identified critical pain points and opportunities for improvement, leading to targeted projects that aims to enhance key touchpoints in the student journey, particularly during the crucial onboarding phase.

Our research process was split into 3 phases; stakeholder workshops, qualitative research, and quantitative validation. During phase 1, we conducted workshops with university stakeholders and business representatives to understand the institutional perspective on student experience. These sessions were crucial for aligning our research with the university's objectives and identifying key areas requiring investigation.

Working with students in parallel workshops created valuable tension points between institutional and student perspectives, highlighting critical gaps in understanding that needed further exploration.

Phase 2 involved in-depth qualitative research to validate emerging hypotheses. This included; targeted student interviews exploring specific aspects of the university experience, diary studies capturing day-to-day student interactions and pain points, and video documentation of student experiences for authentic storytelling Phase 3 of the project involed surveying across the wider student body to validate qualitative insights and identify broader patterns. This quantitative approach served multiple purposes:

👉 Confirming whether insights from in-depth interviews reflected the broader student experience

👉 Identifying trends and patterns across different student segments

👉 Providing metric-based evidence to support recommendations

👉 Ensuring findings were statistically significant for confident decision-making

👉 Confirming whether insights from in-depth interviews reflected the broader student experience

👉 Identifying trends and patterns across different student segments

👉 Providing metric-based evidence to support recommendations

👉 Ensuring findings were statistically significant for confident decision-making

The comprehensive research culminated in a detailed student journey map that successfully:

👉 Visualized the end-to-end student experience from application through alumni engagement

👉 Identified specific pain points requiring immediate attention

👉 Defined student goals at each journey stage

👉 Highlighted opportunities for experience enhancement

Beyond operational improvements, our research revealed deeper opportunities to strengthen students’ sense of belonging and community. Insights gathered through UX interviews and journey mapping highlighted the emotional significance of campus rituals and social connection. This led to the reintroduction of meaningful ceremonies and a renewed emphasis on inclusive events shaping a more connected and welcoming university experience.

👉 Visualized the end-to-end student experience from application through alumni engagement

👉 Identified specific pain points requiring immediate attention

👉 Defined student goals at each journey stage

👉 Highlighted opportunities for experience enhancement