Higher Education, Global Competition and Student Numbers
How the UK’s Universities can Maintain and Gain in Times of Crisis
Higher Education
Higher education and the new digital student journey
Challenges in higher education get more complex year on year. Whether it’s enabling students to study remotely, improving the student wellbeing of Generation Z, or attracting next year’s international students, universities need to rely on their digital capabilities to succeed.
The time for change is now
COVID has caused anxiety for both students and university management alike. Universities need to mitigate against health (and PR) disasters, while ensuring student welfare is of the highest standard. Gen Z students are more vocal online than ever and some universities’ reputation may rely on the experience students receive during this extraordinary time.
Now is the time to ensure students receive the best communications and care in general. This will encourage strong advocacy from the students, which will put universities in a good position for student recruitment next term. There are no shortcuts to doing this. Universities need a joined-up digital platform, always-on technology and AI to predict potential issues.
Connected campus
Commitment to change
Universities have spent years trying to make their processes digital, with the aim of creating a “connected campus”. But trying to fix issues separately in different departments often results in implementing multiple digital systems. The problems associated with manually transferring data from one system to another include: risk of losing data, making mistakes and wasting time.
The technology universities need is available. But we need determined institutional commitment and investment to see real change. Higher education establishments need to move on from simply overlaying individual solutions onto analogue or offline systems. They need to standardise on an underlying architecture and fit new systems into an overall strategy.
Salesforce’s Education Architecture (EDA) is a flexible data architecture designed to give higher education establishments a 360o view of the student. When implemented well, decision-makers can make quick, informed decisions to respond to a rapidly changing environment. With a connected campus, universities can understand their students, alumni and corporate partners better than ever before.
BrightGen understood our complex needs and delivered a tailored solution, while simultaneously providing the highest levels of customer service.
David Richardson, Chief Entrepreneurial Executive, Heriot-Watt University
Why universities choose BrightGen
Universities choose to work with BrightGen because of our depth of experience in implementing Salesforce products across all industries. We get to know your institution in detail and honestly recommend the best approach for your requirements. We understand the unique challenges involved in engaging the next generation of students and offer an external perspective on how to react to crises such as the pandemic.
Connecting events in the student lifecycle
From awareness to advancement, BrightGen understands how important events are throughout the student lifecycle. Universities usually keep their event data across different systems. That makes it hard to transfer it back into the single view of the student in Salesforce. We created BrightFORUM to help universities manage their events without having to leave Salesforce.
Get your free consultation
The hardest point of any digital transformation project is getting started. Get two free consultation hours with BrightGen to help you determine where to start and get a roadmap of the way forward.
