As A-level results day approaches, student accommodation teams will already be preparing to receive this year’s intake of students. For many students, that arrival journey begins on a digital level long before they set foot on campus. With the expectations of students continually evolving, student accommodation providers are challenged to think of new ways to engage students and tailor their services to suit changing needs. Ensuring a smooth and welcoming pre-arrival experience is a crucial step in a student’s transition to university life. With 25 years of experience supporting student teams to deliver exceptional student experiences, here are four ways to significantly enhance the pre-arrival experience for your next student cohort.
1. Provide opportunities for early connections among students
One significant concern for incoming students is the uncertainty about their future flatmates. There is a level of anxiety that comes with navigating a new environment, and it is normal for students to be concerned about whether they will make friends at university and have a fulfilling social life while adapting to adult responsibilities for perhaps the first time.
The Property Marketing strategist’s research found that 43% of students wished they had known more about their flatmates beforehand. Accommodation teams often aim to mix flatmates to encourage students to bond with others from various cultures and backgrounds. Therefore, they often reserve this knowledge to avoid a host of room swap requests. The downside is that early bonding experiences are limited, leaving students rather anxious. Ultimately, the underlying concern for students is finding their community and getting on with other students.
A way to address this is to provide a platform for students to connect. Often, this has been done through WhatsApp groups or similar platforms. Now, accommodation teams can go a step further and utilise technology to make this seamless and hassle-free. The KxEngage app offers the ideal solution by allowing students to create profiles and highlight their hobbies and interests. KxEngage empowers accommodation teams to create vibrant community groups based on the interests of their students, enabling students to connect with like-minded peers even before arriving. This early interaction helps students form friendships and build a support network, making their transition to university life smoother and more enjoyable.
2. Make digital communication fun, interactive and effective
Effective communication is key to a positive pre-arrival experience. Students need clear, timely, and relevant information to feel confident and prepared. However, the digital experience needs not be boring, lengthy, or very text-heavy. Through gamification and interactive elements, generate immense excitement in students, inspiring them to look forward to their university life.
The University of Nottingham offered an interactive induction process using our KxInduction software. By using quizzes to gamify the sharing of essential information, such as students’ health and safety information, they engaged with their students before arrival.
Some universities also use technology to offer virtual tours of accommodation facilities, providing detailed visuals and interactive elements that showcase living spaces, communal areas, and amenities—something many of our student accommodation teams do through the student portal built by Kinetic.
For a truly immersive experience, a student app takes student engagement to the next level. A well-designed student app provides a platform for student accommodation teams to interact with students through polls, competitions, and other interactive features. This not only keeps students informed but also helps to build vibrant communities and excitement.
When it comes to effective communication, KxEngage is a powerful tool for student accommodation teams. It enables them to maintain regular contact with incoming students through various features. This includes automated messages, news broadcasts, and in-app alerts to provide updates, reminders, and useful tips. The helpdesk feature allows for personalised communication, addressing individual concerns and queries and ensuring that no student feels lost or neglected in the lead-up to their arrival.
3. Enhance how you cater to the needs of international students
New data shows 115,730 students from outside the UK applied to start in September, up from 114,910 last year. The growing number of international students choosing to study in the UK presents a wonderful opportunity for student accommodation providers. Your role in enriching their experience and making them feel truly at home in a new country is invaluable. While language and cultural barriers sometimes pose challenges, your efforts in providing tools for students to interact and engage without language limitations are absolutely essential for their overall wellbeing and seamless integration into university life. This makes the students feel valued and appreciated, knowing that their needs are being catered to.
Among the various initiatives that accommodation teams provide, it’s also important that the platform students use fully supports multiple languages, making it easier for international students to access and understand the content shared with them. This is something KxEngage excels in, enabling international students to have messages and content translated for them in the app, allowing them to engage freely and confidently in community groups without language being a barrier. With the added value of connecting with other students with shared interests, international students find a sense of belonging and build a support network that helps them feel at home in a foreign country.
4. Streamline pre-arrival administration
The administrative aspect of moving into student accommodation can be daunting for both students and staff, with numerous forms, checks, and documents to handle. Moreover, there aren’t enough resources and time to invest in additional administrative tasks to tailor and personalise the experience to suit everyone. Each student cohort is quite different, which means you may not always know exactly what students need.
With the integrations that KxEngage offers, you benefit from the automated syncing of data in a live and accurate way, reducing manual effort and streamlining your admin processes. Imagine a typical arrival day, where students check in on arrival using the KxEngage app for a quick, paperless check-in process. At the same time, staff using KxStudent or KxWelcome see live updates of checked-in students, no matter where they are based. This eliminates manual check-ins, saves significant time, and makes moving day smoother and more seamless for staff and students. In addition, the staff portal of KxEngage provides incredibly useful data, such as the number of checked-in students at different sites within a period of time, to help plan and anticipate capacity for future arrivals. KxEngage offers digital keyless entry for accommodations with keycards, eliminating the need for printed keycards that often go missing.
Additionally, the KxEngage staff portal allows staff to create polls to gather student feedback, engage with them pre-arrival through group chats, and advertise Freshers’ Week events. Gauging interests and preferences early allows for better planning and personalisation of the student experience.
Conclusion
Enhancing students’ pre-arrival experience is a multifaceted challenge that requires a thoughtful approach and the right tools. Kinetic’s suite of technology solutions offers comprehensive support to provide the best student experience.
By leveraging these tools, student accommodation teams ensure the next cohort of students starts their journey positively, feeling informed, connected, and ready to embark on their university adventure.
