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Enhancing the Campus Experience for Student Arrivals

About The University of Nottingham

 

Organisation type:

  • University

Challenges solved:

  • Managing the arrivals process for new students in an efficient manner
  • Providing an ‘arrivals slots’ system to enhance the experience for students, people dropping them off and staff managing the arrivals
  • Allowing a full e-induction process for students enabling them to prepopulate their data and then arrive, sign in via a barcode on their mobile and not have to complete more admin

Client since:

  • 2001

Product suites:

What makes The University of Nottingham unique?

Pioneering an improved arrival experience across the HE sector

Accommodation, Residential Experience and Estates working closely together through one system

A sustainable new process removing the need for paper inductions on arrivals day

Solution Driven

The University of Nottingham approached us to help enhance its inductions process for students.

We were able to fulfil this using two of our products, KxInductions and KxMobile.

Nottingham sought enhancements to their current inductions process to enable students to complete a full e-induction online via their web portal, book an arrival slot and self-check-in. Previously all 4,500 students would arrive on the same day, but in the aftermath of COVID-19, and to create a better student experience, this needed to be staggered with smaller arrival groups. Utilising KxInductions, the arrival groups were staggered across five days and the University was able to control the number of students on campus at each arrival slot, limiting each hourly slot to a maximum of 50. These arrival slots were configured and limited in capacity by Kinetic to ensure that services were not overwhelmed.

Kinetic worked with the University to build additional features within KxInductions to create a mandatory e-induction form with a series of questions, information and videos (e.g. Health and Safety videos, arrivals events, sports clubs) for students to complete, and at the end of the e-induction the students had to complete a quiz based on the information they had received.

Only once the e-induction was complete, students were given a Key Collection Pass and told their specific room number, which was previously unavailable to them – this was a great incentive for students, as many are keen to connect with fellow students via social media and WhatsApp groups ahead of moving to the University.

On arrival on campus the University also made full use of KxMobile by installing tablets at various check-in points on campus to allow the arriving students the ability to self-check in to their accommodation. The on the spot data from KxMobile also allowed the team to manage room statuses in a live environment whilst out on campus.  The use of these two new products has also had a significant impact on sustainability, with a huge reduction in the amount of paperwork needed to induct 4500 new students into their accommodation.

Great Partnership

Vikki W BW

Vikki Welch
Associate Director (Student Living)

“We sought to enhance our inductions process,  to be more engaging for students and ensure they had easy access to vital information before arriving at University, as well as to streamline the arrival process by requiring students to book an arrival slot and allowing them to self-check-in.

 

As an existing Kinetic customer, we engaged with Kinetic who listened and provided recommendations that made sense for our organisation. This included adding some additional functionality to an existing product so that it would do exactly what we needed. A specification was agreed and we had a dedicated Project Manager who kept us up to date on progress and, despite a tight deadline, ensured the project was delivered on time.

 

It proved a huge success for us and by implementing these new systems, we have been able to greatly improve the student experience leading up to and during the arrivals period. Students now have access to everything they need to know before checking in, all in one place. On arrival, we received some great feedback from students and their parents on how quick and easy check-in was due to the self-check-in.

 

It has had further benefits by allowing us greater insight and improved reporting. We can see exactly which students have completed their induction and when they intend to arrive. Furthermore, by implementing a self-check-in, we have been also able to automate what was previously a manual process, which has freed up time for the teams in Halls and allowed live reporting on the number of students in house.”