Authors: Paul Moran, Annette Robinson 

As with many industries and service settings, Higher Education has many different stakeholders with a variety of aims in the context of achieving good positive outcomes. It can be challenging to navigate the complex landscapes that sit behind the delivery of these services and the diverse stakeholder perspectives when trying to deliver change and improvement. As a practitioner and advocate for user-centred design I’m convinced there is value for HE institutions in exploring and using these approaches, or further developing their current use where they are already in place.   

The user-centred design mindset and practices can be applied at different levels in the HE environment and enable improvement to student, staff and wider stakeholder experiences and outcomes. Teams tasked with delivering improvements to services will benefit from activities such as end-to-end service mapping and user research. By creating new views of the service setting and extending the perspectives of the service participants and wider stakeholders, these approaches can surface deeper insights and open the door to new opportunities.   

The content of this book includes examples from teams applying some of these techniques and highlighting pathways others can follow. In a sector which has such a strong influence on the future direction of people’s lives I’m convinced that a user-centred approach can play a part in setting up all participants in the system for success.     

Paul Moran, Head of User Centred Design, DVSA  

This book is critical to Higher Education professionals who are responsible for developing and reviewing process. Universities are large and complex organisations, which can result in siloed thinking and behaviour and the creation of processes which are complex for the actual user to engage with. Service Design puts the users at the heart of the process, enabling us to recognise and develop empathy with their experience and to simplify and develop efficient, human centric approaches that colleagues will use and appreciate being involved in their development.  

The book describes case studies which illustrate the practical application of the different stages of the process and the benefits derived. It is pivotal in an age when we face increasing time pressures and need to work more effectively together.    

Annette Robinson, Organisational Developer