Students should not have to understand how the University is structured in order to access its services
For a couple of years prior to the opening of the Saltire Centre I ran the Student Access to Services project. The aim was to simplify service access for our students. Many of our students, 27%, are from deprived backgrounds and an even greater number are the first in their family to attend University - as I was. It took me a long time to get to understand University and find out not just where to get access to things but who did what. Many students today also have the added pressure of working full time and studying full time - so if we can simplify access to services and save student’s time then we are really helping them.
In the Saltire Centre there’s a single desk for all services as the first point of contact. The service can contract and expand responding to demand, and there is a student centred referral system that brings the service to the student.
SAS had the simple principle shown in the title above. The project started by asking students ‘what kept them awake at night’. They said money, exams and coursework - not surprising! The SAS project then worked with service departments to simplify the delivery of services taking as much of the information and transaction services as possible online. The resulting web products get very positive feedback from students.
The reception desk in the Saltire Centre
The Base in the Saltire Centre