Redefining the student experience
Overview
Led the end-to-end development of a university-wide Student Experience transformation strategy, creating a five-year roadmap to improve the experience from exploration through to alumni. Combining human insight, advanced quantitative analysis and service design, the work gave leadership a clear evidence base for where to invest and why.
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Role: CX & Innovation Director
Duration: 12 months
Focus: CX Strategy · Service Design · Journey Mapping · Quantitative Research · Innovation
The Challenge
Student experience initiatives were fragmented, reactive and largely shaped by internal assumptions. The university lacked a shared view of the end-to-end experience — or a rigorous way to determine which improvements would create the greatest impact.
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The Solution
Built a single evidence-led view of the student experience, combining qualitative discovery, lifecycle journey mapping and quantitative modelling.
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Experience drivers were measured and prioritised based on both student importance and institutional impact, creating a clear hierarchy of opportunities. These insights then informed cross-functional ideation, future-state concepts and a five-year transformation roadmap validated directly with students.
Results
A five-year, investment-ready transformation roadmap
focused on the opportunities with the greatest potential impact. Clear links between CX and institutional outcomes, connecting experience improvements to retention, satisfaction and advocacy.
Leadership alignment
around one evidence base, replacing siloed assumptions with a shared framework for prioritisation.
Reduced investment risk
with future-state concepts tested with students before significant resources were committed.
Lasting internal capability, giving the university a framework to continue measuring, prioritising and improving student experience beyond the engagement.
Highlights
Led the engagement end-to-end, managing the team and senior stakeholder relationships through to C-suite.
Mapped the complete student lifecycle to uncover systemic pain points, moments of truth and unmet needs.
Developed bespoke CX measurement and prioritisation IP combining importance, performance and predictive modelling.
Connected experience drivers to retention, satisfaction and advocacy, shifting CX from anecdotal insight to investment-grade decision making.
Led opportunity development, future-state design and student validation to de-risk major investment decisions.
Project Highlights
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Led CX across 10+ cross-functional teams, aligning product, digital, retail, contact centre, fraud, legal, compliance and technology.
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Partnered with Mastercard on the rollout of biometric identity verification across Optus.
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Redesigned three fragmented channel experiences into one governed, app-led verification service.
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Used customer research, service design and market benchmarking to shift verification from a compliance interaction to a clearer, more trusted customer experience.
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Represented CX across executive and external stakeholder groups, regularly reporting experience direction to the CEO and SLT.
© 2026 Francesca Tschuchnigg