Post-secondary student journey

Service design challenge

The Ministry of Advanced Education provides leadership, direction, and funding for the world-class post-secondary education and training system in B.C. Through a range of public and private post-secondary institutions, the Ministry plays a key role in ensuring B.C. has the skilled workers needed to capitalize on economic opportunities and meet its labour market needs. The Ministry also administers student financial assistance programs that help eligible students meet the costs of their education.

In order to provide post-secondary students with useful online post-secondary resources and services, the ministry needed to better understand a student’s journey into and through post-secondary.

Service design activities

The Strategic Design and Transformation Branch worked with the Ministry of Advanced Education to better understand how post-secondary stakeholders – students, faculty and university administration - interacted with the ministry and moved through the post-secondary system. Through in-person interviews and qualitative research, the project team developed a journey map of the post-secondary student experience.

The research identified opportunities to improve the structure of the ministry’s website and online resources, including information on financial aid for students. These opportunities were incorporated into the design of prototypes that were tested with users, as well as a technical blueprint for the proposed prototypes, which outlined how the resources could operate and be supported by ministry staff.

Outcome and impact 

The Ministry of Advanced Education incorporated the project team’s research findings and lessons learned into future online resources for post-secondary students.