We’ve distilled our understanding of prospective students into user journey maps so that we can share our insights with the University community. Over the past 3 years, we’ve conducted a great deal of research into the prospective student experience through the work to transform the degree finder and explore the future of open days.

Our prospective undergraduate student journey map is shaped by three high-level phases we identified in the user research we did in the process of designing and delivering the new University degree finders. It’s an at-a-glance summary for student recruitment and marketing colleagues.

Our prospective postgraduate taught student journey map is shaped by three high-level phases we identified in the user research we did in the process of designing and delivering the new University degree finders. It’s an at-a-glance summary for student recruitment and marketing colleagues.

The process of user research with prospective PhD students challenged our early assumptions of the applicant journey. We evolved our initial thinking, leading to two new and distinct user journey maps.

The user journey for students applying for a project-based PhD is distinct from those looking for a self-directed PhD, so we’ve mapped each separately with an accompanying commentary on what we learned from our user research.

The user journey for students applying for a self-directed PhD is distinct from those looking for a project-based PhD, so we’ve mapped each separately with an accompanying commentary on what we learned from our user research.

This year, we spoke to 97 people about how they searched for degrees and whether they had used AI tools in the process. I used these insights, along with data from GA4 and results from stress-testing various AI tools, to create a presentation for the 2025 ContentEd conference.