Streamlining Communication at Abertay University
Author
JAMES NICHOLSON
Director of Student and Academic Services
Abertay University
Summary
Abertay University wanted to ensure students understood the language and processes described in its formal communications. It reviewed its professional services correspondence with input from multiple departments, simplifying language and restructuring letters to clearly signpost next steps and support.
The challenge
One of Abertay University’s core values is Care, expressed in treating all people with kindness and respect. The directorate of Student and Academic Services committed to embedding this value in communication with students, particularly in making processes and procedures clear and straightforward. While staff across the university understood the inner workings of academic processes, students often did not. Many students struggled with technical terminology — such as "mitigating circumstances" — and were unfamiliar with the processes themselves, including basic questions like who to contact or what an appeal involved.
The university had reviewed its communications during the pandemic, prompted by a wider effort to be more compassionate during a difficult time. While that earlier round of communications had been beneficial, the language had grown a little tired, and the institution had since moved forward. There was a clear desire for communications to feel warmer and more caring, helping students genuinely connect with what they were being told, rather than simply providing information. Improvements to underlying systems and processes also meant the university was now in a better position to include clear links and instructions within these communications.
The Approach
The university undertook a fresh review of communications within the Directorate of Student and Academic Services, with particular attention to "next steps,” ensuring students received clear information and understood what they needed to do with the information. The review brought together a range of perspectives, including the Head of Quality Assurance, Head of Student Administration, Student Support Manager, and Head of Student Services. Multiple perspectives ensured the work was considered across the student journey, including appeals, complaints, progression and withdrawal, funding, and others.
One particularly useful source of inspiration came from an informal conversation with a head of communications at an external organisation, whose work involved communicating health and safety information to factory workers — content that needs to be exceptionally clear, often pitched at a reading age of around eight or nine. Taking a cue from this, the team experimented with using Copilot to simplify their own communications to a similar reading level. The results, however, felt somewhat condescending for a university audience. Refining the prompt to ask for communication suitable for university students, written with compassion, struck a better balance, deconstructing and simplifying the language without talking down to students.
A key aspect of the redesigned approach was the inclusion of a short "final words" section offering encouragement. For example, for withdrawals this noted that a particular course may not be the right fit, while offering a discussion with key services to explore next steps:
We recognise that this news may be difficult to receive. While this decision brings your current programme of study to an end, support remains available to help you plan your next steps.
We encourage you to seek advice, take time to reflect, and make use of the services available to you.
We wish you every success in your future endeavours.
The intention was to give students room to see new possibilities rather than experiencing the news as a dead end. In practice, take-up varies; students who are withdrawing have often already disengaged, so uptake of follow-up support can be low. The communications that make the most difference are those sent to students who are resitting or repeating a year, roughly half of whom go on to access some form of support, such as a faculty advisor or learning support services.
The Impact
The professional services review has ensured Abertay’s communications align with its streamlined processes and exemplify its values of care and respect. In a parallel project, IT infrastructure has been redesigned so that key processes, such as those covering mitigating circumstances, appeals, and booking support appointments, now sits in one place. The communications review means template letters now align with these processes, offering clear next steps and direct links. This has removed a barrier where students would email a contact only to be sent a link to a form, an extra step that discouraged engagement.
The review also surfaced some less obvious barriers. Communications now explicitly remind students that processes are confidential — something that may seem self-evident to staff, but isn't always stated, and matters a great deal to students who might otherwise be reluctant to come forward. As institutional processes can be opaque to students, many assume that sensitive information will reach their lecturers and influence how they're judged academically. Similarly, students are also often not told who is making decisions about their case, frequently assuming it relates directly to their course, when in fact it's handled by a separate panel. In adopting a compassionate approach, communications at Abertay now work harder to make these processes clear, including reassurance that the academics marking their work will not be informed.
Looking ahead, the university plans to involve students directly in reviewing future communications, and to work more closely with its communications team, recognising that writing clear and compassionate communications is in fact a specialist skill.