The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the fore a significant increase in student mental health and well-being issues in higher level institutions.
A 2020 (Salesforce) survey in 10 countries, including the UK, USA, Netherlands, France, Spain, Australia and Nordic countries, showed 76% of students struggle to maintain their wellbeing, as does 73% of staff.
Research suggests that this ongoing mental health crisis will likely affect student retention rates and lead to a decline in student engagement, resulting in more drop-outs.
Today’s higher-education leaders are prioritising university students’ mental health by finding new and innovative ways to boost well-being and engage with students.
Using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies enables higher-level institutions to safeguard student mental health by accurately spotting behavioural patterns and providing appropriate student support in real-time.
Why is Effective Student Engagement So Important in Higher Level Institutions?
In education, student engagement refers to the degree of attention, curiosity, interest, optimism, and passion that students show when they are learning or being taught, which extends to the motivation they have to learn and progress in their education.
Student engagement can be seen as the glue that holds together all aspects of student learning and growth. Not only does student engagement make teaching itself more fun, engaging, and rewarding, but it has been shown to have critical impacts on students overall growth.
When students display high levels of behavioural, emotional, and cognitive engagement, they are more likely to excel academically, form a stronger sense of connection with their college, and have a more positive sense of social-emotional well-being.
Ensuring greater or improved student engagement is a key goal for higher-level institutions. Today’s Student Services teams are working harder than ever to understand how to engage and activate students.
How NUI Galway Is Supporting Student Engagement & Well-being with an AI Powered Platform
Learn How NUI Galway uses decision intelligence to transform student engagement. For the first time ever the University can provide 24/7/365 personalised and responsible information on student queries through a digital assistant named Cara (meaning ‘friend’ in Gaelic).
Furthermore, the platform is doing the heavy lifting for University staff, providing answers to thousands of frequently asked questions, reducing mundane tasks by 40%, and saving more than 500 staff hours over a six-month period.
Let Josephine Walsh, Head of Student Engagement Projects explain How NUI Galway is using AI to Support Student’s Mental Health
Four Simple Steps to Supercharging Student Engagement with AI
The first step is creating an AI digital assistant for web and mobile like Cara, that provides answers to thousands of frequently asked questions covering campus facilities and support services as well as other day to day services. Students can type into Cara “I’m feeling lonely”, and Cara will direct them to the supports available to them.
Find out how supercharging your student engagement is down to four simple steps.
Other steps include collecting, creating and sharing knowledge from one central location, drawing real time insights from student activity to enhance decision making and identifying issues before they escalate. All four steps ensure the institution is best positioned to serve and encourage students through every step of their University experience.
Transform Your Student Engagement Strategy With Galvia
Galvia’s AI-powered Decision Intelligence platform presents endless opportunities for universities to enable a better learning experience both on & off campus.
For institutions to stay relevant in creating engaging learning experiences, technology is an ideal opportunity. While AI technologies are sometimes seen as a luxury, soon they will become default tools for engaging students. Institutions who do not invest in technology will face increasing competition from others that will keep pace with innovation.
At Galvia our mission is to make AI-powered solutions accessible to everyone.
Request a demo today to find out how our platform can transform student services within your institution and change the way you engage with students for the better.