Student perceptions of support in the contemporary model of higher education

One of the outcomes from the self-reports by students in Chapter 10 was the recognition that not all students were aware of the range and scope of services available to support their experience at university. In this chapter, the experience of students in another of the participating institutions suggests that the existence of different levels of support across the institution indicates that a stratification of the right type of support at the right level in the institution might provide one way of improving student awareness and access to support. The benefit of this approach is hypothesised to be that a centralisation and coordination of services can achieve economies of scale, but a holistic approach also recognises that not all services should be, or can be, delivered centrally. Some are best delivered locally by stakeholders, in the program or departmental context, if students are to recognise and access such services.