Prestigious award for student support and wellbeing services

The University's Student Support and Wellbeing Division has been awarded a prestigious customer service award, recognising the first-class service it offers to students to enhance their university experience.

The Customer Service Excellence ® standard is a recognised UK government award for excellence in customer service that aims to offer a unique improvement tool to help those delivering services to put their customers at the core of what they do.

In order to achieve the award, the Division was evaluated against 57 elements within five criteria: quality of delivery, timeliness, information, professionalism and staff attitude. Emphasis was also placed on how the Division knows its customer's needs, how it understands the customer's experience and how it measures service satisfaction.

A number of strengths were highlighted as part of the assessment, including:

• the positive attitude and commitment to delivering an excellent customer experience among service delivery staff who always put student needs first, and;
• the Division's partner arrangements which have been put in place to enhance the student experience, such as offering advice and assistance to care leavers in partnership with Buttle UK and working with the Students' Union on academic advice and welfare support for students.

The Division was also awarded a 'compliance plus' status at assessment for its approach to identifying and interacting with hard-to-reach or vulnerable students.

Jayne Dowden, Chief Operating Officer, said: "This is an acknowledgement of the work that goes on every day to make sure our students are looked after and have a great Cardiff experience."

Ben Lewis, Director of the Student Support and Wellbeing Division, added: "The Customer Service Excellence standard has given us a way of evaluating how we work with students and staff across the University community. We are really proud to have achieved this standard and appreciate the work of all staff involved in getting us to this point."

The Division includes the Advice and Money Service, the Counselling, Health and Wellbeing Service, the Disability and Dyslexia Service, the International Student Support Unit and the Careers and Employability Service. The Services are located at the Student Support Centres at 50 Park Place and Cardigan House on the Cathays and Heath campuses respectively, with some services also based at 37-38 Park Place.

Honorary Fellow of the University, Stephen Fry, narrates and stars in three short animations that introduce students to the services and facilities they can find along Park Place, also known as the Student High Street. This includes the Student Support Centre as well as the IT Service Desk, the Chaplaincies, the University Health Centre, the Students' Union and a 24-hour security office.