The pressure point:
South East Technological University (SETU) found themselves in a situation many universities know all too well: applications were rolling in, but enrolments weren’t keeping up.
“While application numbers were growing, we faced a challenge in converting those into actual enrolments" - Dr Colm Walsh, SETU’s Global Business Development Manager.
With a stretched team and limited bandwidth, the university needed something that could make a difference - fast. It had to be low-lift, easy to roll out, and, most importantly, not add to their already full plates.
The goal? Improve the pre-arrival experience so offer-holders felt more confident and connected, without giving staff more work.
One safe home for all offer-holders:
Enter Uni-Life. The idea was simple: create a private, student-led space where offer-holders can chat, join groups, and discover events - all in one place. No noise, no distractions, and fully GDPR-compliant. Just students connecting early in a safe, welcoming environment to start building a sense of belonging, under guardrails staff can trust.
Managed day-to-day by Uni-Life’s community team, it stays light-touch for the university while giving the university real-time visibility into engagement.
“We’ve always taken pride in our pre-arrival experience, but Uni-Life helped us add another powerful layer to our approach - deepening student engagement in a way that resonates with student expectations for connection, privacy, and authenticity.”
Launching at the moment that matters:
The rollout was intentionally light: Uni-Life designed the community and outreach strategy, and SETU invited their offer-holders. We saw things kick off right away: Within 24 hours, 120 students had signed up, with conversations flying through one-to-one messages, group chats, threads, and events.
“This was a strategically agile solution - minimal resource demand, rapid implementation, and immediate impact on current recruitment outcomes,” noted Colm Walsh.
From sign-ups to real connection:
Once the community opened, momentum followed: 28% of offer-holders joined Uni-Life, and students quickly over 15,000 one-to-one messages. Students were quick to see the value:
“Uni-Life has been a useful platform. I discovered people with similar interests and found out more about accommodation and what to expect.”
“Everything about Uni-Life made things easier for me. It’s a great platform to make friends before starting university.”
“This is a very good platform for students to connect with their classmates."
That activity translated into confidence. In the student survey we sent to SETU’s prospective students, 52.5% of surveyed students said Uni-Life made them feel more socially confident about starting at SETU, and 36.9% said it had a big impact on their decision to enrol.
Engagement was seen in both public and private channels: 25% engaged in at least one private chat and 113 public threads were posted, turning early sign-ups into real conversations and new friendships.
What’s next:
SETU’s focus now is doing more of what works: keep the pre-arrival hub simple, continue targeted announcements, and let student-to-student energy power the community, with Uni-Life’s team maintaining momentum. The north star remains the same: improve pre-arrival experience and conversion - the “huge win” Colm flagged from the start:
“Seeing that this actually had a significant impact - improving our pre-arrival scores and how informed students are – would represent a huge win, especially as it aligns with the aspirations set out in our Global Engagement strategy to foster early connection, confidence, and belonging among our diverse student cohorts.”
Spoiler: it already is.
