UCJC

Universidad Camilo José Cela (UCJC) is a higher education institution known for its personal touch and proximity. The university sought to deeply understand the student acquisition journey (from initial consideration to final enrollment) to move beyond mere conversion rates and uncover the true drivers of the student experience.

01 Challenge

How might we transform a transactional enrollment funnel into a coherent, emotionally secure student journey?

The goal was to redefine the enrollment process not just as a sequence of administrative steps, but as a trust-building experience that aligns the university’s internal silos with the students' high expectations.

02 Core Problem

Despite its reputation for personal treatment, the university’s student journey felt fragmented. Departments (Marketing, Admissions, and Secretariat) operated in isolation, leading to a narrative that lacked coherence. What should have been a guided progression felt like an "obstacle course." Students experienced emotional insecurity at the most critical decision-making moments, where information overwhelmed rather than guided.

03 My Role

Service Designer & Research Lead.

I led the research and service design process end-to-end, acting as the primary strategic interface for the university. My responsibilities included:

• Leading a multi-lens research process, including 12 in-depth interviews and focus groups with students, alumni, and faculty directors.

• Conducting competitive field observations to benchmark the experience against other institutions.

• Facilitating cross-department workshops to break down silos and align the internal "backstage."

• Designing the “To-Be” student journey, establishing strategic design principles and a prioritized roadmap for implementation.

05 Impact

The project provided a blueprint for institutional transformation, resulting in:

Structural alignment: Achieved a shared understanding and strategic alignment between marketing, admissions, and the secretary's office.

Strategic reprioritization: Defined a new Open Day strategy and redesigned the value proposition narrative to emphasize prestige and academic rigor.

Operational optimization: Reduced friction in key decision moments by simplifying data requests and clarifying the enrollment hierarchy.

Marketing efficiency: Aligned advertising campaigns with the actual student journey, ensuring marketing investment supported long-term relationship building rather than isolated conversion efforts.

06 Key Takeaways

The Journey starts early: Enrollment doesn't begin at registration; it starts years before. Meaning must be shaped long before the formal conversion begins.

Backstage defines frontstage: You cannot fix the student experience without fixing the internal coordination. A fragmented organization will always produce a fragmented experience.

Design as emotional security: In high-stakes decisions like education, the role of design is to reduce anxiety and build incremental trust through every touchpoint.

07 Research & Framing

We structured the research around three critical dimensions:

Ecosystem empathy: We mapped both visible student touchpoints and invisible backstage dynamics, revealing the tensions between the university’s intentions and its execution.

Journey framework: We reframed enrollment into four macro-phases: Origin (narrative), Research (search), Verification (the visit), and Conversion (the choice).

Strategic vs. tactical bifurcation: We distinguished between systemic misalignments (identity and positioning) and operational "quick wins" (usability gaps and data friction).