student life cycle management (SLC)
The student life cycle management at the weißensee school of art and design berlin
The digitalization of the student life cycle at the weißensee school of art and design berlin was greatly accelerated over the past years and expanded significantly through new digital components and applications.
Project goals
The primary project goals were to make the existing digital possibilities in study organization and teaching support easier, more transparent, and more accessible for all students and teachers, and to identify deficits in the digital student life cycle and to design, test, and implement new processes and applications for this purpose.
By concretely and practically improving the processes and enhancing their documentation, the user experience and usability of the systems were optimized and adapted to the increased data protection and IT security requirements.
These optimizations ran through all phases of the student life cycle for applicants, students, teachers in the departments and facilities, as well as employees in IT and administration, leading to long-term relief in teaching, IT, and student administration.
In addition, a concept for the further development of digital student life cycle management was developed, extending beyond the end of the project.
Project measures
A cross-functional team was active at the weißensee school of art and design berlin for the analysis and revision of the digital student life cycle. The project staff at that time were based in the Office for Study Affairs, the Computer Studio, and the workshops, and brought the necessary expertise and understanding of implementation possibilities in their respective areas into the project. In addition, they served as interfaces to their respective departments.
The project was steered by a steering committee consisting of members of the working group on teaching-related processes and digitalization appointed by the Academic Senate of the university, the head of the Computer Studio, the head of the Office for Study Affairs, and representatives of the university leadership.
The initiative was structured as a Research and Development (R&D) project. In R&D, the focus—beyond generating knowledge—was primarily on developing new products/processes or improving existing ones. The entire development cycle was considered: starting with research and analysis, through exploration, development, and testing, all the way to implementation and documentation.
We regarded this holistic orientation, with its strong emphasis on implementation, as the ideal tool for addressing the challenges and overall situation of the digital student life cycle at the weißensee school of art and design berlin.
Following this process structure, the project “Student Life Cycle Management (SLC)” was divided into three consecutive phases:
Process and System Analysis: identifying deficits and problems
A comprehensive process analysis and user research of the entire process and system landscape of the student life cycle at the weißensee school of art and design berlin were conducted. The result of this phase was a complete visualization of the student life cycle process and system landscape as well as a detailed compilation of the problems that existed at the time.
Prototypes and testing – developing and testing solution approaches
Using design research methods and prototype development, various solution approaches were generated for the individual issues. These were tested, validated, and further refined in short interaction cycles with a small number of users through prototypes.
Implementation, documentation and further development
By implementing the previously tested solutions into the existing structures and by creating frameworks, guidelines, and uniform templates for the various phases of the student life cycle, a sustainable improvement was achieved for all stakeholders.
Projektlaufzeit
Das student life cycle Management Projekt war von 2023 bis 2025 an der weißensee kunsthochschule berlin aktiv.
![[Translate to English:] Logo student life cycle Management](/fileadmin/user_upload/Seitenbereiche/student_life_cycle_Management/SLC_448x400_rechts_01.png)