The Problem

Like many institutions, DSU has seen significant changes in their student makeup and values.  

There are more commuter students, mature learners, students studying modular or longer-term courses, and more students balancing study with paid work. On top of this, students are increasingly time-poor, health-conscious, and focused on employability after university.  

They want to know that their time at university, is time well spent. An investment in their future, providing real value for money. 

Students are a lot more conscious of what they’re paying and what they’re getting back. There’s much more focus on whether it’s worth their time.- Andy Reynolds, Head of Income Generation and Marketing, DSU

This shift has impacted everything from event attendance, voting behaviour, to how students choose to engage with representation and the extracurricular activities they participate in. Everything is now done with one eye on future employment. Traditional assumptions about student life no longer held true, and engagement strategies needed to evolve.  

DSU’s challenge was not simply to increase engagement numbers, but to improve the quality, relevance, and sustainability of that engagement. 

The Solution

Student engagement sits at the heart of DSU’s three-year strategy, with a strong focus on belonging, visibility and empowerment.  

As student expectations continue to evolve, the Union recognised that engagement needed to be more flexible, accessible and relevant to modern student life. 

Opportunities to engage must be easy to discover, simple to access and clearly valuable.  

To support this approach, DSU needed a platform that could: 

• Make it easy for students to discover and participate in opportunities 

• Support elections and democratic processes reliably 

• Provide meaningful insight into engagement trends and behaviours 

• Reduce administrative workload for staff 

• Bring together data from across the organisation to support better decision-making 

The MSL System became a key part of enabling this strategy, providing a single platform for engagement, representation, elections and reporting. 

Elections remain one of DSU’s most significant opportunities to engage students in representation and decision-making. 

With their new approach, the aim wasn’t to just increase turnout. The Union wanted to encourage meaningful participation, helping students understand the issues, engage with candidates and make informed choices. 

Using the MSL Elections module, DSU was able to provide a seamless online election experience, with candidate information, manifestos and voting all accessible through a single platform.  

Staff had confidence that the technology would perform reliably during peak periods, allowing them to focus their attention on promotion, visibility and student engagement. 

We didn’t have to worry about the system at all. That meant we could focus on engagement, visibility, and quality rather than fighting fires.- Andy Reynolds, Head of Income Generation and Marketing, DSU

To encourage a more inclusive approach to student engagement. Communications and campaigns were delivered across multiple channels, including digital screens, email, social media, peer-to-peer promotion and in-person activity. 

Because key information and opportunities were always available online, students could engage in ways that suited their schedules and circumstances, whether they were regularly on campus or not. 

This helped ensure that engagement activity reached a wider range of students and supported the Union’s goal of making representation more visible and accessible. 

Alongside engagement and representation, DSU has placed a growing emphasis on evidence-based decision-making. 

As student behaviours have become more diverse, the Union recognised the need to move beyond assumptions and use real data to understand how, when and where students engage. 

Drawing on information from representation activity, events, surveys, student enquiries and wider engagement data held within MSL, teams can identify trends, monitor participation and evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns throughout the year. 

We’re trying to make decisions based on what the systems are telling us, rather than assumptions or what we think we know.- Andy Reynolds, Head of Income Generation and Marketing, DSU

By bringing data together in a single platform, MSL helps teams across the organisation work from a shared understanding of student engagement and make more informed decisions about where to focus their efforts. 

The Result

DSU has seen significant growth in representation activity, with a 25% increase in course representatives and strong retention into the following academic year. A total of 130 representatives chose to continue their role, demonstrating sustained student commitment to shaping the academic experience. 

The Union’s focus on visibility, accessibility and informed participation contributed to strong election engagement. 

The 2025 elections generated 23,683 votes, representing a 22% increase compared to 2023. Beyond turnout alone, the elections provided more students with an opportunity to engage with candidates, understand key issues and play an active role in shaping the future direction of their Students’ Union. 

With engagement data, representation activity and operational insight available through a single platform, DSU has strengthened its ability to understand student behaviour and respond to changing needs. 

Teams can now more easily identify engagement trends; understand which groups may be underrepresented and assess the effectiveness of campaigns and initiatives. This has helped the Union make better-informed decisions and direct resources where they can have the greatest impact. 

Perhaps most importantly, DSU has developed an approach to engagement that reflects the realities of today's student population. 

By focusing on visibility, accessibility and representation, the Union has adapted its engagement strategy to better support commuter students, mature learners and students balancing study with work and other commitments. 

As a result, DSU is better positioned to deliver meaningful opportunities for participation, strengthen student voice and continue evolving its services in line with student expectations. 

As DSU enters into a new strategic cycle, data and insight remain key priorities. The Union is focused on continuing to improve data quality, increasing staff confidence in reporting tools and making full use of MSL’s capabilities to support evidence-based decision-making.

By combining strong representation, meaningful engagement opportunities and data-driven decision-making, DSU has created a more resilient and future-focused approach to student engagement that will continue to support students throughout their university journey.