Companion Platforms Supporting the Student Journey

“Chulalongkorn University has developed innovative platforms as a student companion to support student journeys throughout their time of study. CUNEX is the first platform to start their journey and accompany students throughout their time at the university, providing accessibility to all facilities and financial aid applications. MindSpace is a platform for students who are under stress to access mental health services for counselling, advice, and healing appointments. CUDSON is a platform for student competency assessment and development that guides them to explore their interests and opportunities to improve their competencies via training programs, activities, and learning platforms. These platforms support student lives on campus and shaping them to be successful in the disruptive professional world and become young future leaders and valuable global citizens.”

Chulalongkorn University (CU) has a vision to facilitate and support student well-being and competency development. CU has developed innovative platforms as a student companion to support students’ journeys throughout their time of study by providing (1) the gateway (CUNEX) to administer their classes, facilities, and lives on campus; (2) the accessibility to mental health and well-being counseling services (MindSpace); and (3) the competency assessment and development program (CUDSON) for students to explore and improve their soft skills and competencies through extracurricular activities towards their future careers.

CUNEX has been introduced to all students (41,407 students) as the first student companion platform of their journey. CUNEX is the most relevant to student lives, as shown by 96% of active users. CUNEX provides access to a virtual ID, tuition payment, class timetable, notification of events and activities, health records, and accessibility to online learning and campus facilities. Exclusively, students with CUNEX will enjoy special offers, promotions, and privileges from commercial partners around the campus. Chulalongkorn University is determined to ensure that no student will drop out due to financial problems. The university has provided financial aid for students. This feature has been added to CUNEX for students to conveniently access.

Chulalongkorn University has given priority to student well-being by providing comprehensive healthcare services on campus with a contacted hospital to ensure that students will get taken care of in all conditions. Recently, students have expressed being more mentally vulnerable. The university has provided a wellness center for mental counseling, healing, resilient promotion, and prevention. When demand has increased, MindSpace platform, LINE OA, and 24-hour hotline have been launched that allow students to access the services promptly at any time. Students can talk to a psychiatrist preliminarily, make an appointment, or follow some predetermined advice. More than 20,000 students have been aware of the services, and the counseling sessions have increased from 53% to 65%.

Along with the student journey, not only knowledge but also the development of competencies is encouraged to enhance their employability and success in the disruptive professional world. The university has introduced CUDSON, a self-competency assessment and development platform, to all students since they started the journey. After doing self-assessment and having their own spider charts showing six competencies: self-management, emotion management, communication, collaboration, problem solving, and social transformation, students are suggested to explore their interests and opportunities to improve their competencies via training programs, activities, and learning platforms, i.e., CUMOOC and CUVIP. At the end of their journey, CUDSON offers the competency matching to job-required competencies feature for recruitment, which has already been employed in the CU Job and Higher Education Fair. Currently, 573 activities and 15,580 participants have been recorded, and the engagement rate has risen from 2,624 cases in October 2022 to 55,742 cases in August 2023. Chulalongkorn University has effectively deployed innovative platforms as student companions that facilitate student learning, living, and development, leading them to have a prosperous future and become young future leaders and valuable global citizens.