Welcome culture has been a key word for some years now, but what does it entail specifically in the university context? What steps and activities are necessary to make international students feel welcome at our university and subsequently integrate well?
Interactive tool and useful handbook
The answer to these questions is provided by the "Customer Journey" developed by the InComm team. It consists of a series of elements that together form a complete welcoming process: Such as a "Front Desk," which designates a physical location where all sorts of questions can be answered, assistance in finding housing before arrival, or city tours to help newcomers find their way around their new home. This "InComm Customer Journey" also forms the basis for the interactive InComm+ web tool, which can be used to analyse the welcome process. The tool highlights individual gaps in graphical form – which elements are not present and which elements is the target audience not satisfied with? In addition, best practices from other universities can be used as examples for easy replication.
Another useful product of the InComm project is the handbook, available online, which summarises findings from the project in a concise manner. The handbook, the tool and the “Customer Journey” can be found on the InComm website, as well as other useful materials developed in the project: https://www.incomm-project.eu/tools/
