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Success Story

Zayed University Chooses CampusGroups Over Building In-House to Advance Student Skills and Engagement

Zayed University chose CampusGroups over building an in-house solution to support its Skills and Capabilities Framework and create a more connected student experience. The university used CampusGroups to manage activities, capture participation data, support student communities, and gradually modernize Student Affairs without replacing every existing system at once.
Type of Institution:
Federal University
Student Population:
10,000+
Client Since:
2024
Location:
Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates

About Zayed University

Zayed University is one of three federal universities in the United Arab Emirates, with campuses in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The university focuses on developing young Emirati talent and preparing students for the workforce. Its Skills and Capabilities Framework maps 18 desirable skills across the student experience.

Outcomes

Zayed University’s phased approach helped the university expand student engagement while advancing its Skills and Capabilities Framework and broader digital strategy. This progress is reflected in the following results:
students
0 +
actively engaged with CampusGroups within the first 12 months, representing roughly 75% of the student population
students
0 +
received a co-curricular transcript, with at least 80% of the data used to create the first transcripts coming from CampusGroups
capability statements
0
were generated from students’ participation in developmental activities.

Challenges

Zayed University’s technology landscape had evolved over time, with different departments introducing systems to meet specific needs. This created a fragmented digital environment for both students and staff. The university faced several challenges:

    1. Disconnected systems: Zayed University relied on spreadsheets, Google Sheets, SharePoint, and other independent tools. Student information and activity data were spread across systems that did not always communicate with each other.
    2. Fragmented student communications: Students encountered different platforms depending on the service or activity they wanted to access. Activity promotion was also spread across multiple channels, making opportunities harder to discover.
    3. Administrative burden: Disconnected systems created additional work for Student Affairs teams, taking time away from direct student engagement.
    4. Skills development: Zayed University needed a way to embed its Skills and Capabilities Framework into the student experience and capture participation across developmental activities.
    5. A need for integration: The university wanted a solution that could support its strategic goals without creating another isolated system.

Solutions

Zayed University chose CampusGroups as a foundation for its Skills and Capabilities Framework and broader student engagement strategy. The platform gave the university multiple capabilities from the start, while allowing teams to introduce them gradually. This approach included:

  • Choosing to buy instead of build: Zayed University had a strong internal IT team and had built many of its existing systems in-house, making another internal build a realistic option. However, developing a new solution would have required extensive requirements gathering, IT capacity, and time to address different departmental needs. CampusGroups allowed Zayed University to bring multiple capabilities together without developing individual tools and services one at a time.
  • Supporting skills development: CampusGroups became the foundation for Zayed University’s skills and capabilities tracking. Staff could tag activities against the university’s 18 skills, capturing participation data to support co-curricular transcripts. Zayed University then used this data to create narrative-driven statements aligned with its Skills and Capabilities Framework.
  • Creating a student-focused space: Zayed University wanted a digital environment designed specifically for students. Its main university website serves a broader audience, including parents, industry partners, and government stakeholders. CampusGroups gave Student Affairs a dedicated space to communicate with students and promote activities.
  • Building student communities: CampusGroups enabled Zayed University to create clubs and groups where students could showcase their teams, share information, and connect with others. Staff could also create groups around topics relevant to students and communicate directly with their communities.
  • Giving Student Affairs greater ownership: With a dedicated student-facing platform, Student Affairs could manage more of the communication loop directly, reducing its reliance on the university’s central communications and marketing team.

 

Implementation

Zayed University took a phased approach to implementation rather than attempting a big-bang rollout. The university kept existing systems running while gradually moving selected activities and processes onto CampusGroups.

The initial rollout focused on areas where CampusGroups could immediately support student engagement and skills development:

  • Start with student leaders: The rollout began with approximately 200 student leaders. These students worked closely with Student Affairs and provided direct feedback on the platform, helping the university refine the experience before expanding access.
  • Expand to first-year students: Zayed University next introduced CampusGroups to its first-year cohort of more than 1,000 students. First-year students were a natural next step because they had no established preference for the university’s previous systems. The university could introduce CampusGroups as part of their university experience from the beginning.
  • Build CampusGroups into the student experience: Students were introduced to the platform through a general education course, which included an orientation treasure hunt and a platform-based assignment. These activities gave students a practical reason to use CampusGroups and helped make adoption meaningful rather than compulsory.
  • Scale across the student population: By December, CampusGroups was opened to the wider student population. Within roughly six months, Zayed University had expanded from 200 student leaders to more than 10,000 students.
  • Support staff adoption: Zayed University also focused heavily on staff support. Teams received hands-on guidance to help them understand how they could use the platform and troubleshoot challenges.
  • Continue expanding use: Zayed University is now moving into all seven colleges, expanding student groups and peer interaction, and distributing administrative responsibilities. The university is also exploring AI-powered reporting and plans to identify appropriate legacy systems that could eventually move into CampusGroups.
“We wanted to make development opportunities easier”
“Our two equal ambitions were to supercharge the Skills and Capabilities Framework and modernize Student Affairs. We wanted to make development opportunities easier, more engaging, and more accessible for students.”
Jonathan Allsopp, Head of Student Life
Zayed University
“Making adoption from our students meaningful, not compulsory”
“One of the big successes for us is making adoption from our students meaningful, not compulsory. Students have been incentivized to take part because they see a real value in skill development.”
Jonathan Allsopp, Head of Student Life
Zayed University
“Student-focused and student-facing”
“We wanted something that was student-focused and student-facing. We wanted to speak to our students’ needs and meet them where they were.”
Jonathan Allsopp, Head of Student Life
Zayed University
“CampusGroups allowed us to implement lots of things at once”
“Opting for CampusGroups allowed us to implement lots of things at once, rather than building one tool or service at a time. We could then introduce those elements gradually and build an ecosystem around skill development.”
Jonathan Allsopp, Head of Student Life
Zayed University

Conclusion

Zayed University chose CampusGroups to advance its Skills and Capabilities Framework while creating a more connected approach to student engagement and development. Rather than replacing existing systems at once, Zayed University introduced CampusGroups gradually and expanded its use as adoption grew. 

The university is now extending the platform across all seven colleges and exploring new ways to centralize resources, engagement, and reporting. CampusGroups provides Zayed University with a flexible foundation to support its strategic priorities and evolve its approach over time.