That experience of collaborating with students is one of the reasons I advocated for creation of a student-focused advisory group, which we kicked off with the Oracle Student Financial Planning (SFP) Advisory Group last year. This effort brought together our product managers, designers, strategy and development team members across Oracle with our ultimate end users: the students from our SFP institutional customers. We had eight students from six SFP institutions participate, engaging in activities such as user acceptance testing sessions, speaking on panels, providing context into their challenges with financial aid. Having the student perspective is incredibly important in our development of a product that will shape the student experience, and the work of this cohort helped us improve Oracle SFP – and the financial aid process – for future students.
The success of last year’s group is why I’m so excited to talk about this academic year’s advisory groups: that’s right, there will be more than one! We’re excited to continue on with our SFP Advisory Group, and to be kicking off an additional advisory group for Oracle Student as well.
Why two separate advisory groups? While SFP is part of Oracle Student, we’ve found that financial aid – and the way in which SFP impacts the financial aid process – is truly its own unique, complex entity, and necessitates its own advisory group. In addition, SFP has been available in the market for several years now, whereas our early adopter institutions will begin implementing Oracle Student for traditional programs this fall. Based off of where these products are in their different lifecycles, the kinds of questions and exercises that we’ll use for product development will differ for both groups. And while we do not require that students on the SFP Advisory Group have actual experience with SFP (meaning, that it does not have to be fully live at their institution), some students have been using SFP for one or two years, and having that extant user perspective and experience is invaluable.
Our Advisory Group for Oracle Student will have a slightly different focus. It will focus on essentially all the other aspects and processes managed by a student system: paying for tuition, registering for courses, applying for graduation, etc. The feedback we receive from the students on the Oracle Student user experience will help us as we continue to develop and build it out for full, robust functionality. And unlike the SFP Advisory Group, members for the Oracle Student Advisory Group can come from any institution using any Oracle solution (PeopleSoft, Campus Solutions, Oracle Cloud ERP, HCM, CX, Cloud Infrastructure, Oracle SFP, etc.).
We are actively seeking students right now! You can contact your account manager or reach out to me at joyce.kim[at]oracle.com for an official application or to learn more. For FAQ, read on:
Who is invited to participate in these advisory groups?
Participants in the SFP Advisory Group must belong to an SFP institution. The students do not need to have any experience actually using SFP, but must receive some sort of financial aid assistance.
Participants in the Oracle Student Advisory Group must attend an institution using an Oracle solution (Campus Solutions, PeopleSoft, Oracle Cloud, Oracle Student Financial Planning, etc.). This will be a more generalized group that covers the overall student experience.
Who is an ideal candidate?
Any student from any grade/year -- our main stipulation is that we are looking for students who will provide us with open and honest feedback! Previous members have included students with an interest in software development, product management, marketing, user experience research, design, higher education policy, student government, etc.
How much time will this take?
We will hold one internal meeting each quarter, for about an hour; this will be scheduled based on everyone’s best availability. There will be additional exercises for members to participate in, on a totally voluntary basis.
What are examples of activities I might be asked to participate in?
Exercises will vary based on need, but may include:
- user acceptance testing
- roundtable discussions on financial aid or student-related issues and challenges
- video interviews
- developing thought leadership on financial aid management solutions, student systems, etc.
Is this an internship? Do students get paid?
This is not an official Oracle internship, and students will not be paid for attending the four quarterly group meetings. However, they may receive compensation for the additional activities, such as the UAT sessions.
We do consider this to be a great professional development opportunity. In addition to collaborating closely with members of the Oracle Higher Education Development team, the Student Advisory Group members will have the opportunity to work with the Oracle Class Of team, which is in charge of hiring interns and entry-level positions at Oracle.
Where is the application? Who can I reach out to for more questions? When is the deadline?
Interested institutions or student candidates should request applications from (or direct questions to) joyce.kim[at]oracle.com, and should submit their completed applications to the same email address by mid-September.