In France, a national network of student services works to improve students’ daily living conditions and support their academic success. This includes providing affordable housing, dining options, and essential services in university residences—such as reliable, high-speed internet access, which has become a vital tool for successful studies.
// PARTNERSHIP HISTORY
From SmartCampus to PlanetCampus, student satisfaction at the heart of the evolution of our relationship with Crous
Wifirst has been lucky enough to work with Crous since 2003, when we first opened a collective WiFi service in a student residence of the Crous d'Aix-Marseille. For 20 years, we've been evolving, growing and innovating for students and thanks to students. 2013 marked a turning point in Wifirst's history for the Crous with the national listing of Wifirst's SmartCampus solution.
The solution includeda connectivity service included in student charges;accelerated deployment in new Crous;redeployment of infrastructure; asignificant increase in bandwidth; andthe most systematic possible connection of residences to fiber optics.
A new call for tenders was issued in 2019, which we won again thanks to our "PlanetCampus" solution. Coming soon: an update linked to the new call for tenders won again in 2024.
// PLANETCAMPUS: THE ANSWER TO CONNECTIVITY CHALLENGES IN CROUS CAMPUSES
Migration to new standards
Training, employment, administrative procedures, health, entertainment... The use of new technologies, and the Internet in particular, is an integral part of the daily lives of 18-25 year-olds. In a spirit of continuous innovation, Wifirst's in-house R&D teams are constantly developing new products and services to support student residences in their digital transformation. Wifirst has come up with a major innovation: the Room Area Network. This original idea from Wifirst makes it possible to have private WiFi "just like at home", accessible anywhere in the residences, without compromising on security (whether to synchronize your various devices with your Google Home account, enjoy streaming with the Chromecast or simply use a WiFi printer to print out your courses).
Home-like WiFi thanks to the room area network
A user-centric experience
In line with the new uses of students, Wifirst has set up a 24/7 accessible, RGPD-compliant multi-channel customer service: online chat, Facebook Messenger and private messages from the Twitter network have enriched the support system to meet the expectations of 18-25 year-olds. At the same time, Wifirst has redesigned its customer journey to meet the specific needs of Crous:
- Technical interconnections to facilitate WiFi activation (Crous housing IS, MesServices étudiant, Eduroam and Renater).
- Customized, multilingual and "responsive design" captive portal and customer path pages for simplified access by Crous residents and staff.
PlanetCampus captive portal - a user path designed for students
Satisfied students
Customer surveys show that students using the service have never been so satisfied with their Internet connection. This is the reward for all the investment made by Wifirst in a continuous process of service quality improvement.
"Internet as at home, or even better than at home, was a prerequisite of the call for tenders and a requirement for every student living in a Crous residence. Students are particularly well-informed users who expect the best from "their Internet", both for their studies and for the other aspects of student life. The PlanetCampus system has been judged to meet this demand for quality and innovation. It will enable Crous to pursue the development of "digital" residences, where connected objects play a key role in providing students with ever more services. "
Michel Affre
Director of Digital Services CNOUS
