The way students interact with their school, college or university is changing.
They expect the same simple, personalised interactions from their school or university that they experience when engaging with their favourite retail store or online bank.
In fact, 65% of students go as far as considering themselves customers of the institution they attend, which means they hold their school or university to the same standard as any other service they pay for.
But for many education providers, communication still relies on email inboxes, student portals and one-way messaging that doesn’t give students a way to reply or interact.
By looking at some of the key challenges, solutions and use cases of student communications – as well as how schools and universities can use an education communication platform – this blog will explore how education providers can start interacting with their students like their favourite brands do.
What Are Student Communication Expectations in 2026?
Today’s students have grown up with instant messaging, real-time notifications and 24/7 connectivity.
The way they communicate in every other part of their life is fast, personal and conversational.
With that in mind, it’s clear why they expect the same from their school or university.
But most institutions still rely on email as their primary communication channel for student messaging, even though students are increasingly showing a preference for something else.
Between 2024 and 2025, preference for email among prospective students dropped 14%, while instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp grew 25% over the same period.
This isn’t just a shift in channel preference though, it’s a shift in how students want to communicate.
They want to reply, ask questions and get answers quickly, not wait 48 hours for an email response that may or may not address what they actually asked.
Institutions that recognise this shift and adapt how they communicate will be better placed to build trust, improve engagement and retain students.
What Communication Challenges Do Schools and Universities Face?
Even when schools and universities are communicating regularly with students, there are a number of common challenges that can prevent those messages from having the impact they should.
- Important Updates Getting Missed: Enrolment deadlines, timetable changes and exam reminders sent via email or student portals often go unread. When students don’t see these updates in time, the consequences range from missed deadlines to unnecessary admin follow-up.
- Scam Messages eroding Student Trust: Students are increasingly receiving fraudulent messages that impersonate their school or university, asking them to click links, make payments or share personal information. In the last 12 months, as much as 79% of further and higher education institutions experienced an impersonation attack, and when students can’t tell the difference between a real message and a scam, they become less likely to trust and engage with the legitimate ones.
- Fragmented Communication Across Departments: Admissions, student services, finance and academic departments often communicate through a separate school communication system with no centralised oversight. This leads to inconsistent student messaging, duplicate sends and students receiving conflicting information.
- One-Way Messaging with Limited Interaction: As we touched upon above, most communication from schools and universities is limited in that is a one-way broadcast. Students receive information but have no simple way to reply, confirm, reschedule or ask a question within the message itself.
- Language Barriers and Accessibility Issues Result in Support Requests: International students and those with accessibility needs often struggle to engage with standard communication formats, generating avoidable support enquiries that could be handled through more accessible, multilingual channels.
How Can Schools and Universities Improve Student Communication?
Now you’re across some of the student expectations around communication and the challenges facing schools and universities in meeting them, let’s dive into some actionable takeaways you can implement in your organisation to help.
Use the Channels Students Actually Check
If students aren’t reading emails or logging into portals to see the notifications you’re sending them, sending more via the same means isn’t going to fix the problem.
SMS reaches students directly on their phone without requiring an app, a login or an internet connection. For time-sensitive updates like enrolment deadlines, timetable changes or campus alerts, school SMS notifications can be delivered straight to a student’s device and are far more likely to be seen and acted on.
WhatsApp is another option, particularly for institutions with large international student populations where the platform is already part of daily life.
The goal isn’t to replace email, it’s to make sure critical updates are reaching students on the channels they’re actually using.
Automate High-Volume, Time-Sensitive Messages
Manually sending reminders, follow-ups and deadline alerts across thousands of students isn’t scalable, and it’s where things tend to fall through the cracks.
An omnichannel communication platform allows schools and universities to automate these messages, triggered directly from student management systems so updates go out at the right time without relying on admin teams to send them manually.
Exam reminders, attendance follow-ups, payment notices and enrolment deadlines can all be automated, freeing up staff time and ensuring student notifications are consistent and timely across the board.
Make Messages Two-Way
As we touched upon, most communication from schools and universities is one-way.
Students receive information but have no easy way to respond, confirm or ask a question.
Two-way messaging changes that, enabling students to confirm attendance, reschedule a meeting, respond to an absence alert or ask a question directly within the message thread.
This reduces the volume of inbound calls and emails to admin teams, while giving students a faster, simpler way to interact with their institution.
For schools looking to improve their school communication system, enabling two-way interactions is one of the most impactful changes they can make.
Send Verified, Trusted Messages
We already mentioned how impersonation scams can impact student trust.
Verified messaging channels like RCS and WhatsApp help address this by giving institutions the ability to send messages with branded sender profiles, logos and verification badges, so students know the message is genuinely from their school or university.
This is particularly important for sensitive communications like fee payment requests, exam results or account-related updates, where trust in the sender is critical – more on key student communication use cases next!
Key Student Communication Use Cases
Here are some of the most common communication use cases across schools and universities where automated messaging can make a real difference.
- Exam Results and Assessment Updates: Exam results are one of the most anticipated messages a student can receive. Sending them via SMS or RCS ensures they land directly on the student’s phone, instantly, without relying on a portal login or email.
- Enrolment and Deadline Reminders: Missed enrolment deadlines are avoidable. Automated reminders sent via SMS or WhatsApp give students a clear, timely prompt to act before a deadline passes.
- Attendance and Absence Follow-Up: When a student is absent, a two-way message to their parent or carer can confirm the reason in seconds. This reduces the manual follow-up admin teams typically handle via phone calls.
- Campus Alerts and Emergency Notifications: During emergencies, weather events or campus closures, SMS gives institutions a way to reach every student and staff member immediately, regardless of whether they have access to email or an app.
- Fee Payments and Financial Reminders: Automated payment reminders with a direct link to pay reduce late payments and remove the need for manual follow-up from finance teams.
- Orientation and Onboarding: New students can receive a sequence of messages in the weeks leading up to their first day, covering everything from campus maps and key dates through to welcome events and support services.
- Parent and Carer Communication: For schools communicating with parents, SMS for schools provides a direct, reliable channel for event reminders, consent prompts, payment notices and general updates that parents are far more likely to see than an email or app notification.
- Staff and Operational Messaging: Relief teacher requests, roster changes, campus incident alerts and department notices can all be sent via SMS, reaching staff quickly regardless of whether they’re at a desk or in a classroom.
Education Communication FAQs
How can schools improve communication with students?
Schools can improve communication by reaching students on the channels they actually use, like SMS and WhatsApp, rather than relying solely on email or student portals. Automating time-sensitive messages like deadline reminders, attendance follow-ups and exam results ensures updates reach students when they need them, without adding manual work for admin teams.
What channels do students prefer for receiving updates?
Email is still widely used, but student preference is increasingly shifting towards instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp and SMS. SMS is particularly effective for time-sensitive updates because it doesn’t require an app, a login or an internet connection.
Can schools send two-way messages to students and parents?
Yes. Two-way messaging allows students and parents to reply directly within the message thread to confirm attendance, respond to absence alerts, ask questions or request support. This reduces the volume of inbound calls and emails to admin teams while giving students and parents a faster way to interact with their institution.
How can universities reduce email fatigue for students?
By reserving email for detailed, non-urgent communication and using SMS or WhatsApp for time-sensitive updates like deadlines, timetable changes and campus alerts. This ensures critical information reaches students on a channel they check regularly, rather than competing with hundreds of other emails in their inbox.
What is an education communication platform?
An education messaging platform is a system that allows schools, colleges and universities to send, automate and manage communications with students, parents and staff across multiple channels including SMS, RCS, WhatsApp and email, all from a single environment. Soprano’s platform gives education providers the tools to centralise their messaging, integrate with student management systems and maintain governance across departments and campuses.
Improve Your Student Communications with Soprano
Soprano has spent over 30 years helping some of the world’s largest schools, colleges and universities get student communications right.
From exam results and enrolment reminders through to campus alerts, attendance follow-up and parent notifications, we help education providers deliver the messages that matter most across SMS, RCS, WhatsApp and Conversational AI, all from a single platform.
If you’d like to see how Soprano’s education messaging platform could work across your institution, get in touch for a personalised demo.
