Building a higher education learning experience strategy; theoretical and practical approaches

Higher education institutions face many challenges in order to increase their visibility, recognition and position in the field based or general higher education market. National or international rankings put a lot of pressure on academic leadership to fulfill the criteria of their methodologies. Learning experience is becoming a more and more important dimension of the motivation to study. In the contemporary context of networking diversity, the process of generating learning experience is becoming part of the institutional efforts related to which creating an internal environment is connected to the learning experience generating. The literature review proves a higher interest on student engagement, on students’ and graduates’ involvement in the institutional life, on development a long-term relationship between university and graduates on one hand and between university and industry on the other hand etc. The common issue among all these subjects is the learning experience that is provided to students through all the activities in higher education institutions. What can be done or develop in order to generate a great learning experience starts from a correct, but flexible understanding of the concept. What can be institutionally changed for the benefit of a higher learning experience need a clear recognition of what more experienced institutions have already achieved. The objectives of the paper include: a) a clear understanding of the learning experience concept; b) an overview of the current characteristics of the learning experience providers; c) a start-up strategy for generating learning experience. All these objectives are integrated in a literature review approach as well as in a qualitative study dedicated to the perceptions of students and academics on what learning experience means and what institutionally can be improved. The findings reveal a possible model for building up a learning experience strategy for Romanian higher education institutions.