Ministry of Education – Recognition of University Certificate issued from outside the UAE

Case study for Ministry of Education UAE

Project Overview

The Ministry of Education engaged our team to enhance the user experience of the ‘Recognition of University Certificates Issued Outside of UAE’ service, which had received the highest number of complaint tickets. The primary goal was to identify pain points, understand user frustrations, and provide actionable insights to improve overall satisfaction and efficiency.

Research Methods

Usability Study

We conducted a usability study with a structured approach, consisting of three parts:

Free Exploration Test:

Participants explored the existing website, revealing natural user behaviors, navigation patterns, and potential pain points.

  1. Task-oriented Testing:

    Users performed specific tasks related to certificate recognition, verbalizing thoughts and expectations. This uncovered areas of alignment or misalignment with user expectations.

  2. Moderated Discussion:

    A facilitated discussion allowed participants to share feedback, preferences, and frustrations. Qualitative data, combined with observations, provided a comprehensive understanding of user sentiments.

My Role

Lead UX Researcher

Participants

A diverse group of 6 users participated in the usability study at Tribal Labs, capturing a broad spectrum of user perspectives and cultural nuances.

Some of the main Top findings

Service Confusion

  • 66% of users were unsure which service to apply for, often checking attestation instead.
  • 83% found the information overwhelming and struggled with the structure, particularly understanding the distinction between stages.

Cost Consideration

  • 66% preferred cheaper services, with some choosing DATAFLOW due to familiarity.

Form Usability

  • Users generally found the form easy to fill, but issues included missing checkboxes, repeated education details for higher degrees, unnoticed required fields, difficulty recovering from validation errors, and overlooking the upload file option.


Research Analysis

Integration Possibilities:

    • Investigating the integration of DATAFLOW and QuadraBay into the MOE portal, allowing users to log in through UAEPASS.

Fees Collection Simplification:

    • Exploring the possibility of collecting fees for step1 and step2 together, potentially eliminating stage 2.

Challenges

Technical Issues:

    • Encountered technical problems during testing, addressed with clickable prototypes for certain pages.

Complex Journey:

    • The complex journey took over an hour with each user to complete the test.

Recommendations

Clarify Service Information:

  • Improve service descriptions to reduce user confusion.

Form Enhancements:

  • Address usability issues with checkboxes, education details for higher degrees, required field visibility, and validation error recovery.

Integration and Fee Simplification:

  • Explore integration possibilities and consider collecting fees for both steps together.

Technical Stability:

  • Address and resolve technical issues to ensure a smoother user testing experience.

Impact

Implementing these recommendations could lead to a more intuitive and user-friendly ‘Recognition of University Certificates Issued Outside of UAE’ service, reducing confusion, increasing user satisfaction, and potentially streamlining the application process.