What is "Student Experience Management" and how does it differ from "Student Support"? Within the South African educational milieu, the term "student support" is a rather loaded concept without a set of clear parameters within which to define or circumscribe it. To most people, the term conjures mental images of sympathetic counsellors offering emotional support to distraught students, but while there is certainly a place for this kind of support, in a contemporary educational context the term actually encompasses both academic and non-academic support applied reactively and pro-actively. The presence of a holistic student support model, which evaluates and adresses academic and non-academic factors for student disengagement, plays a critical role in the shaping of the student's "experience". It is the nature of this "experience" that primarily determines a student's level of motivation, participation, learning ability and ultimately pass / failure rates.