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(How) Have course marketing and recruitment messages changed?

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(How) Have course marketing and recruitment messages changed?

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What virtual platforms and practices are being used to recruit students?

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What virtual platforms and practices are being used to recruit students?

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i.e. virtual tours, social media virtual meetings with students and staff and open days.

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Join us for our group discussion on Admissions and Student Recruitment
Wednesday 3rd June
15:00 - 16:00 GMT

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 831 7690 1542
Password: 899503

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A collapse in student numbers following Covid-19 pandemic could lead to billions in lost tuition fee and grant income, warns report for UCU

Fallout from virus measures could hit poorest students hardest or be basis for advent of PQA, sector figures suggest

The pandemic has worsened longstanding sexist and racist inequalities in science pushing many of us to say 'I'm done', write 35 female scientists

Actor and fashion designer husband accept months in prison over fraud in daughters' USC admissions

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Coronavirus: UUK proposed number cap 'won't end recruitment battle'

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A collapse in student numbers following Covid-19 pandemic could lead to billions in lost tuition fee and grant income, warns report for UCU Fallout from virus measures could hit poorest students hardest or be basis for advent of PQA, sector figures suggest The pandemic has worsened longstanding sexist and racist inequalities in science pushing many of us to say 'I'm done', write 35 female scientists Actor and fashion designer husband accept months in prison over fraud in daughters' USC admissions

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Approaches to UK student recruitment have changed remarkably little in the last quarter century. And as a profession, we have been slow to imagine new ways of doing things. The current crisis shows us how we might be braver, to manage the current crisis and do things differently on the other side of it.

Analogue thinking in a digital world

It's extraordinary to think, but we still lug thousands of boxes of printed prospectuses to hundreds of UCAS fairs and school events across the UK. True, I don't have to work out where the choke is on the hire car any more and, yes, the events themselves have a few more bells and whistles (barcode scanners, digital display boards) and interior design (deck chairs and camper vans), but the basic interaction is unchanged: we hand out vast quantities of hard-copy prospectuses or mini guides, pick up 15% of them from the bins afterwards and acknowledge that a further 20% are left on the bus back to college with the chocolate wrappers and chewing gum.

We may "account manage" services to an overwhelming number of school and college "stakeholders" but what we say when we turn up is still, too often, bog standard "choosing a course" or "choosing a university" material which should be readily available digitally. The flipped classroom hasn't had much impact here. Though we do many things well, we don't excel at capturing the rich and often radical difference of the HE experience from classroom life at school or college. We try to use student ambassadors for that authentic voice and this is overwhelmingly positive - they do a superb job. But we, the student recruitment professionals, need to create and collaborate in wholly new ways following this Covid-19 crisis.

We must seize this chance to experiment with new ways of speaking to Year 12 and 13 and all the other learners on access and foundation courses, or taking Open University units during this uncertain time. This doesn't mean using the break from face-to-face events to do the same things digitally. Yes, that is exciting. But we are in danger, in home student recruitment, of creating the same monsters that now dominate international recruitment.

Our colleagues in the international office collect carbon footprint like their institutions wish they could rack up research income. They attend exhibitions large and small to keep the British Council or commercial providers in business and pay to attend fairs organised by a host of education agents keen to take money off us on top of the vast amounts of commission we also pay.

The same agents also want us to invest in a myriad of marketing campaigns and advertising. UK student recruitment is going (or, for some of us, has already gone) the same way. The capability associated with direct marketing, including micro-targeting, is superficially attractive but we continue with traditional outreach because we are too scared to stop. Yet it is expensive beyond belief and helping to destroy our planet.

Something in the current Covid-19 situation should make us braver.

More is at stake suddenly in our daily lives. My student recruitment budget, for one, can't afford this spend on all fronts and shouldn't have to because it doesn't deliver the best added value.

Three things to do differently post-crisis

1. We should permanently stop attending all those UCAS HE fairs with the accommodation, travel, ambassador, print and freight costs associated, and replace them with a smaller number of regional Year 12 HE teaching and learning conferences (recorded for greater reach and accessibility).

These should be sector led, focussing on what to expect from the study experience in HE rather than what to study and where (since we will now have much better digital resources for all that).

2. We should focus much more extensively on providing serious professional development for the teachers and careers professionals responsible for information, advice and guidance in schools and colleges. They, and careers provision generally, have been badly let down by successive governments but we have value to add here. Schools should not need us to explain the obvious dates and deadlines to pupils or parents but they do need us to inspire Year 12, and access or foundation learners everywhere, with a detailed and well-informed overview of what studying at our particular HE institution is really like.

And they could do with rather more help than I think we give in understanding newer, exciting, often interdisciplinary course options such as liberal arts, degree apprenticeships, MSci vs BSc, or what you actually study on an anthropology or a media arts degree.

3. We should speak more directly with the UCAS board. We must press its HE members, our own senior leaders, to stimulate and share stronger discussions on the future evolution of UCAS as a world-leading HE guidance platform. We must consider as a sector how we can halt the incessant pressure we experience to buy the latest technology or app to add to our arsenal of hideously expensive audience engagement tools. UCAS sells or promotes some of these itself (though we have an interesting example of a change of tack recently with the temporary postponement of most Unibuddy charges).

Innovation in student recruitment often comes from the entrepreneur and private enterprise space, rather than UCAS or from within universities. Surely we can do something about this? Post-qualification admissions or not, technical challenges accepted, the key question for UCAS and for us as student recruitment professionals post-Covid-19 is how to stop competition, lack of head space and institutional risk aversion wasting our financial resources, limiting our sustainability goals and disguising our opportunity to deliver a more purposeful, meaningful and content-rich set of messages to future students and their influencers. As Bill Clinton once said: "the price of doing the same old thing is far higher than the price of change".

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Changing student recruitment in light of Covid-19 | Wonkhe

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Approaches to UK student recruitment have changed remarkably little in the last quarter century. And as a profession, we have been slow to imagine new ways of doing things. The current crisis shows us how we might be braver, to manage the current crisis and do things differently on the other side of it.

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International recruitment - Bouncing back?

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International recruitment - Bouncing back?

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The pandemic has worsened longstanding sexist and racist inequalities in science pushing many of us to say 'I'm done', write 35 female scientists

THE snapshot survey finds most institutions will deliver mix of face-to-face and online courses, with social distancing measures in the early planning stages

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Overseas student interest in UK 'bounced back in April'

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The pandemic has worsened longstanding sexist and racist inequalities in science pushing many of us to say 'I'm done', write 35 female scientists THE snapshot survey finds most institutions will deliver mix of face-to-face and online courses, with social distancing measures in the early planning stages

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What has been the impact of the expected decline in student intake (and fees)?

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What has been the impact of the expected decline in student intake (and fees)?

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Has this impacted certain groups of staff more than others?

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Has this impacted certain groups of staff more than others?

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Are you planning for multiple scenarios and numbers? How can you plan for the unknown?

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Are you planning for multiple scenarios and numbers? How can you plan for the unknown?

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Government must recognise the human cost to the crisis facing universities | Wonkhe

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The University and College Union has argued from the outset of this crisis that government support is needed to protect our universities. We have not done this simply out of self-interest; we must protect a sector that is of such economic importance, will be vital to our recovery and will be extremely difficult to put back together if allowed to collapse.

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Nadia Speranza studying during her Career Mentorship. London College of Communication. (Credit: © Alys Tomlinson)

Refunds of tuition fees

Your course has been changed so you can continue to study. We have emailed you (at your UAL email account) with information on how your course will be changing.

As your course is still being delivered, we cannot consider any requests for discounts or refunds of your tuition fees at this point.

We encourage you to work with us and to engage in the online/remote delivery of your course. The changes we've made to your course will help you achieve your learning outcomes and progress. Learn more about studying online for the summer term.

After studying your course online, if you would like to make a complaint or raise concerns, you can do this at the end of the summer term.

Please contact us: studentcomms@arts.ac.uk

Feedback and complaints will be carefully considered in line with our complaints procedure.

Deferrals

You cannot defer your studies because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Like other UK universities, we are working hard to ensure you can progress your studies and graduate as usual. This includes remote study and the online delivery of your course.

Deferrals will only be considered for exceptional circumstances, such as illness.

A deferral will only be granted at the discretion of the Dean.

If you are thinking of applying for a deferral, you should contact your course leader, or speak to the Student Advice Service.

Please also review the rules and guidance for time out requests.

Extenuating circumstances for assessment

Where possible, please complete and submit your coursework as usual.

If something prevents this, including the coronavirus outbreak, you can submit a request for extenuating circumstances. This also covers technology and access to the internet.

To make things easier, you can make a request without evidence - we will assess your claim solely on your statement.

The criteria for requesting 'time out' from your studies remain the same - health and other acceptable reasons.

Student loans

The Student Loans Company is still making term 3 student loan payments and students will continue to receive maintenance payments, whether or not Colleges are closed.

Find out more about your student loans during the coronavirus outbreak.

You can also contact the Student Advice Service for more guidance on funding and support.

Financial help

Apply for the UAL Hardship Fund for support with costs like internet access, equipment and software.

More information

Sketchbook by Josep Barnadas, BA (Hons) Fine Art Drawing. Camberwell College of Arts

Important guidance on how to study and create safely at home.

Illustration by Dominic-Afsheen Akhavan-Moossavi, BA (Hons) Fashion: Fashion Design Menswear, Central Saint Martins.

Learn about our plans for summer degree shows and graduation ceremonies.

Sketchbook by Shamiso Sithole, MA Architecture, Central Saint Martins.

Find out about teaching, learning and assessment during the coronavirus outbreak.

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Your course has been changed so you can continue to study. We have emailed you (at your UAL email account) with information on how your course will be changing. As your course is still being delivered, we cannot consider any requests for discounts or refunds of your tuition fees at this point.

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4th June conference on student recruitment post-Covid

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4th June conference on student recruitment post-Covid

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Ahead of our free virtual conference on the future of student recruitment post covid-19, we continue to bring you guest blogs from some of our speakers. Today, it's the turn of Jimmy Hong, Assistant Director of Recruitment Operations for INTO University Partnerships.

Our conference takes place on Thursday 4 June and is completely free to join - sign up now to get access to all sessions - live and on demand. You'll find the full lineup in this blog post.
When the extent of the pandemic became clear - particularly how it would affect your work - what did you think?
My initial thought was that international student mobility will be heavily impacted, but at the same time it will allow universities to reflect on current practices and evolve with the challenging times. The demand for higher education has not disappeared nor will disappear, but it has accelerated other opportunities.
Was it difficult to transition into a new way of working?
Yes, I do miss traveling to meet colleagues and partners in-person; virtual meetings cannot replace face-to-face meetings completely. I look forward to being able to connect with colleagues and partners again soon.
Is there anything you've had to stop doing that, on reflection, you didn't need to be doing and you actually won't pick up again once things are back to something resembling normality?
Having to develop two strategies: a) temporary Covid-19 strategy; b) 'normal' strategy. It will be nice when we can develop just one strategy.
Thinking specifically about your job and your work, what do you think will be covid-19's most notable legacy on it?
Covid-19 will be known in history as a disruptive pandemic that allowed universities to evolve and challenged the status quo of traditional student recruitment. Meanwhile, it will create a more blended ecosystem of both traditional and digital student recruitment.
Finally - something positive to end on. Can you recommend a good book, podcast, movie, or series that you'd say is worth giving some quarantine downtime to?
For a podcast, I recommend What Eric Made if you enjoy cooking and food. What Eric Made is a podcast hosted by a husband-and-wife duo. Each episode is a casual conversation from their home dining table. They dive into a wide variety of culinary topics with the intention of bringing professional training and knowledge to passionate home cooks (i.e. Which Cooking Oil Should I be Using?, The Carbon Steel Pan, Fresh Pasta 101, The Perfect French Fry).

Jimmy's session will round off our virtual conference on Thursday 4 June - book your free place now!

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Meet our speakers: Jimmy Hong, INTO University Partnerships

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Ahead of our free virtual conference on the future of student recruitment post covid-19, we continue to bring you guest blogs from some of our speakers. Today, it's the turn of Jimmy Hong, Assistant Director of Recruitment Operations for INTO University Partnerships.

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Impacts on employment in the sector

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25 March 2020
Coronavirus is transforming everyone's working life. ISE's Chief Research Officer, Tristram Hooley discusses our latest data on how it's affecting student recruitment and development.
At the start of the year it would have been impossible for us to imagine that a virus that almost no one had ever heard about would be the number one political and economic issue by the middle of March 2020.

Throughout March the level of threat and the responses to COVID-19 have been steadily ramping up. At ISE we started to hear about how businesses were responding to the coronavirus from early March. We quickly determined that we needed to conduct some research to allow us to move beyond anecdotes and gain a more thorough picture of what was happening.

Today we launch COVID-19: Challenges for student recruitment and development , which examines the impact of the coronavirus on recruitment, hiring, learning and development and working practices within the student labour market. The survey was open between Friday 13th March and Friday 20th March and received responses from 124 businesses from across the UK.

Disruptions to recruitment

Employers report that the recruitment process for new entry level staff has been severely disrupted. 40% of employers are concerned that the cancellation of academic qualifications will disrupt their recruitment process.

Employers are also cancelling direct interactions with the education system (e.g. 69% have cancelled visits to universities), work experience placements and are seeking to move as much of their recruitment processes online as possible (e.g. 60% have moved assessment centres online and 71% have moved interviews online).

Reduced hiring

Many employers report that they will be recruiting less entry-level hires as a result of COVID-19. Around a quarter (27%) say that they will be recruiting less graduates, 23% less apprentices and school leavers and 31% less interns and placement students. These impacts come on top of a student labour market that is already stagnant. Reductions in hiring may be even more marked in SMEs. Unless this downturn is addressed there is the danger that unemployment and underemployment will grow for the COVID-19 generation who leave education this year and next.

The situation is still unfolding

The responses that employer have given to all of the questions in this survey need to be understood in the light of a rapidly evolving situation. Many openly state that they do not know what their response to the crisis will be or what the likely medium- and long-term implications will be. If those employers who are currently unsure, decide to reduce their recruitment levels, the situation for young people may become critical.

Implications for the sector

The findings of this study suggest that COVID-19 is already having a very substantial impact on the student labour market. It is hampering recruitment and dampening down the number of hires planned for this year. In response to this firms have moved quickly to develop strategies and alternative working arrangements and are continuing to explore and develop new ways to work.

The long-term implications are still not clear. Many firms are still developing their approach and the situation is still unfolding. The Prime Minister's suggestion that the worst of the crisis will be over by mid-June, is perhaps longer than many were anticipating when the crisis began, but shorter than many currently fear. If he is right, then many firms will still be in a position to put recruitment and hiring processes back into place before September. Whether they will choose to do so will depend to a large extent on how badly the economy has been hit by the crisis.

Regardless of what happens, ISE will continue to monitor the situation closely and help its members to share information and build a successful response to the crisis. In times like this it is more important than ever to be well connected and able to learn from the experience of others. By working together and connecting through the ISE, we believe that firms will be able to plot a chart out of this crisis. Whatever happen we remain convinced that the future success of the country and its businesses is bound up with the skills and talents of young people.
Read more ISE research

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COVID-19: Challenges for student recruitment

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25 March 2020 Coronavirus is transforming everyone's working life. ISE's Chief Research Officer, Tristram Hooley discusses our latest data on how it's affecting student recruitment and development. At the start of the year it would have been impossible for us to imagine that a virus that almost no one had ever heard about would be the number one political and economic issue by the middle of March 2020.

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Drop in numbers of International students from masters courses. 

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Drop in numbers of International students from masters courses. 

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Inviting potential applicants to digital events and online spaces. 

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Inviting potential applicants to digital events and online spaces. 

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Location and context of the Institution and course might have an impact on recruitment patterns. 

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Location and context of the Institution and course might have an impact on recruitment patterns. 

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Post-Brexit impact on numbers and queries on what implications of Brexit+Covid on International and European student recruitment. 

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Post-Brexit impact on numbers and queries on what implications of Brexit+Covid on International and European student recruitment. 

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Does the nature of the programme have an impact on low-recruitment?

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Does the nature of the programme have an impact on low-recruitment?

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Marketing is based on the fact that teaching has continued online and that institution is committed to continuing to provide good learning opportunities. 

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Marketing is based on the fact that teaching has continued online and that institution is committed to continuing to provide good learning opportunities. 

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Recruitment and assessment is digitally based - digital portfolios etc. 

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Recruitment and assessment is digitally based - digital portfolios etc. 

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Open days now online but that's problematic if potential students want to see the physical workshop space. Physical space is what sells the course in some creative subjects.

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Open days now online but that's problematic if potential students want to see the physical workshop space. Physical space is what sells the course in some creative subjects.

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Recruitment of students has had an impact on HE staff - those employed on temporary teaching contracts have been dropped, mainly ECR. From discussion, this appeared to be more predominant in larger institutions or there was variety across different institutions. 

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Recruitment of students has had an impact on HE staff - those employed on temporary teaching contracts have been dropped, mainly ECR. From discussion, this appeared to be more predominant in larger institutions or there was variety across different institutions. 

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Will there be budget for part time teaching on zoom if there's an increase in student recruitment? How budgets linked to staff / recruitment are being 

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Will there be budget for part time teaching on zoom if there's an increase in student recruitment? How budgets linked to staff / recruitment are being 

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Where should investment take place now? Discussion on investment in the Online Learning Environment and that being fast-tracked to potentiall include in recruitment marketing.  

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Where should investment take place now? Discussion on investment in the Online Learning Environment and that being fast-tracked to potentiall include in recruitment marketing.  

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Interesting question on investment into creative spaces at HEI - studios, technology etc - also collaborations & access to other institutions how can we substitute those experiences?

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Interesting question on investment into creative spaces at HEI - studios, technology etc - also collaborations & access to other institutions how can we substitute those experiences?

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Variety of stakeholders across students, staff, planning, recruitment about what physical offer HEIs can offer at the moment. 

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Variety of stakeholders across students, staff, planning, recruitment about what physical offer HEIs can offer at the moment. 