Newsletter #104: What postgraduate students value; Lifelong learning loans are coming; What students want from work experience
✏️ From the Education Marketer desk
What postgraduate students value. Read
What students want from work experience. Read
When quantity wins over quality. Look
Why “joy” became a differentiator for students. Listen
📰 HE news
The Lifelong Learning Entitlement (lifelong learning loan) is a go! From 2025, adults living in England will be able to access £37,000 of government loans for short university courses (at any time in their career) before they turn 60. Of course, there are a few caveats. For those who have already been to university, your allocation will be reduced pro-rata depending on the loans (if any) you already accessed. So, if you got your degree post-2012, are a few years into your career and now looking to upskill… the Entitlement won’t stretch far. However, it’s worth engaging mid-2000s to pre-2012 alumni with these new funding models. They will have borrowed less and, given that they have been working longer, will likely be more open to skills development. For the bulk of undergraduate recruitment it’s tempting to think it’s business as usual, but this is a fundamental rethink of how education can be accessed and paid for. Some students will be weighing up their options and the first institutions to guide them will benefit. Read
📊 Marketing and media news
Google’s made one of its biggest changes to search in years. Two new features: 1) the ability to “follow” topics and, 2) the ability to make public annotations to websites. If it sounds like social media, it’s because it is. Opt to follow a topic like “higher education marketing” and you’ll be treated to a curated experience, almost like a mood board of web and social media content. Very different from email-based Google alerts! Similarly, web annotations (Notes) are designed to bring a human/social layer to Google search. Imagine if a Google review and social media Story had a baby - that’s Notes. Of course, all of this is due to increased criticism that the quality of Google search is declining, that SEO-optimised content has “ruined the internet,” but isn’t that to be expected? The goal of the web was discovery, now it’s commerce. A place we go to get things done. Google’s working fine, it’s the content we publish that’s changed. Read
More universities are publishing policies governing the use of generative AI for marketing teams. A lot of them are conservative e.g. not using AI-generated images, or only using AI to edit existing creative. To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with this. If you want to avoid compliance costs from new legislation further down the line - it’s the safest bet. However, a recent announcement from OpenAI could mean there’s more scope for experimentation. As part of its GPT-4 Turbo unveil, it’s shared it will now defend its enterprise customers against copyright infringement claims. Good to know. It’s a bit late to the game (Adobe, Google and the like already offer this) but it at least addresses a major concern for organisations. Of course, there are still ethics to consider - it doesn’t matter how protected you are if it doesn’t fit with your values! However, I imagine we’ll now see more universities wading in - not just marketers optimising workflows, but devs creating student-facing experiences. What could go wrong? Read
🏫 What unis are doing
San Jacinto College is changing how students choose programmes. Each prospective student meets with a career advisor before enrolling on a course, discussing their aspirations and sharing information about future pay and required credentials. Once enrolled they even complete a “career project” that requires them to research the path they have chosen. Look
University of Aberdeen published a YouTube video on the risk of a volcanic eruption in Iceland. It features Professor Malcolm Hole, a volcano expert from the University’s School of Geosciences and is a prime example of proactively positioning thought leaders during a news cycle. It’s had over 2,000 views in a matter of days. Look
IE University has some of the best subject area landing pages I’ve ever seen. Each includes an overview of programmes, how they connect with the school’s POV and career opportunities within the subject area. I’m less enthused about the “download a brochure” CTA (why not an email newsletter on the subject area?) but overall, it’s distinctive. Look
🧑🎓 What students are saying
“I’m 16 years old and today I will be striking from school because of the government’s complete failure to combat a very real, and very dangerous threat to my future… I take pride in my academic achievement. Despite this, I’m walking out of school to fight for my future.” Students on why they are joining school strikes in Sydney, Australia. Read
👾 Culture shock
The deinfluencing movement was a lie. Read
What the world’s largest LED screen says about humanity. Screen | Humanity
