Newsletter #105: How sustainability impacts student decisions; What parents want from comms; The things students are looking most forward to
✏️ From the Education Marketer desk
How sustainability impacts student decisions. Look
What parents want from university comms. Look
What students most look forward to at university. Look
Why content governance in higher ed needs a rebrand. Listen
📰 HE news
Employers aren’t known for their confidence in higher education. Every other week I come across a survey that says either, a) students don’t have the right skills or, b) that they don’t “think” in the right way. So, imagine my surprise when I discovered research from AAC&U saying that 80% of employers believe higher ed adequately prepares graduates for the workforce! Of course, that’s just the headline. Dig a little deeper and there’s more consistency with other reports, like only half of those surveyed agreeing that graduates were “very prepared” in areas related to critical thinking. Similarly, about two-thirds of employers agreed that “knowledge gained from addressing real problems” is very important and, clearly, students recognise that demand too. Yes, there’s increased take-up of placements, but also growing interest for “alternative” and even “interdisciplinary” study routes. The latter interests me, as a true interdisciplinary curriculum reads a lot like an employer’s laundry list. Confident employers | Interdisciplinary curriculum
Extra: The Conservatives are on track for their worst performance with graduates in 45 years. Read
📊 Marketing and media news
Sports Illustrated became the latest in a slew of online publications to be caught using fake AI-generated authors on its website. To be clear, the use of AI content is now rampant. A report by Europol estimates that by 2026, 90% of all online content will be synthetically generated. “But AI content will never outperform content created by a human!” False. A user on X recently shared that he had pulled off an “SEO heist” by exporting a competitor’s sitemap and asking AI to write articles based on the list of URLs. The result? He “stole” 3.6 million of his competitor’s sessions in just a few months. For context, you would pay an agency hundreds of thousands of pounds for that kind of service. Whether you agree with the practice or not (I don’t!) it’s happening, and you should be vigilant of your rankings. Like in the early 2010s with content farms, Google will catch up - but until then it looks like SEO has entered its second Wild West era. AI content everywhere | SEO heist
Podcasting continues to set records. According to new research from NPR and Edison, 48% - approximately 135M people - age 13+ listen to spoken word audio daily. That’s more than music listeners! Overall, it’s a 55% increase in listening since 2014 (we forget how revolutionary podcast apps were) with “work” being the no.1 place people listen to podcasts. In terms of content types, “personalities/talk” wins the greatest share of listening time. The average listening time has also increased 52% in the last 9 years with people consuming spoken word content for 41 minutes a day. For context, that’s not far off the amount of time teens spend on Instagram daily. However, before you go out and start another podcast, pause and think how it will be distinctive. You’ll hear that “consistency leads to success” and that might have been true if you were publishing in 2016/17, but audiences are demanding more. Ask yourself: Are you truly offering something different? If the answer’s “no,” you might want to consider another medium. Read
🏫 What unis are doing
Forget your advent calendar, University of Leicester is gearing up for a campus “Winter Wonderland.” Okay, I’ll admit it, I went in not expecting much, but it looks… pretty good! A giant inflatable snow globe (why not?) Christmas Market, and live performances from student societies. I’ve never seen a university do this, so fair play! Look
Durham University has a publication for its ambassador content, “The Durham Student.” Two reasons it’s better than the average student content hub: 1) It publishes regularly (it looks alive!) and, 2) it curates content from four social channels and a native blog, giving prospective students a sense of student life at a glance. Good stuff. Look
It’s confirmed, the TikTok aesthetic has reached university hero videos. We’ve left behind montages and inspirational voiceovers and, instead, gone full-on quirk. It’s not a bad thing! University of Bradford does a nice job of mixing student life with some creative camera work. The style’s getting more common, but that doesn’t make it any less effective. Look
🧑🎓 What students are saying
“I’m not sure how passionate I am, I am definitely passionate enough for the field but for a Masters, I guess we will see as I gain more experience in marketing alongside my degree.” According to TSR, even though 86% of students are open to postgraduate study, around a fifth aren’t sure if they’ll be able to do the work. Read
👾 Culture shock
An AI version of David Attenborough narrates in real time. Look
Google releases “.meme” domain. Cringe alert. Read
