Newsletter #63: University of Surrey’s research video has School of Life vibes; Creators are the new rock stars; A YouTuber gave his microwave an AI soul
✏️ From the Education Marketer desk
One of the quietest threats to higher ed: Millennial parents. Read
An observation about Generation Alpha. Read
Oh dear, it turns out my degree was “low value.” Read
Print isn’t dead. Universities are reinventing it to convert applicants. Read
📰 HE news
Tony Blair has called for 70% of young people to go to university by 2040, which is… Completely reasonable! South Korea, Japan and Canada already have higher ed participation rates between 60% and 70%. It’s the UK that’s lagging behind. Of course, the Blair Institute’s report has been met with widespread scepticism from the UK’s media: “We have a skills shortage, not a lack of social science graduates,” crows Nigel Farage in the Express. “Many would do better to sign for an apprenticeship,” says celebrity chef Raymond Blanc, quoted in the Mail (for some reason) whilst the publication ignores that degree apprenticeships have been a thing since 2015. It hurts. Read
US unis aren’t having a good time with vaccination rates. At the start of the pandemic, colleges were giving out cash prizes, tuition discounts and free parking to those who got the jab. But now, the tone has shifted. Some universities have resorted to “cutting student WiFi” for the unvaxxed, which, ironically, has lead to fallout on social media. Read
📊 Marketing and media news
If you still need convincing that the creator economy is a thing, look no further than Rolling Stone putting Youtuber Mr Beast on its cover. The magazine is pivoting to creators and is making moves into the live event space. Makes sense: Creators are the new rock stars (a third of young people want to be influencers) and live events are forecast to boom through to 2025. Rolling Stone’s parent company, Penske Media, has also taken a 50% stake in SXSW festival, which is known for “helping creative people meet their goals.” Don’t you just love it when a strategy comes together? Read
In other creator news, the Biden Administration has launched a “six-figure” micro-influencer campaign. The goal is to connect with “hard to reach” young people who don’t see ads. Sound familiar? There’s definitely something here for universities. Working with micro-influencers, you 1) access audiences that match your EXACT student profiles 2) get better service from creators and 3) can go niche with content to add true value. Over 90% of UK universities use peer to peer for recruitment - influencer marketing isn’t much more of a stretch. Read
🏫 What unis are doing
University of Surrey nails it with its research video “Why do we sleep so late?” It follows a formula ideal for higher ed YouTube: Answer a common question, align it with University expertise and animate the story. This particular video has School of Life vibes. I’ve love to see Surrey scale this. How about one a week, each focusing on a different topic connected with uni research? Or, maybe the format is changed so it’s ideal for YouTube Shorts? Lots of potential. Look
University of Florida likes an emotive TikTok. It’s recent video features a student walking past each of her five schools, starting with her daycare and ending with the University. It lays it on thick - emotion seems to work for the institution. It even shares reaction videos of students getting accepted - apparently, some people film themselves checking their applicant status. So, presumably, footage exists of students getting rejected? Dark. One to bear in mind for results day. Graduation | Acceptance
What’s the first item on your university homepage? Open Day? Ranking? For Norwich University of the Arts, it’s a full-width banner of one student’s artwork. Nice. It’s a relatively simple move, but one that demonstrates commitment to its student community. Plus, there’s the distinctiveness angle: None of its competitors give such visibility to student projects. Worth bookmarking. Read
🧑🎓 What students are saying
“I'm dancing on a very sharp edge right now ... I had no idea it was going to be this difficult. I think that tuition should be lower.” Student Marcelus Ifonlaja on balancing education with two part-time jobs and no scholarship. A recent survey of Minnesota State’s colleges found 90% had struggled to pay for school and living expenses. The enrollment crisis in the US is real. Read
👾 Culture shock
A YouTuber gave their microwave an AI soul. Look
In other AI news, Intel has developed software to check if students are bored in lessons. It wished it hadn’t. Read
Elon Musk bought Twitter. Read
