Newsletter #74: Humanities grads earn more eventually; Newcastle University runs a mini medical school; It’s the end of the influencer age
✏️ From the Education Marketer desk
TikTok: “We’re Copying BeReal!” Meanwhile, over at YouTube… Read
A stealth stat from The Student Room. Read
Careful TikTok, your Facebook is showing. Read
We’re reaching the end of the influencer age. Here’s what replaces it. Read
📰 HE news
The humanities may be in decline, but a recent study from Georgetown University revealed that graduates of liberal arts institutions actually EARN MORE than those from other types of Schools. As much as $195,000 more over a period of 40 YEARS. There’s also growing interest from young people in a liberal arts education. The Arts and Science Group found that 43% of students said they agreed that the liberal arts was best for them, compared with just 38% in 2017. There is demand, but it’s being dambed by STEM subjects that offer higher upfront earnings and more direct career paths. It’s a question of messaging. Do we simply list the jobs humanities grads could go into? Or, do we share stories where thinking differently unlocks new opportunities throughout careers? Read
There’s a nationwide campaign in the US urging employers to “tear up the paper ceiling.” That is less focus on bachelor’s degrees and more on skills and training - which, ironically, you still prove on paper - but I’m nitpicking here. The campaign is backed by the US Department of Labour (which piled $380M into apprenticeships recently) and the likes of Google and IBM which have a track record of designing their own education programmes. Of course, this isn’t an immediate threat to higher ed, but it’s another sign that the perception of the traditional university experience is shifting. Read
📊 Marketing and media news
TikTok confirmed it’s going after Google’s lunch. It increased its post character limit to 2,200 while stating more “searchable” content leads to better recommendations. This follows recent news from Google that “40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place to eat, don’t go to Google Maps or Search.” Despite the trend, I don’t think social search is going to knock Google off its perch anytime soon. Social media is brilliant for finding out what’s happening, but it’s terrible for discovering the why. Every week I find myself having to trawl forums and Substacks trying to piece together the latest trend caused by TikTok’s chaos engine. So, yes, optimise for social search but don’t think it’s going to revolutionise how students find you overnight. Read
In 1996, telecom companies tried to ban people from making calls over the internet. So I had a distinct sense of déjà vu when I heard that Getty Images was banning AI-generated artwork on its website. Its primary concern is licensing issues (it’s cloudy who owns the IP of an AI-made image) but I can’t help but think it’s building a legal moat. AI image generators are an existential threat to companies like iStock and Getty. There is an art to writing prompts that generate the kind of image you want, but in many cases, the output is far better (and more original) than your average stock photo. Still - use AI imagery with caution. Some AI’s have been trained by scraping vast amounts of stock photography. Sometimes the ghost of Getty creeps into new artwork. Getty’s banning AI images | The Ghost of Getty Watermark
Bonus: Hugo Boss pulled off a TikTok ad with the platform’s most popular creator, Khaby Lame. Fun fact: Khaby makes $750,000 per post. Look
🏫 What unis are doing
Sheffield University is running an IG Reels series “Sheffield’s hidden gems.” This sort of content used to live on YouTube, but it plays well in Reels - highly produced shots, names of places flashing into view, a few students acting as silent guides - it works. Despite Adam Mosseri’s recent insight that Reels (his own product) trails TikTok in terms of… erm, everything. 55K views isn’t too shabby. Look
The pandemic upped the ante for degree show websites and some unis have continued to innovate. UAL has built its own site around Search. You can explore via categories like course and medium (the regular stuff) but also “work for sale” or for artists “open to collaboration.” Makes sense - the point of these sites is to help students get work, right? Look
Speaking of pandemic-born innovations, Newcastle University runs a “Mini Medical School” via Zoom. It runs in the evenings, is open to anyone over the age of 15 and explores various topics like emergency medicine, psychology and pharmacy. It’s good to see course taster sessions being adopted more broadly in higher ed. They’re the ideal on-ramp to full degrees, can help admissions determine applicant quality, and scale well digitally. Look
🧑🎓 What students are saying
“It’s a choice between eating and this massive part of the university experience which is your social life. Even going for the budget ranges of things there are still increases. As a student still very not used to being independent, not used to having to face these things - it makes it just that much harder to navigate.” Students on their approach to the rising cost of living. Read
👾 Culture shock
Someone built Minecraft in Minecraft. Look
In Bangalore, potholes get Google reviews. Look
