Newsletter #96: The university that halved enquiries and doubled applications; Why universities should leverage student reviews; Twitter’s new logo reminds me of Elon
✏️ From the Education Marketer desk
The provider that halved enquiries but doubled applications. Read
The top factor for students making study decisions. Read
Why universities should leverage student reviews. Look
How to scale a university marketing team. Listen
📰 HE news
iGraduate dropped its annual student survey and, no surprise, “future career impact” is the no.1 factor driving study decisions. However - what’s more interesting is that “earning potential” doesn’t rank in the top 3 factors (and these are international students!) so it’s another sign that the “value” of a degree shouldn’t be determined on earnings alone. Plus, Universities UK has just revealed 73% of UK graduates found “a job reflective of their ambitions” within a year of graduation, and 97% of employers agreed that graduates progressed into managerial positions faster than their peers, citing communication, self-confidence, and problem-solving skills as key attributes. So perhaps the UK economy isn’t as awash with low-skilled graduates as is being made out? For clarity, I do agree with the government’s position that more students should be doing degree apprenticeships, but simply saying that you would “like to see” 50% of students in a degree apprenticeship won’t make it happen. Right now, there are fewer than 5,000 apprenticeship starts at level 4 and most degree apprentices have ALREADY BEEN WORKING for their employer for a year. This is an issue that universities, employers and government must face together. iGraduate Survey | Apprenticeship Challenges
📊 Marketing and media news
There are many fears surrounding AI, but one comes in above all others: mistrust. According to The New Consumer report, 53% of people feel that AI will bring about a “total lack of trust in visual and/or audio content” within the next 20 years. While it’s a huge challenge for traditional media channels (which are currently battling against fake AI inventory) I think it’s a powerful opportunity for creators. As per Digiday, most CMOs are concerned about the rising costs of media and scaling their plans, but they’re assuming that those channels will still exist within the next 7 years. Do you know what people are looking for in a time of AI and misinformation? Trusted voices. That includes creators, thought leaders and people verified by their communities. New research from Culture Club reveals that if the creator economy continues on its current trajectory, it will replace (!!!) traditional media by 2030. We have a generation of “iPad kids” whose primary content experience is delivered via creators. CreatorIQ also found that 69% of marketers increased their influencer marketing investment in the past year. 13% of brands are investing at least $1 million in influencer marketing in 2023. The shift is well underway. It’s worth setting up infrastructure to work with creators at scale now, otherwise, you’ll be forced to pay a toll to gatekeepers later. The New Consumer Report | Creator/influencer marketing spend
Here’s a trend I didn’t expect to write about in 2023: demand for text-based content. In the last few months, we’ve seen 1) TikTok adding text-only posts, 2) Threads storm the global app charts, and 3) Google prioritise forum content in search. I’ve even seen an app, Volv, using AI to rethink text-based content for younger audiences by summarising viral internet discussions, podcasts and YouTube videos into “9-second reads.” That’s a novel concept, right? “I couldn’t be bothered to watch this YouTube video, so I’ll just read about it instead.” Volv says its text interface is a new kind of “anti-social media” (more power to them) but I just see it as a quiet place i.e. simple, concise and scannable. As youth marketers, we sometimes underestimate text-based mediums but we don’t have to look far to see their effectiveness. Over the last two months, I’ve been exploring the truth of the statement “students don’t read emails” and I've heard first-hand how, a) the consistent ingredient for success is short form, concise text and b) that students prefer email to hear from universities because of its simplicity, associated trust, and “lack of noise.” So, yes, use video for emotional connection, but remember, feeds are like a highway - sometimes it’s easier to scan a few lines of text than scrub a video’s timeline at speed. TikTok text posts | 9-second reads
Extra: Google and OpenAI commit to watermarking AI-generated content. Great, now what about the thousands of open-source projects? Read
🏫 What unis are doing
MIT has published an AI-powered idea generator that takes a problem and helps you “ideate” a solution. Nice. I’ve seen a lot of education providers capitalising on this trend i.e. not simply using AI to get an answer, but to aid thinking - Khan Academy published a similar tool recently. I’d like to see the same principle applied to help students choose a university and, TBH, I’m surprised I’ve not seen one yet. Any takers? Look
New College of Florida plans to open a “cancel culture” research centre which I’m sure will work out really well for them! Named the New College Freedom Institute (🤮) the goal is to address the "tremendous cancel culture” in higher education” (so, both ill-informed AND inward-facing.) I don’t know when having a “liberal ideology” i.e. respecting the behaviour or opinions of others became a negative, but New College is here for it. Read
University of Leicester is offering a series of live Clearing events. Between Aug 10 and Aug 17, it is running FOUR separate events, split between a student and a parent audience. The student events will be led by two current students “sharing tips” a week before results day, then one day before and, finally, on the day itself. The parents’ session is a Zoom webinar and is handled by staff. Plenty of content to repurpose for results day then. Look
🧑🎓 What students are saying
“Lots of my friends have similar thoughts around ‘what next?’ and ‘what if?’ Also, we’ve just lost a little bit of faith in the higher education system. What are we meant to do? How are we meant to get into this world of work? Some jobs are asking for masters and whatever qualification - but I don't have anything to show.” Interview with the class of 2023 aka students who’ve handled the triple threat of Brexit, Covid, and industrial action. Listen
👾 Culture shock
Creators can now use AI to (convincingly) change their filming locations. Look
Twitter’s new “X” logo turning up like Elon in my timeline. Look
