What students want from an open day
The Student Room did a quick poll of its community revealing the top items:
Assess the vibe (74%)
Check accommodation (68%)
Discover what a typical day looks like (68%)
… but to be honest, in terms of influence, the factors are pretty evenly weighted.
However, the one that interests me most is “day in the life content.” This is covered as part of open days, but typically only pops up as part of a Q&A and/or social media posts.
Maybe more student ambassadors could major on the topic as part of programme sessions? It may even be worth sharing a mock timetable.
The elephant in the room
Thanks to the UK’s cost of living crisis, it’s becoming harder for students to attend open days. According to Student Huts's most recent Student Pulse survey, 24% of students now see “cost/affordability” as their no.1 reason for not considering university straight away or at all.
48% are on the lookout for additional sources of funding.
A train ticket to the local open event may not sound like much, but multiple events add up. It’s worth checking how visible your travel bursaries are.
I look at around 20 university websites a week (for the newsletter) and I rarely come across sites that have travel bursaries as part of the booking process. They're worth incorporating.
It’s one less barrier for students to deal with.
Further reading…
Full report from The Student Room. Read
