Students can't choose their university and course on statistics alone...

Beyond KIS - What's important to students?

And how well are universities equipped to handle the change in the sector?

Jamie O’Connell

Marketing Director, The Student Room (@Insight_TSR @jamietalk)

Toby Windsor

Managing Partner SMRS (@SMRS)

#CEAC2011

Agenda

• Introductions

• Overview of the Key Information Set

• TSR Research: How students plan to evaluate the decision making factors

• How The Student Room will be supporting students and universities

• Implications for marketers of change

• SMRS Research: How well equipped are universities?

• Summary

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The Student Room The largest student community in the world - 4.5m unique users per month

• Where students get peer support to help them out and inform decisions

• More discussion about universities than any other website

• Fully moderated by a team of 50+ volunteers

• In the past 4 years we have worked with 115 higher education institutes in the UK

• Close working with BIS and UCAS

• 10 years old this year

url: www.thestudentroom.co.uk

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SMRS – ‘Communication that moves people’

• Full service communications agency

• Specialists in the education sector

• Over 20 HEIs throughout the UK

• Digital and creative services

• Research and reporting

• Understanding the student journey

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KIS

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Key Information Set (KIS)

• From 2012 every HE course will have a Key Information Set (KIS) setting expectation for course quality, support given and outcomes.

• KIS will contain areas of information that students have identified as useful:

• student satisfaction

• course information

• employment and salary data

• accommodation costs

• financial information, such as fees

• students' union information.

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KIS sample taken from HEFCE site

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http://www.hefce.ac.uk/learning/infohe/kis.htm

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How will KIS be used?

• Positioned in the forefront of student decision making• Official sources – UCAS and institute websites

• Comparison websites – hotcourses, studyportals

• Data driven websites – bestcourse4me, unistats

• Editorial websites – Newspaper sites e.g. Telegraph

But can stats be the primary driver of HE choices?

Is it enough for a university to differentiate itself?

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Beyond KIS

• In 2010 HEFCE commissioned research to understand what key factors influence students’ HE course choices -16 factors were identified that went into KIS

• In 2011 The Student Room carried out the same research to sensor check those 16 key factors and to find out HOW students would prefer to EVALUATE those all important criteria.

• Methodology• Research carried out early 2011• Survey promoted across The Student Room website forum • Survey incentivized with a prize draw for Amazon/Topshop/Topman vouchers• Total surveys completed: 1563• Gender mix - 59% female, 41% male

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The factors students say are most important and how they prefer to evaluate them

# Factor Evaluation toolBest rated by students

1 Quality of course Attend faculty Open Day

2 Standard of teaching Attend faculty Open Day

3 Level of employment in 1st year after graduating % employed with a graduate job after one year

4 Professional bodies which recognise the course Attend faculty Open Day

5 Standard of student support and guidance offered Read online reviews written by current and past students

6 Standard of feedback on assessment Read online reviews written by current and past students

7 Level of employment in 1st year in a full-time professional or managerial job one year after graduation

% employed with a graduate job after one year

8 Quality of library facilities Attend faculty Open Day

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9 Weekly hours of teaching contact time Read online reviews written by current and past students

10 Cost of Halls of residence Read online reviews written by current and past students

11 Average Salary in the first year after completing this course National Student Survey

12 Proportion of the assessment that is by coursework Attend faculty Open Day

13 Quality of the Student Union Facilities Read online reviews written by current and past students

14 Quality of the IT facilities Attend faculty Open Day

15 Maximum available bursary University Prospectus

16 Maximum household income for the eligibility for a bursary University Prospectus

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Other factors singled out as being highly important

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Additional factor s mentioned as free text

% that mentioned it

location/distance from home 16

what the city is like, amenities shops etc 16

general reputation 12

social life and activities (price of beer) 10

tuition fees payable 8

atmosphere 6

student support 5

placing in league tables 5

cost of living 4

research reputation 3

quality of accommodation offered 3

world rankings 2

safety 2

availability of work placements 2

ability to study abroad 1

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Research summary

• There are a series of key factors students want to know about when making HE choices

• In addition ‘Social’ factors such as price of a pint and what the ‘atmosphere’ is like came out strongly but the highest of all additional factors were location and amenities around the university.

• The two most mentioned methods for evaluating the factors that influence student HE choices were:

• Open days• Read online reviews written by current or past students

• Students cannot and do not wish to choose their university on stats alone – they want a range of information gathered from open days, the experiences of current students and official data.

Full report available for download: http://insight.thestudentroom.co.uk/reports

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HOW TSR IS RESPONDING

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University profiles on TSR launching end of 2011

At the CASE conference delegates were given a sneak preview of the university profiles launching later 2011. sorry but we have had to remove the screen shots. Below is a top level list of features:

What is it?

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• A profile for every university in the UK

• The best place students to come to get the views of other students and grads on what a university is really like.

• Incorporates official KIS data and provides a platform on the world’s largest student community website for a university to differentiate itself and support applicants, their students and alumni

• Built in consultation with universities and students

• Positions TSR as ‘The Trip Advisor for Higher Education’

• It has the following feature:• Student ratings and comments on the following:

• Student life • Courses• Facilities • Accommodation

• Students can ‘Connect’  to a profile (just like you join a Facebook group) but you specify if you are ‘an applicant, undergrad, grad or  staff’ you can then network with others connected to the same university with the same status

• You can only rate and comment if you are connected. As an undergrad you can only be connected to 1 institute.• Full privacy controls• Video content – user generated and official • Photographs  - user generated and official• An overall score given to a university derived by student ratings• Official HEFCE data used to make up KIS included for each institute• Open day calendar• Map showing key locations that students themselves can add to ‘best kebab shop?)• All profiles will be accessed through a new homepage search box and from a university finder portal featuring searchable map• All comments fully moderated

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Benefit for a uni

• Your home on the largest student community

• Differentiate yourself from your competitors by publishing engaging content that showcases your facilities and achievements

• Be seen to support your applicants by responding to questions asked through the profile directed at you

• A university can publish their ‘student stories’ – case studies of what students achieved and went on to

• The perfect platform for your student advocates to share with other students why they have enjoyed studying at your university

• A means to communicate with various groups – applicants, current students and alumni

• Open day promotion in events calendar

• Fully trackable order a prospectus button

• Full access to editing tools for a university to update their pages

• Links to your facebook and twitter pages

• Sharing friendly url: www.thestudentroom.co.uk/bangor_university

When it will be available

• End of 2011

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IMPLICATIONS FOR YOU

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What are the implications for university marketeers?

• An increasing array of channels for students to get information

• Understanding those channels and the different ways of engaging is crucial

• The statistics alone will not be your key differentiator

• Differentiation will come from brand development

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Brand development

• Imperative to have a consistent look and feel across all communications

• Have a consistent narrative tone

• Have the flexibility to have multi-faceted messages to cover:• Information• Experience• Engagement

• You need to understand your audience and be true to yourself

• Ultimately you need to capture peoples imaginations and inspire them

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CORE IDEABEHAVIOUR

COMMUNICATION

ENVIRONMENT

PRODUCTS

THE FOUR VECTORSTHROUGH WHICHA BRAND EMERGES

Questions for the audience

• Do you have a clear core idea?

• Can you explain what you do and what makes it different from your competitors in a sentence?

• Do most of your colleagues share these feeling?

• Does the outside world understand what you stand for and how it’s different?

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HOW WELL EQUIPPED ARE YOU?

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We asked HE Marketing Directors...

• What will be your most significant challenge?• Proving quality and value• Communicating the right message• Differentiation

• How do they need to address these challenges?• Brand• Advertising• Prospectus/collateral• Website

• How will the role of marketing develop within HE?• More diverse• Greater control of the university brand• More focussed on ROI• Even more strategic• Nurturing a lifelong relationship with your students

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In conclusion

• KIS will be a fantastic source of information

• BUT...it won’t be used in isolation

• There is a growing need and opportunity for universities to differentiate themselves

• Growing number of channels in which to communicate what makes you special

• ‘Cradle to grave’ relationship with students – listening, support, engagement

• Clear consistent branding and positioning are crucial – open day, prospectus, website

• Online reputation more important than ever (Richard Taylor Leicester)

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Thank you

Jamie O’Connell

Marketing Director, The Student Room (@Insight_TSR @jamietalk)

jamie@thestudentroom.co.uk

http://Insight.thestudentroom.co.uk/reports

Toby Windsor

Managing Partner SMRS (@SMRS)

toby.windsor@smrs.co.uk

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