tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75990676316510338472024-03-14T04:54:26.446+00:00My views on the newsKathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-71380354725844623132014-08-17T02:33:00.001+01:002014-09-19T20:03:11.731+01:00Creative Clearing 2014<br />
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Getting creative this Clearing<o:p></o:p></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">With the 2014 Clearing process well under way, four days in and dozens
of universities are fiercely engaged in a last-ditch effort to fill their
undergraduate student recruitment targets. This year has seen a record number
of university places – expected to exceed half a million – with an extra 30,000
allocated by the Government on top of the unlimited available for the highest
achieving students as part of the run up to the cap
being removed entirely in 2015. Almost 400,000 students accepted places on
A-level results day – up by 11,000 in a year, with 352,590 of these (an
increase of 2%) securing their first choice of course.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The slight fall in A* and A grades and a reduced pass rate – for the
first time in over 30 years – has meant that the brightest students now find
themselves in a ‘buyer’s market’ with greater potential to trade up. The
Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) has revealed that the
number of undergraduates admitted to selective universities has increased by 4%
this year compared with just 1% for those institutions with the lowest entry
requirements. Again, we have seen Russell Group universities advertising places
through Clearing – with 17 out of 24 promoting vacancies more than 24 hours
after the publication of A-level results. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">When the dust settled in 2013, figures showed that in the two years
since higher fees were introduced some English universities had increased their
student intake by up to 40%, while a number of post-92 institutions had lost
more than 20% of their entrants. With such increased competition and pressure
to hit targets, it is little wonder that marketers go ‘all out’ during
Clearing; it’s traditionally become a time of year when we see the greatest
innovation and creativity. So, which universities and what activities have made an impression on this seasoned Clearing aficionado in 2014?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Personalisation<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">One of the first marketers to extol the virtues of personalised videos, launching the UK’s first ever at Birmingham City University (see </span><a href="http://upgrade-your-future.bcu.ac.uk/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">http://upgrade-your-future.bcu.ac.uk/</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> if you’re interested), I’ve long been a fan of personalisation. Extremely popular to the extent it has become common place in the United States, it has yet to really take off creatively in the UK. For me, two universities in particular came up with innovative ways to make the experience for students getting a place that little bit more special.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>University of Birmingham: </strong>The University used personalisation to its advantage during Clearing, sending students whose places had been confirmed a light-hearted personalised video welcoming them to the University. While the personalisation was relatively simplistic – essentially featured in two areas – it proved highly effective, both surprising and pleasing those who received it and generating lots of positive comments on social media and 142 likes on the Facebook announcement. You can see the video at </span><a href="http://www.myvideo.bham.ac.uk/?id=your-name"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">http://www.myvideo.bham.ac.uk/?id=your-name</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>University of Sheffield:</strong> The University came up with a unique Clearing campaign advising students with exceptional grades to go ‘1 better’ and trade up. The messaging capitalised on the fact the University has been voted number 1 for student experience – with the best Students’ Union – for three years in a row. After results day, students given a place were sent personalised graphics and e-cards which celebrated their exam results and incorporated the underlying theme of success. There were lots of happy messages from their recipients!</span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Student engagement<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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Persuading prospective and current students to engage on social media
is notoriously difficult. Most universities now encourage prospective and
current students to take selfies (or take photographs of students themselves)
and post them on twitter and facebook feeds, usually with very little success. The
most innovative approaches I have seen this year, which have bucked the trend
and produced dozens of self-taken photographs and/or lots of retweets, shares
and likes, come from:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Loughborough University:</strong> The #IAMIN campaign saw the University sending new
students a cut-out polaroid-style frame to take their own selfies. Hugely
popular, the University not only posted the selfies as they were submitted, but
also created video tours of the selfies published each day too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>University of Salford:</strong> With a lovely play on words, the University encouraged
everyone to send in their #Salfie with even the Vice-Chancellor getting in on
the act.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>University of Roehampton:</strong> The University’s #IamUR campaign has been running all year
and features case studies of current students and alumni (which seem to have
sadly dried up before results day), but prospective students have cottoned on
to using the hashtag when celebrating their places.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Information and guidance<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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When it comes to Clearing Guides, it takes a lot to impress me… I was
responsible for producing one of the first in the sector way back when at the
University of Wolverhampton in 1998! Nowadays, I don’t think there is a single
university out there that hasn’t produced its own ‘Guide to Clearing’, though
some are undoubtedly better than others. When it comes to information and
guidance, however, two universities impressed me:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Middlesex University: </strong>The University’s video ‘Guide to handling parents’ was well
produced, with a clear and concise script, great graphics and superb corporate
branding. This video provided a new take on the issues of support for
prospective students during Clearing and was a source of rich content retweeted
by many sources and quoted in news articles. The University is rapidly
establishing itself as the leader when it comes to information – it has
produced multiple infographics on topics such as Clearing, graduation or
student finance, while the You Tube channel boasts a range of impressive videos
on subjects from ‘Writing a personal statement’ to ‘How to apply for a UK
visa’, all in the distinctive red, white and black corporate colours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Teesside University:</strong> The overall simplicity and the consistent branding of the
University’s ‘Clearing made simple’ campaign, integrated across all digital
platforms, set it apart for me.<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"> On the main website, navigation is extremely easy, with lots
of links to advice, information and visiting opportunities. What really
impressed me though was the freshers’guide, which was being promoted widely as
the next step for confirmed students. It wasn’t radical in terms of content,
though there is a nice video to inspire freshers about what’s in store for
them, but it was comprehensive, pulling all of the relevant information
together in a simple way. What could have been cluttered, instead looks
professional and clean with the use of an underlying table structure, iconography
and corporate colours. </span></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;">Current s</span>tudents as ambassadors<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></strong></div>
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Anyone who currently or has worked in Higher Education understands the
power of using current students. Often a University’s best ambassadors, it is
current students who prospective students really want to speak to when getting
a feel for what a particular course or university is really like. For this
reason, universities have for many years recruited students to work as
ambassadors at Open Days and other events, but this year’s Clearing has seen
much more student activity than ever before. The universities who (to me)
nailed it were:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>University of Wales Trinity Saint David:</strong> The University has recruited
a number of student social media ambassadors who have their own twitter
accounts linked to the main corporate account and post on behalf of the
University. This means that the main corporate account is full of rich
content/activity with a very personal feel to it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Birmingham City University:</strong> As well as recruiting students to answer
Clearing queries out of hours on social media, the University also produced a
range of videos featuring prospective and current students on what it’s like to
study,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>attending an Open Day and a video
made by students for students going through Clearing (</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0vPBNqsdTY"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0vPBNqsdTY</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Outstanding customer service</span></strong> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Over the last three years, as student recruitment has gotten tougher,
we have seen an increase in the opening hours of Clearing hotlines and the frequency
of dedicated Clearing Open Days. However, two universities – <strong>Teesside University</strong> and
<strong>Southampton Solent University</strong> – have taken customer service to a whole new level, becoming
what I think are the only institutions in the UK to offer a 24 hour Clearing
hotline. And there was no missing Southampton Solent’s telephone number!</span><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Distinctive positioning<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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In a buyer’s market, it is important to get across your key messages
and clearly tell prospective students why they should choose you over and above your
competitors. There were lots of tweets pushing news stories and star academics,
but some universities made a concerted effort to convey a range of influential
facts and figures. Those that caught my eye included:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>University of Surrey:</strong> Key facts and figures formed an integral part of Surrey’s
clearing promotion with a range of performance indicators around league table
positioning, excellence and student satisfaction incorporated into the design
of the website and promoted on social media.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>University of Bradford:</strong> From promoting the latest student satisfaction and employability
ratings to the fact they have the largest pharmacy school in the UK and an
award-winning campus, the University – and some of its Faculty accounts –
presented a united front and has consistently pushed content related to its
accomplishments throughout the course of Clearing so far.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>University of East Anglia:</strong> I love East Anglia’s ‘Wish you were here’
postcard pictures as part of their #experienceUEA campaign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These pictures promoted on Twitter and
Facebook showcased what is clearly a picturesque campus as well as a range of
unique selling points. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTHuSg2fUJ2hzs9Hp3R5OEyS2rYH5RxRKb-CueKyQa1gA6U0lPzii6LEHAYbHaTEiOth1Q_icso48GWWVh7M5nfLqy4gk0zAyzM14-pG06UbqqeQFAtOR3vYAW1bJLqWImn7OqAuC_PBA/s1600/photo+2%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTHuSg2fUJ2hzs9Hp3R5OEyS2rYH5RxRKb-CueKyQa1gA6U0lPzii6LEHAYbHaTEiOth1Q_icso48GWWVh7M5nfLqy4gk0zAyzM14-pG06UbqqeQFAtOR3vYAW1bJLqWImn7OqAuC_PBA/s1600/photo+2%5B1%5D.JPG" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">TV advertising<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Television
advertising<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b>is very expensive (you need to budget roughly £40K for production and at least
£150K media costs for three to four-week medium weighted campaign), which is
probably why it remains rare within the Higher Education sector. As someone who
has developed almost a dozen TV adverts for three different universities,
however, I still find it a surprise that people haven’t yet cottoned on to its
effectiveness. TV has by far</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">the greatest reach with the
potential to be seen multiple times by millions and has the best recall for
advertising, so it is actually one of the best mediums to generate action and
can rapidly transform public perceptions.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: JA;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">A 2014 study by Millward
Brown found that despite having the highest penetration of smartphones across
30 countries studied for receptiveness to screen advertising, the British spend
more time watching television than any other country – spending on average two
and a half hours, or 36% of their screen time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I only came
across one TV advert in Clearing, which may in part be due to my home base, from
<strong>De Montfort University</strong>. With its clips of inspiring imagery, challenging messaging and
the crescendo of music and narrative, the advert to me was reminiscent of BCU’s
Shaping the World TV advert (see </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlgLg3bSBJY"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlgLg3bSBJY</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">)
launched last October. But where I thought DMU really made the campaign their
own was in the background story which sat behind the content of the TV ad,
which was explained on the website and promoted through social media (check out
</span></span><a href="http://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/how-we-told-the-dmu-story-in-30-seconds.aspx"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">http://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/how-we-told-the-dmu-story-in-30-seconds.aspx</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">) From this, it became apparent just how much thought had gone in to
every single image, many of which featured the University itself – from the
circuit board representing DMU’s unique<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cyber Security Centre<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Faculty of Health and Life Sciences’
state-of-the-art electron microscope, which provided one example of the
cutting-edge technology available for students.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;">The advert has already generated lots
of very positive comments on social media.</span></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">When all is said and done, the innovation
in Higher Education marketing never fails to impress me and I’m certain there
will be more that I’ve yet to come across. If you are doing something that
little bit different, please let me know…there’s still time to make it into my Creative
Clearing Top 10!<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span>Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-91579149766957974982013-11-01T20:32:00.000+00:002014-08-07T21:47:58.424+01:00Recruitment is the number one priority<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">My interview with University Business Magazine</span></h3>
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What have been the most significant developments in the UK university sector in 2013?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The most significant development in the sector has been the focus on recruitment with a trend towards aggressive recruitment strategies designed to protect and grow fee income.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The impact of higher fees, student number controls and the deregulation of AAB student numbers for 2012 entry took some in the sector by surprise. There were 14% less UK and EU accepted applicants and against predictions of 85,000 AAB graded and above students, there were eventually 79,200. This hit the Russell Group hardest with undergraduate numbers dropping at a third of its member institutions at a forecasted cost of £80m. <span lang="EN">The loss of the income to the sector from the 54,000 less students was estimated at £1.3bn over three years.</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: inherit;">Universities hit hardest in 2012 were determined not to be complacent in future recruitment activities. The University of Birmingham, estimated to have fallen short by about 700 undergraduate students in 2012, became the first university in the sector to offer 1,000 unconditional places based on predicted straight A grades. It now plans to extend the pilot in 2014 after attracting 300 high achievers. It is almost certain that other universities – including us – will follow suit.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: inherit;">At Birmingham City University, we similarly have begun to pay increasingly close attention to our ‘offer strategy’. In one Faculty, during 2013, a system was piloted by Admissions and senior Faculty management whereby all rejected applicants were reviewed prior to a final decision being made. While labour intensive, this approach meant the Faculty subsequently had the highest conversion rates and went into Clearing with the smallest gap in numbers. For 2014 entry, this review process is being extended across all Faculties. Early decisions over the points to accept in confirmation and Clearing also meant BCU gained an additional 1,410 students (up 9% on the previous year), recruiting to the maximum 103% SNC.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">
Will the student experience continue to be a major focus in 2014?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Recruitment will be the number one priority, but closely followed by student experience. We have all witnessed the anticipated rise in consumerist attitudes as a result of higher fees. Complaints by students in England and Wales against universities rose by a quarter in 2012 to 2,012 – the highest since the Office of the Independent Adjudicator was set up in 2004.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">There will be an increasing focus on institutional policy and practice, specifically in relation to quality assurance. No university wants to hit the headlines in the way that London Metropolitan did when its UKBA Highly Trusted Status was revoked in 2012. Derby University has become the most recent victim of adverse publicity following accusations in October of falsifying data on graduate employment rates by allegedly withholding or misreporting survey returns.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">At Birmingham City University, we have launched an institution-wide strategy – Partners for Success – which builds on our sector-leading positioning for student engagement and our focus on graduate employability. Comprehensive in its approach, this strategy includes among others positive actions to improve communications with new entrants and current students, early identification of ‘at risk’ students, expansion of personal tutor support and the embedding of entrepreneurship support and work experience into all course programmes. By 2015, we want to be employing 3,000 students across the University – triple current numbers – via OpportUNIty, our ‘Jobs on Campus’ initiative launched in 2012.</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: inherit;">Over the past three years the University’s ‘THE Outstanding Support for Students’ award-winning Student Academic Partners scheme – which partners students with academics to review aspects of the student experience – has delivered over 160 projects, employed over 400 students and dramatically improved the learning experience across the University in wide variety of areas. Following a successful pilot in 2012, we launched the Student Academic Mentoring Partnerships initiative in 2012/13, enabling students to take advantage of peer-to-peer support from more experienced students, under the guidance of academic staff.</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
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Will competition to attract the best students remain fierce?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Universities have always competed to attract the best students using reputation and financial incentives, such as merit-based scholarships and bursaries. The cap on home undergraduate SNC numbers and deregulation of AAB, ABB and, for 2014, ABB or equivalent has, however, forced the issue further. High achieving students offer the biggest potential for growth for all universities, but for those universities for whom over 80% of their student numbers sit outside the SNC, the ‘best students’ are essential to maintaining their bread and butter fee income.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Russell Group universities in particular cannot afford to see these numbers reducing, which is primarily why the University of Birmingham adopted its unconditional offer strategy. Leeds (which lost out on 500 students in 2012)<span lang="EN">, </span><span lang="EN">Newcastle and Sheffield offered scholarships to bright candidates in certain courses.</span><span lang="EN">On its website, t</span>he University of Manchester says that “more than a third of students will receive bursaries of up to £3,000 per year and many will be offered even more generous support”.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not just the elite universities who are getting in on the act though, financial aid up to £10,000 was offered at <span lang="EN">Aston, Bournemouth, Brunel, City University London, Coventry, De Montfort, Edge Hill, Essex, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicester, Newcastle, Newman University College, Northumbria, Roehampton, the Royal Agricultural College, Salford, Surrey and Wolverhampton. The University of Bedfordshire offered students with ABB grades £3,000 a year and one Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship (waiving all fees, worth £27,000) for each academic faculty.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">At Birmingham City University, we offer support through the National Scholarship programme, but have shied away in recent years from what the press terms ‘cash bribes’. This strategy is being reviewed, but we are seeking to offer travel incentives for applicants for 2014 entry, as well as launching a programme of regular weekly visit opportunities. We know that if we can attract prospective students on campus, we have almost a 50% conversion rate. Travel costs and visit timings are the biggest barriers to visit day attendance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">
Will 2014 present new challenges in the higher education sector? </span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The biggest challenge for the sector will be to try to reverse the negative impressions overseas of a ‘closed UK’ due to the Government’s policy on immigration; the pressures on the home market mean that all universities will be seeking to maintain and most likely grow international numbers, as we are at Birmingham City University. There will be a concerted effort by universities to expand international partnerships to strengthen feeder pipelines, rather than the traditional recruitment fair/agent-led approach.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">At an institutional level, the focus will be re-thinking the desired size and shape of universities. Almost all corporate strategies five to 10 years ago were optimistically seeking extensive growth in student numbers, but the reality has been very different. The portfolio of programmes will rationalise or expand, depending on individual circumstances, including competitive strength and demand. Informed decision-making through professional market intelligence will be critical. We should expect to see more rigorous new product development testing. Universities will make use of the large ‘pool’ of test subjects offered not only through universities own student population and enquiry databases, but also from the many commercial platforms, such as Youthsight or the Student Room.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The time for complacency in marketing is well and truly over. All universities need to wise up to the competitive environment in which we operate and commit the level of resource – both human and financial – required to succeed. To my mind, the biggest cultural shift needs to take place in the office of the Director of Finance. Traditional UK university marketing budgets estimated to be between 0.75-1.5% of their revenue simply won’t cut it when you consider that some for-profit US Colleges spend 20% and more. We need to shift from viewing Marketing as a ‘cost’ to recognising it as an ‘investment’, which is directly linked to and brings an enormous return.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Taking Birmingham City University as an example, academic fees and education contracts accounted for £93m of BCU’s £162m income in 2011/12 and the home full-time undergraduate market represents 63% of all students. In 2012/13, we spent around £800K on our positioning campaigns to drive traffic to Open Days and Clearing. The 2013 Clearing campaign – which included television, outdoor, online, press and radio advertising – cost in the region of £400K, but this generated 1,410 additional students. At an average fee of £7,500 that equates to £10.5m fee income in the first year and £32m over three years of a degree student; not a bad return on investment.</span>Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-53269106613967715542013-08-15T21:46:00.000+01:002014-08-07T21:46:45.020+01:00Clearing 2013: Are universities facing another bloodbath?<span style="font-family: inherit;">With A level results day fast approaching, universities across the UK are gearing up for the chaotic scramble to fill university places at this time of year. Last year, over 300 institutions and more than 55,700 students obtained their places in Clearing – 4,600 more than in 2011 – the highest recorded to date. Academics and administrators alike are busily clearing the way for Clearing – our only guarantee that we are not quite sure what to expect.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This year represents my 16<span style="font-size: small;"><sup>th</sup> anniversary of involvement with Clearing (17<sup>th</sup> if you count the by association experience when my best friend went to university through Clearing back in 1988). It is undoubtedly my busiest thanks to the ever-changing landscape of HE being created as a result of higher fees and the Government’s core and margin policy to restrict and manage the number of students being recruited.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">At Birmingham City University, the preparation for ‘Clearing’ started around three months ago, not least because the process of accepting or confirming students on places for undergraduate courses begins in earnest some months earlier than August.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There is a long-standing public misconception that Clearing is solely for A level students and as such begins on A level results day. The official UCAS process itself begins at the start of July and runs until September. It is true that the majority of those entering university hold A levels, however the proportion of the population entering holding A levels actually fell in 2012, while that of UK 18 year olds entering with BTECs increased and has risen by 80% since 2008. Research published in 2011 showed that more than half of 20 to 30-year-olds going on to higher education are BTEC students. Similarly, numbers studying the International Baccalaureate have been steadily rising. Results for the multitude of qualifications now accepted within entry requirements come out from as early as May onwards, enabling their recipients to confirm their places (as a number who attended our recent Open Day in June chose to do).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Clearing last year was described as a ‘bloodbath’. It was definitely a watershed moment: universities fell short of recruitment targets by almost 30,000 representing millions of pounds in lost fee income and a number of Russell Group universities were forced to enter Clearing for the first time, hit hardest by the reduction of AAB students (at this is point I stifle a wry smile, having worked in three post-92 universities that have always relied on Clearing). This created a ripple effect throughout the pecking order, though at BCU we managed to recruit one more student than in 2011.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There can be no doubt that lessons were learned; all universities have treated their recruitment for 2013 with a little caution and a lot more attention. At BCU, we are working harder than ever to ensure prospective students (and parents) recognise the benefits of what we have to offer as a university focused on creative and professional education and research. Our popularity continues with UCAS applications bucking national trends – up 13 compared to 3 per cent. Whether those applications will convert to students sufficient to meet our targets remains to be seen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Members of staff in Education Liaison, Admissions and the Academic Faculties have already been liaising with our feeder schools and colleges to help secure places for those wanting to come to university this September. Meanwhile, large numbers of staff have been contributing to the preparation for the huge logistical operation that kicks in when universities receive A level results the weekend before results day. Like their counterparts up and down the country, our admissions staff will be working over this weekend in readiness for the communication to confirm places to students who have met their offers and do not need to enter the Clearing process. For those who have not secured or are seeking to change places, we open our Clearing hotline at 8am on August 15 and will have staff on site at five local colleges in Birmingham. We will also be running a dedicated Open Day on Saturday August 17 from 10am-2pm targeted specifically at students seeking to gain entry this September.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Last year, the University received almost 4,000 calls to the hotline and our course enquiries line on Results Day, while our central switchboard took 2,600 calls. This year we have taken the unprecedented step of recruiting and training over 40 staff from across the University to support marketing staff who have traditionally manned the lines.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Rumours abound that the “elite universities” are gearing up for Clearing too. Some have already taken the unusual (some might say risky) step of making unconditional offers based on predicted grades, while others are reportedly dropping their entry requirements substantially to ensure they recover student numbers. This effectively means that the ripple effect we saw during Clearing in 2012 may actually have already started – without many universities realising. Which students will be available in Clearing and with what grades is something of a mystery and some hotlines could turn out to be surprisingly quiet.</span>Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-47398337365183662532013-06-10T14:58:00.000+01:002013-06-10T14:58:18.522+01:00Media champions: Dumbing down or a savvy approach to modern research dissemination?
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Growing
up in a household with an academic now long since retired, whose aspirations
were to achieve critical acclaim (and ideally more research funding) through peers,
professional bodies and journals, brings into stark contrast the world in which
I, his daughter, now operate. While these traditional ‘prestigious’ channels
are still valid, it is apparent to me that blogging, tweeting, radio and the
tabloid press have an equal – if not more important – role to play when it
comes to highlighting the impact of academic research and investigation. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Nowhere
was this more evident than when Birmingham City University celebrated its
unique Media Champions training programme at the beginning of June. Channel 5’s
Killers Behind Bars presenter Professor David Wilson, arguably the UK’s leading
criminologist, joined Child Protection Expert and ITV journalist Mark Williams-Thomas,
best known for exposing Jimmy Savile, to share an insight into the world of
academic publishing as they know it. The session, hosted by the BBC’s Political
Editor for the Midlands Patrick Burns, also featured up and coming academic
Sophie Rowe. As a recently trained BCU Media Champion, Sohpie is about to
embark on her PhD and will be combining both academic and media engagement tools
from the start of her academic career.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Media
Champions, recently short-listed in the 2013 Times Higher Education Leadership
and Management Awards, is a unique partnership between the University’s Press
Office, School of Media and Faculty academics. We use the experience, skills
and knowledge of our Skillset-accredited School of Media to develop and deliver
bespoke media training for our rising academic stars to equip them with the
tools to promote their work more effectively through popular communication
channels. Faculties nominate and pay for their staff development. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Past
experience has taught me that the mere mention of a press release about
academic research – in plain English – was enough to send shivers down the
spine of many established academics, who felt that this form of ‘dumbing down’
was wholly inappropriate. Encouraging them to tweet, write blogs, record video
diaries and speak to the likes of The Sun and Daily Mail would have appeared preposterous.
Not so now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">As
Sophie put it, if academics have something insightful and brilliant to say
about current issues, it would seem a waste of both their talent and the
opportunity to share such relevant research with a wider audience than simply those
who read academic journals. An article in a national newspaper can reach thousands
of individuals – more if it is picked up on twitter, as was the case with an article
on US drone strikes in Pakistan by senior lecturer and terrorism expert Imran Awan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Bringing
academic research to a mass audience should not be seen as dumbing down, but as
a means of ensuring that ordinary individuals – the people who vote in the
politicians and have the strength in numbers to protest and force change – can learn
more about issues (sometimes deliberately hidden) that affect their everyday
lives. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">For
me, this is where the real impact of scholarly investigation lies. As traumatic
and horrific as it has been, just look at the consequences and subsequent fall
out of Mark’s investigation into Jimmy Savile. If the mass media had not picked
up on the story in the way that it has, I wonder whether we would still be
seeing the daily trickle of new charges and accusations or whether the victims
would have continued to stay silent. As a result of the widespread publicity,
which put considerable pressure on the BBC as well as the authorities, a line in
the sand has now been drawn. Celebrities are as accountable as the rest of us;
no matter what actor Jeremy Irons may think, there are no grades of abuse – abuse
is abuse. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">At
BCU we have chosen to champion and support those academics who are willing to
put themselves in a media spotlight. Unfortunately, as David has found, the
public are as likely to comment on your appearance as they are your research. While
Mark knows only too well that putting yourself out there will inevitably draw criticism,
academics therefore need to steel themselves and not be deterred. For David,
Mark, Sophie and all our media champions, the publicity that comes with the
Media Champions programme is not an ego trip; it is not about achieving celebrity
status, but is about finding ways of using academic context in a popular way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">If
media and publicity can affect real change, as it has done in the case of the
Savile investigation, then courting the journalists and acknowledging the reach
of social media is surely a wise move. We may have to dumb down some of the
terminology, but there’s nothing dumb in getting support and understanding from
the masses – is there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-21261163209204324932013-02-22T10:47:00.000+00:002013-02-22T10:47:37.904+00:00A competitive offa: How and who should track the effectiveness of outreach activities?
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">There
is a growing debate within the Higher Education sector about the effectiveness
of outreach activities in widening participation and whether this should be
monitored at a national level. Just last week the 1994 Group called for the
Government to start tracking university interventions through the National Pupil
Database.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">It’s
a question we have been asking at Birmingham City University since last term
when, for the first time, we had comprehensive data on full ‘lifecyle’
conversion from enquiry to enrolment.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> Having installed
a professional enquiry management system in 2011, like many other universities we
are now able to track the effectiveness of the full range of our recruitment
activities – from telephone and email contact to master classes, taster days, UCAS
fairs and Open Days.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">BCU’s
decision to hold an additional open day on <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Saturday
February 23 </b>appears to have paid off. So far, we have had over 1,500
prospective students register to attend, two-thirds of whom are intending to
study this September. Many will just turn up on the day of course. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">In terms of reach,
Open Days are by far the biggest of our outreach activities – almost 6,000
prospective students visited us via that route in 2011/12. We also know that
since the announcement of higher fees back in 2011, there has been a phenomenal
increase in Open Day attendance. In the four-year period up to 2010, YouthSight
research showed that over half</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> all students attended no open
days before handing in their UCAS form and a fifth would attend one open day.
Yet by October 2011, the Guardian was already reporting a significant shift in
behaviour with some universities reporting Open Day attendance up by 75% and many
students visiting all five of their UCAS choices (<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/oct/31/university-open-days-soar"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/oct/31/university-open-days-soar</span></a>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Open Days are critical when it comes to educating prospective students
about the benefits of Higher Education, albeit at a particular institution, and
converting interest to application. The YouthSight 2012/13 Fact File found that
a</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">good first impression from universities’ open days was a major factor
influencing university choice for over half of applicants. BCU’s research shows
that 42% of those who attend an Open Day will go on to apply and around a
quarter will eventually study with us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">As well as Open Day conversion rates, we know that roughly 20% of
students who attended subject master classes in previous years went on to enrol
at BCU and I can tell you the Faculty of Technology, Engineering and the
Environment enjoys a 57% conversion rate from its Applicant Visit Days – the highest
of our six Faculties. It sounds fairly impressive, but is it? What I don’t know
is whether this level of conversion is competitive or even effective when
compared to other similar universities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There is very little shared information when it comes to benchmarking
the success of not just Open Days, but the full range of outreach activities. Universities
like BCU have been committed to widening participation since the outset and all
institutions charging higher fees now have to outline their commitment to
access to the Office for Fair Access (OFFA). To me, OFFA would seem to be a
logical choice to take more of an active role in tracking success and
publishing benchmarks, which will hopefully be the outcome of the shared
strategy for widening access to HE currently under review. But their remit will
be limited, likely only to cover the activities included within institutional Access
Agreements. For a broader assessment of the full range of recruitment
activities, maybe a professional body like CASE or the mission groups
themselves need to step in on behalf of the marketing professionals.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Given the huge investment that is being ploughed into outreach
activities at an institutional level, coupled with the desire at a national
level to increase participation rates in Higher Education, there is surely a
need to monitor such activities more effectively. To me, it doesn’t matter who
takes on the challenge…as long as someone does. It’s in everyone’s interest to
make sure we are getting it right. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-52249018565344056462013-01-29T21:23:00.000+00:002013-01-29T21:23:44.728+00:00Bursaries and scholarships - an incentive or not?
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">At
Birmingham City University, we are mid-way through our regular student number
planning sessions to review recruitment targets for the coming cycle and to
forecast the pattern in 2014/15 and beyond. In terms of the undergraduate
market, as you would expect, we are considering the impact of fees, the emerging
trends at subject level and the expansion to ABB of the Government’s core and
margin policy. The question that is repeatedly coming up, however, is whether
financial incentives have made any difference to our current offer or have the
potential to do so.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">It’s
an interesting debate – and I don’t for one minute pretend to have the answers.
It’s also one that requires a little clarity. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">As
a firm believer in the virtues of and rights to access Higher Education, I – like
many – am of the view that there should always be financial support that is essentially
needs-based and intended to ensure those who require additional financial
support are not deterred from University on this basis alone. The National
Scholarship Programme has a merit of its own that should not necessarily be
linked to recruitment targets or bottom line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">The
financial support I am questioning is that which is primarily recruitment
driven – to win over particular cohorts to select a specific institution or discipline
over and above other HEIs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">It’s
a perfectly valid marketing tactic and one that pervades everyday life (‘BOGOF’
still amuses me). Back in November, the Telegraph reported a range of universities
offering up to £10,000 to secure ABBs, including some on my patch (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9670355/Universities-paying-10000-to-sign-up-bright-students.html).
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">A
review of BCU’s financial support for 2012/13 against that of competitors found
ours to be fairly modest. We did not go down the route of offering large chunks
of cash to secure higher performing students or win back numbers in Clearing.
That said, we did not lose out on our AAB students (though numbers are fairly
small) and our recruitment performance, as per the UCAS figures released
earlier this month, was very good by comparison with many others. Our accepted
applicant figures – according to UCAS – were up 1.8% on 2011/12 (the reality is
that our enrolments after people withdrew or did not turn up were slightly down,
but not by much). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Marketing
logic tells me that we should be offering financial support packages that are
at least on a par with our competitors. Yet I have to wonder that since we did
not do this and, as it transpires, did not need to in 2012, would it really make
commercial sense to increase the money we give out in future, if it’s
potentially to students that would come to us anyway?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">A
survey of our own enquirers for 12/13 revealed that 60% said bursaries and
scholarships were quite or very important, but 69% said they would not affect
the students’ decision to apply. Market research released by dh insight this
month based on a small sample of Year 13 students predicted As and Bs found
little awareness of financial incentives and that it was essentially considered
“a nice add on” rather than being a critical part of the decision-making
process. Similarly, the Institute of Fiscal Studies reported last November that
the uncertainty of the whole process which means that students often do not
know what bursaries and scholarships they would be eventually awarded prior to making
their application (and often after enrolment) meant that it made little or no
difference to their decision.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">The
issue I have is that much of this research that exists is based purely on
student opinions. Unfortunately, we know that what people say and what they do
aren’t always the same. Not many students said they would pay fees of up to £9,000,
but over 400,000 did and many more intend to do so; UCAS applications for 2013
are up about 3% to date. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">I
would like to see some robust market research that analyses the support offered
at particular HEIs against their actual recruitment, particularly those that
did very well in securing AABs and the additional student numbers they were
awarded. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">So,
the question remains…should universities be seeking to provide a competitive
market offer when it comes to financial incentives or should they trust that the
broader academic offer will be sufficient to recruit the numbers they desire? What's your view?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-62793158341482530882012-08-16T11:42:00.000+01:002012-08-16T11:43:54.310+01:00Rejecting the criticism of a 'calm down dear' attitude to Clearing<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The articles and blogs on Clearing have gone into overdrive,
as you’d expect at this time of year. However, I was more than a little rattled
to read one Guardian Professional article which rather patronisingly told
universities: “<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">It is vitally
important for university leaders to abandon the 'calm down dear' narrative on
admissions and show a proper sensitivity to the pain and stress that will be
experienced by many individuals who have missed AAB grades in the coming weeks.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think it’s fair
to say that within the sector, we are all very aware of the chaos that we were
facing due to the Government policies on AAB, the cap and higher fees. Most
universities have a ban on leave for the staff who will be front line in the
Clearing process – senior managers, admissions, academics and marketing staff.
And, rest assured, there will be numerous universities who will be only too
willing to take students who just miss out on AAB – many right on the doorstep
of the universities they were originally considering. The reality is that no
university is going to want to fall short on its student number targets – even Russell
Group universities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Having worked at
four universities, I have witnessed numerous examples of the stress and panic
that occurs in Clearing. Last year, BCU took 10,000 calls across the University
on Results Day and in the first two hours of Clearing, we’d already taken over 1,000
calls to the Clearing hotline. I’ve seen students so desperate they ask for any
course that will accept them with the points they have and parents who refuse
to get off the line because there is no course we can offer their child.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The universities
I have worked at go to great lengths to provide sensitive and often impartial
advice and guidance to ensure prospective students make the right choice for
them. Telling people to remain calm is a crucial part of the advice, yes, but
there’s far more to it than that. Just take a look at BCU’s six Clearing video
guides – </span><a href="http://www.bcu.ac.uk/student-info/clearing/what-is-clearing-"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.bcu.ac.uk/student-info/clearing/what-is-clearing</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
There’s no pressure to come to Birmingham City, it’s all about giving sensible,
practical advice to help students make the right decision that will affect them
for the rest of their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s a well-known
fact that students who come through Clearing to a university or course they
have never previously considered are far more likely to request a transfer to
another course, another university or, worse still, drop out. This is in nobody’s
best interests, least of all, the students themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Don’t be guided
to make your decision based on a knee-jerk reaction, the first place you are offered
or a cheap financial incentive. Stay true to your original intentions and think
carefully about the career you hope to have, the courses that could lead to it
and the type and location of the university you want to attend. Better still,
try and visit any university you are considering afresh – most will be holding
dedicated open days or will be prepared to give you a guided individual tour. And,
yes, don’t panic. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-80524451152404053082012-06-14T19:52:00.001+01:002012-06-14T19:52:40.350+01:00Is the printed prospectus dead?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The subject of countless opinion
pieces and conferences – rearing its head only yesterday at HEERA's Training
Day – the debate about the future of the printed prospectus has been raging for
well over a decade. And, given that over three-quarters of UK households now
have internet access and with technological advances offering far cheaper,
targeted and more sophisticated information solutions, I have for some time
been championing the cause to move away from this expensive and inefficient
medium (the printed content becomes out of date as soon as it hits the
presses). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Back in 1999, while working at
the University of Wolverhampton, I led the development – unique at that point –
of a University Preview Guide and individual course leaflets, printing a full
Course Handbook as a back-up for UCAS Fairs and school/college libraries.
Designed to dramatically reduce print and postage costs and provide more
tailored, in-depth course information, the Preview Guide and accompanying
course leaflets were very well received...so much so that eager prospective students
rang us back and asked us to send them the full prospectus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Thankfully, with a Course
Handbook already prepared and waiting in the wings, the only thing damaged was
my pride and the Department’s budgets, which took a slightly bigger hit than
we’d anticipated from the postage. The market was clearly not ready to give up
on the traditional prospectus; I was convinced we were simply ahead of our
time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I watched as the digital
revolution, which had gathered pace following the public launch of the world
wide web in 1992, opened up a major new channel of communication, full of
increasing opportunity for the Higher Education sector. In 2004, UCAS ditched
its paper-based systems for online applications for 2006 entry. In 2005, the
Internet population reached one billion (it would double by 2010). The same
year UCAS launched its web-based ‘Track’service for applicants to find out
whether following results their university place was confirmed or they were
eligible for Clearing. Within the first hour 60,000 applicants had used the
service and by midnight on August 18, 2005, there had been 271,821 logins. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In 2006, now working at the
University of Northampton, conscious of the spiralling costs of producing
75,000 prospectuses and mailing out 25,000 with postage costs then of over£50K,
I decided to investigate the possibility of producing a mini guide supported by
a CD-Rom/DVD alongside the website. The statistics seemed to back up my
long-held convictions. The 2006 Hobsons’ School Leaver Review confirmed what was
becoming clear, namely that university websites were gaining importance and
influence. Websites were jointly favoured with prospectuses by the 12,300
sample as the most frequently used information resource for school-leavers. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The number
of British adults aged 15 and over using the Internet at home had just broken
the 25 million barrier for the first time with the total number of people using
the Internet from any location reaching almost 28m or 59% of the adult
population. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">However, once bitten, twice shy. The
idea was soon put on hold when we tested it with our own prospective students –
two-thirds of which still wanted to receive a printed prospectus…and a CD-Rom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Roll forward another four years,
the world and I had moved on yet again. Universities had begun investing
heavily in their websites. In November 2010, the Telegraph highlighted eight
universities – </span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Hertfordshire, Cranfield, Robert Gordon, London Business School,
University of Wales, Imperial College London and Leeds – </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">who had each spent between £100K and 280K on
one-off redesigns. Birmingham City University had re-launched its own website
in 2010 at similar costs and visits to the home page rose 42% between 2009 and
2010. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In 2009, Birmingham City
University had launched an ‘Essential Guide’ of information about the
University supported by a series of subject prospectuses. This was based on
research with prospective students conducted in 2008 who had indicated a strong
desire for more subject-based information with lack of course information being
the main criticism of the traditional prospectus approach. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Though effective, the subject
prospectuses were very expensive – printing costs alone were almost double that
of the traditional approach, the postage and fulfilment costs were also
significantly higher. Feedback about the Essential Guide was very positive – it
was seen as“parent friendly”, “academic yet vibrant and confident”. Further
research with prospective students suggested that 45% believed it was ‘very
important’ to have access to a printed prospectus, but 48% said it wasn’t
essential, many viewing a traditional prospectus as “a waste of paper”. I felt
my time had come at last. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">So, in early 2011, BCU took the
bold decision to do away with prospectuses, making do with the Essential Guide
and diverting funds to invest more heavily in our website, social media and
electronic communications. A decision reaffirmed by the findings of the 2010/11
Higher Expectations Report, which confirmed that university websites had now
overtaken prospectuses to become the most popular source used by prospective
students to find out information (cited by 79% compared with 63% for
prospectus),<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The appointment of a dedicated
Social Media Officer and Web Marketing Manager resulted in a massive increase
in online engagement. Twitter followers doubled to over 2,000 (we now have
4,921), facebook membership grew from 1,723 to over 3,000 (we now have 7,383)
and visitors to the BCU website increased year on year from 1.8m in 2009 to
3.3m in 2011. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The popularity of the University
continued to grow – our applications peaked at 28,559 in 2011 (from 13,854 in
2008 and 14% higher than 2010). We maintained our full-time home undergraduate
student numbers, while growing postgraduate slightly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But as the year progressed we
noticed a marked decline in the number of requests for the Essential Guide –
down 17.5%. Conscious of the smaller pool of prospective undergraduate students
and the increasing competition facing us in September 2012, we decided to
investigate this further by surveying over 200 prospective and current
students.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Feedback about the Essential
Guide remained very positive – 81% of current students and 87% of prospective
students rated it as good/very good. So too was feedback about web content –
92% of prospective students and 91% of current students rated it as good/very
good. However, when asked directly about whether or not they supported the
strategy of having course information online views were mixed. While 62% of
prospective students were happy to view course information on the web, 38% were
not. In fact, a fifth of prospective students stated they had not gone on to
view course information on the web.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">For me, it was game over. My
paper-based nemesis had forced me to swallow my pride once again and reverse a
literature strategy I have spearheaded for the last 13 years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The traditional print prospectus
hit the UCAS Fairs in April – as well as enhanced e-communications. A revamped
courses website (complete with commerce-style 'save' course feature) will go
‘live’ next month. We launched our enquiry management CRM system in November
2011 and are now sending prospective students and applicants 18 monthly
subject-specific e-newsletters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Pickle Jar Communications once
questioned whether the on-going demand for the printed prospectus is down to
the fact they are considered “</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">the norm and therefore remain the core item in the student marketing
process”. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">This may well be true. I can only
hope that I will live to see the day when I no longer have to produce a printed
prospectus, but for the time being I think it would be a very brave – or stupid –
Director of Marketing to ignore the wishes (perceived or genuine) of almost
two-fifths of their potential paying customers. But do you agree?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-91775807323387729532011-11-16T14:35:00.000+00:002011-11-16T14:35:15.044+00:00On the right track?<span lang="EN">“The pressure is on institutions to raise their game” - these were the opening remarks at the fifth annual conference on Enhancing the Student Experience in London this week.<br />
<br />
Professor Michael Farthing, Chair of the 1994 Group and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex, opened the conference by noting that with the changes in the sector over the last 12 months and the tripling of fees, “students now have the highest ever expectations and we are all going to have to work much harder to make the case for investing in higher education.” <br />
<br />
As we approach the anniversary of the Government’s decision to support the rise in tuition fees, he pointed out that raising fees offered the only answer to the Government’s 80% cuts in university funding to enable universities to maintain let alone make improvements to the student experience, but reflected that the speed of the change was too much asking: “What else has tripled in price?”<br />
<br />
Professor Farthing warned universities to avoid falling into the trap of reducing HE to “a set of transactions”, which he felt “grossly underestimates the value of HE”. He said that students were more than consumers purchasing a degree certificate and that “the student experience draws on every aspect of life and work and is long lasting” with “students immersing themselves in an academic environment, joining new social networks and gaining insights that will stay with them throughout their lives.”<br />
<br />
I agreed with much of the sentiment of Professor Farthing’s address. What I took issue with were his comments that “research intensive universities offer the best teaching experience” where students are taught by the people who write the text books and have “access to a culture of innovation“. Given the institutions he represents, his perspective is to be expected, but I think that his own view underestimates the value of HE in the many other types of institution that are not research intensive. (And, yes, having spent a career working mostly in universities that are not research intensive, with a father who lectured in a former Polytechnic, my perspective is also to be expected).<br />
<br />
Don’t get me wrong, research does have a critical role: it is a fundamental part of academia and greatly benefits our society and economy. When that research can inform and enhance teaching, students undoubtedly benefit - they have an opportunity to shape, learn from and experience new ideas. But research is not the only means of generating a good (or indeed the best student experience) or a culture of innovation: it can be achieved through other aspects in the broader learning and teaching experience - student partnership, engagement with industry/the professions, development of employability skills and so on. To suggest otherwise is somewhat of an injustice.<br />
<br />
By far the majority of the conference chose to focus on student partnership as a means of improving the student experience. Liam Burns, President of the National Union of Students, said that there needed to be “a redistribution of power” and that engagement with students needed to be part of what drives the system. Student consultation does already exist in universities with student representation on most key committees, but I liked his idea of students taking an active role in agreeing the strategic direction and planning of universities with a voice in all key decisions and co-sign-off of strategic documents. <br />
<br />
I was delighted when Sean Mackney, </span><span lang="EN-GB">Deputy Chief Executive of the Higher Education Academy, pulled out BCU’s Student Partnership Scheme, which pairs up students with academics to improve the learning experience, as a best practice example of "continuous student engagement in an institution that's committed to continuous improvement in its learning and teaching". See <a href="http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/evidencenet/Creating_the_learning_community_through_student_academic_partners">http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/evidencenet/Creating_the_learning_community_through_student_academic_partners</a> He’s not alone in his views - the scheme won the 2010 Times Higher Education Outstanding Support for Students Award.</span><br />
<span lang="EN"> </span><br />
Sean too acknowledged the need for a change in the power relationships between students and staff with a “sharing of power” that sees “students take responsibility for learning and universities involving them as a member of the learning community”. Describing this scenario as adding challenge and vibrancy to the relationship, he explained: “Students learn better when they are actively engaged with the curriculum, co-curricular activity and the University itself”.<br />
<br />
Though we have world-leading and world-class research in Art and Design, Music, English, Social Work and Social Policy and Administration, Birmingham City University is not a research intensive university. However, we have an award-winning Student Academic Partnership scheme that is now being expanded as part of a Change Academy project. We recently employed our outgoing President of the Students’ Union to review student communications as part of enhancing the student experience. And the second objective of our new Corporate Plan is: “To be an exemplar for student engagement, working in partnership with students to create and deliver an excellent university experience and achieve high levels of student satisfaction and graduate employment.” <br />
<br />
The pressure is on and, like many universities, we’ve got a long way to go. But I think we’re on the right track when it comes to developing and delivering the best student experience.Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-64935624747408960552011-11-14T17:38:00.000+00:002011-11-14T17:59:19.184+00:00Don’t let fees put you off…<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can still afford to go to University. That was the resounding message from the panel of experts at Birmingham’s launch of National Student Finance Day today. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The local event, spearheaded and hosted by Birmingham City University, was attended by over 80 teachers, parents and pupils from seven of the region’s schools and colleges. Events are being held up and down the country as part of the first ever National Student Finance Day, which has been initiated by the Independent Taskforce on Student Finance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Former NUS Presidents Aaron Porter and Wes Streeting joined Birmingham City University Vice-Chancellor Professor David Tidmarsh, Aston University Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Helen Higson, University of Birmingham Guild President Mark Harrop and BCU’s Director of Student Services Pamela Bell-Ashe to share their views on the new system of student finance to be implemented in 2012. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Wes Streeting, Deputy Head of the Independent Taskforce on Student Finance, announced a raft of new information, including a mobile phone app ‘unifees2012‘, with helpful hints and plain-speaking guidance on student finances now available at </span></span><a href="http://www.unifees2012.com/"><u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN">www.unifees2012.com</span></span></span></span></u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;"></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The main advice given to the audience was to ’do your homework’ when you are considering university - to find out as much information as possible from the universities themselves, from the many user review websites and sources like moneysavingexpert.com. Aaron Porter was quick to stress that “visiting universities is the best way to get a sense of whether going to university is the right decision for you”.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A quick straw poll of the audience by David Tidmarsh, whose daughter is in the process of applying to university, revealed that there are a number of individuals who feel uncertain about the new finance arrangements and as such are having second thoughts about university. David summed up the panel’s feelings when he said it would be a terrible shame if people were put off going to university because of the cost, not only for the individuals themselves, but also because of the serious impact it will have on the country’s economy and skills capabilities.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Aaron felt that the natural ‘complexity’ of the funding arrangements was to blame for the confusion and misunderstanding. Research conducted recently by the Independent Taskforce found that 59% of people in England have little or no understanding of the new fee arrangements. One college said that many of its students were now giving real consideration as to whether or not to go to university because of the rising cost. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Mark Harrop viewed this tendency towards greater consideration as one of the positives of the changes to the system. He said that individuals are more likely to spend more time researching their options to find the course and the university that is right for them, which can only be a good thing. Helen Higson felt that another positive would be the focus by universities in delivering better teaching and learning and providing more financial incentives to help those from poorer socio-economic backgrounds.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Speaking about the practicalities of the new student finance arrangements, Wes noted that “students under the new regime will actually pay less in monthly repayments than students currently do now”. He relayed some of the key facts of the new system - that students don't have to pay anything up front, they will only start repaying when they are earning above £21,000 and will then only pay 9% of anything over £21,000. He pointed out that the debt is written off after 30 years and that the monthly repayments are the same regardless of whether the tuition fee is £6,000 or £9,000.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">One prospective student raised concerns about the size of debt that would be accrued. Wes acknowledged that if fees were higher and the debt was therefore larger, students would be paying it off over a longer period of time, but he re-iterated the fact that the debt is wiped out after 30 years. David added that this is where 'value for money' comes into the equasion; students should be looking at what they are getting for the different fees being charged.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Another concern from the audience related to portraying the value of Higher Education over a lifetime. One college tutor, who is a strong advocate of university education, shared his own experience of leaving school with two GCSEs and now being in his fifties with a son who, by comparison, has recently graduated and is now earning £30 per hour, which is more than he has ever earned. “I wish I’d known then what I know now” were his words of advice to the many prospective students in the room. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Answering the question of value, Aaron explained that the standard figures given are that graduates will on average earn around £100,000 more than their non-graduate counterparts over a career, but for some professions, such as doctors or lawyers, the sums are even greater. Wes added that while there has been much publicity about unemployment, it is important to remember that while there is 20% youth unemployment, the outlook for graduates is actually more positive with around 10% unemployment for those aged 21 and over. “There’s never been a better time to be in education or training,” he advised, though he did stress that this didn’t just mean a university education and that young people should consider other options, like college or apprenticeships.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There was concern raised about the fact that some universities are seeking to change their fees and how individuals would be able to find out which universities were doing this. Aaron said that he was working with the Office of Fair Access, which was currently considering how best to relay the information without providing an unfair advantage to those universities who will effectively be announcing their fees for a second time. Helen also pointed out that universities will not be able to disadvantage students when changing their fees.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">One prospective student raised the issue of studying abroad with many universities in Europe offering substantially lower fees. Pamela said that those considering studying abroad should do their research in the same way they would if they were looking at a British university - to make sure the course is taught in English, to investigate the teaching and learning quality and so on. David added that if prospective students are looking at European universities they should be asking how many students usually complete their studies and the time it takes to complete study as this is often longer in Europe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Understanding whether fee arrangements will change once a student begins studying was one parent’s primary concern. Pamela pointed out the fee regime under which student first enter higher education will remain throughout their studies. Other than inflationary rises, the cost will not increase substantially and the same financial regulations will apply throughout the duration of study.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And finally the point was made that universities are fairly good at targeting prospective students with information, but that it is parents and teachers who have a real influence over the end decision. One parent was worried that if parents or teachers don’t fully understand the implications of the new fee system, they could deter individuals from going to university because of the worry of debt. Helen said that in Birmingham four of the universities have teamed up to ensure that the work of Aimhigher continues which provides information and activities to schools and colleges. She added that most universities already work with schools and colleges and are increasingly providing tailored information for parents too. Parents were urged to visit the university websites; Birmingham City University offers a Parents’ Guide (see </span><br />
<a href="http://www.bcu.ac.uk/_media/docs/Parents-Guide-2011-spr.pdf"><u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN">http://www.bcu.ac.uk/_media/docs/Parents-Guide-2011-spr.pdf</span></span></span></span></u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;"></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: inherit;">)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
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</span></span>Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-52581084741306807462011-11-10T13:35:00.000+00:002011-11-10T13:35:03.048+00:00Universities: Collaboration not competition in the new fee regime?<span lang="EN">Next Monday (November 14) sees the Birmingham launch of National Student Finance Day with the city’s three main universities - Birmingham City, Aston and Birmingham - working together to promote two common causes - the value of higher education and the true facts of student finance (<a href="http://www.bcu.ac.uk/student-info/finance-and-money-matters/studentfinanceday">http://www.bcu.ac.uk/student-info/finance-and-money-matters/studentfinanceday</a>)<br />
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The day kicks off with a keynote address from Wes Streeting, Deputy Head of the Independent Taskforce on Student Finance, followed by a panel discussion with Wes, who is also Chief Executive of the Helena Kennedy Foundation, representatives from all three universities and Aaron Porter, former President of the National Union of Students. The launch culminates with online advice sessions hosted at each of the universities.<br />
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There is a strong track record of collaboration between Aston, Birmingham and Birmingham City, which started five years ago with a joint web initiative in partnership with Marketing Birmingham - Birmingham Live and Learn - to raise awareness of Birmingham as a student city. Content has since been amalgamated into the Visit Birmingham website.<br />
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University College Birmingham and Newman University College also joined the existing partnership, which went on to produce a Lonely Planet Guide and subsequent iphone app, short listed in the 2011 THE Leadership and Management Awards for Outstanding Marketing/Communications Team.<br />
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Most recently, four of the universities (Aston, Birmingham, Birmingham City and UCB) took a national lead in safeguarding access to university education, launching in October the Birmingham and Solihull Aimhigher regional partnership. Set up with support from over 50 schools, academies and colleges following the loss of Government funding for the national Aimhigher initiative, the partnership will continue to give young people from disadvantaged backgrounds access to a range of exciting activities to motivate them to realise their potential. Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Simon Hughes, congratulating the partners at the launch, described it as having ’energy and imagination’. <br />
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As someone who has played a lead role in initiating the collaboration, in terms of the Lonely Planet Guide and Student Finance Day, I have been delighted with the results of our partnership to date and can see a continuing relationship - when we can pool resources on projects that benefit us all equally.<br />
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For me, there are a number of key reasons why this collaboration, possibly unique in the sector, has been possible. <br />
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Differentiation: The universities in Birmingham are all very confident of their individual positions in the marketplace and currently there is very little competitive overlap - particularly among the main three. We all recognise that prospective students need to attend the university that is right for them; it’s not in any of our interests to have students make a bad choice which leads to dissatisfaction, transfer or drop out. As undergraduate markets contract, as seems likely, only time will tell whether this differentiation remains so significant as to allow us to put differences aside to come together, but I am confident the track record will help facilitate that come what may.<br />
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Effectiveness and efficiency: Without a shadow of a doubt, projects like the dedicated student website and Lonely Planet Guide would not have been possible for one university to pursue alone - the costs would have been prohibitive. It made both common and business sense to pool our dwindling marketing budgets to achieve something greater together than we could ever do independently. We are currently working together to commission our own pocket guide to Birmingham - paying for the Lonely Planet brand was becoming too expensive.<br />
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Common ground: The strength of the partnership has been the underlying simplicity of the aims of the various initiatives. We have run with broad top level issues - promoting the city, encouraging access, raising awareness of student finances. These aspects are fundamental to the work we do in Higher Education - regardless of the particular market we target or the courses we offer. As long as we continue to identify and focus on common goals, there should always be the possibility of further partnership activity.<br />
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Mediation: The projects that have involved financial contributions have been greatly assisted by the involvement of an independent broker. In the case of the promotional projects, this at times difficult role fell to Marketing Birmingham. With any partnership there are always going to be a few problems along the way. As contributions varied according to the size of institution, there have been issues that related to the universities getting what they considered to be a ‘fair deal‘ for their money in comparison to others. Marketing Birmingham was able to provide objective advice and solutions - sometimes just reminding us politely of the end goal.<br />
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And finally. People who work in marketing tend to be a particular personality type. For the majority, we are natural optimists. We love what we do and feel passionately about the causes we market, which for Higher Education ultimately is about helping people achieve. When you feel so strongly about something that can have such a positive and long-lasting impact, you can usually see the bigger picture and leave the squabbling and rivalry at the door. Long may that continue.</span>Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-59136313470211985102011-11-04T17:09:00.000+00:002011-11-04T17:09:02.753+00:00An unexpected resurrection on Halloween<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was probably rather fitting that the much anticipated UCAS Admissions Review consultation paper was officially published on All Hallow’s Eve. On a day which traditionally honours the dead, the main thrust of the recommendations appear to simply resurrect the concept of post-qualification application - though UCAS refers to ‘post-results application’.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Post-qualification application is by no means a new concept. It was a key recommendation of the 1997 Dearing Report, which noted that admission to an institution based on actual achievement rather than predicted results “would assist students since they know more about their abilities (and possibly their interests) having received their examination results and having studied for longer.” Mentioned again as part of an enquiry into A-Level grading back in 2002 by educationalist Sir Michael Tomlinson, it went on to rear its head in Professor Steven Schwartz’ Fair Admission to Higher Education report two years later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have to admit to being rather surprised at this latest review (though I may have been alone in this) having attended a presentation with my marketing director peers back in June when the clear being message given by UCAS was that post qualification application was favoured by neither universities or applicants. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Just four months ago, we were told that universities were concerned “that a PQA system with compressed timescales would inevitably lead to a more mechanistic approach with greater emphasis being placed on qualifications held rather than future potential - undermining efforts around the use of contextual information and mitigating against applicants who have just fallen short of their grades.” Universities had indicated shorter timescales would “also create difficulties for admissions to the most selective courses where most, if not all, applicants will have excellent exam results” and had “concerns that within a PQA system, applicants who meet the minimum entry requirements for a course might expect to be admitted.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">UCAS informed us that schools and applicants were sceptical that there would be enough time for the whole admissions process to take place between exam results and the start of the HEI term, saying “students would need to make their application as well as arrange university accommodation during this short window. Some may also need to attend university interviews and/or take additional tests.“ In its research, UCAS found only 10% of respondents thought there was too much time between applying to university and actually going, while only 2% think there is too much time for researching choices. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Most ironic of all, UCAS advised then that “the application period could be extended, but neither earlier exam results (and therefore earlier exams) nor later academic term start dates appeal to schools and applicants.” A little odd then, that this is pretty much what they have gone on to recommend. From my perspective, nothing much has changed - other than the increasing pressure being placed on universities because of reduced funding, downward application trends in both home and international markets and a future of staggered fee payments.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In fairness to UCAS, it has embarked on an impossible task. I think we all agree that the current system of application has its problems. It is based on predicted grades which are more likely to be incorrect. A study of the 2009 UCAS admissions process for BIS found only 52% of predicted grades were accurate and when looking at groups of results for individual applicants, fewer that 10% of applicants have three accurate predictions. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We all accept that there are plenty of inefficiencies within the current system: insurance offers don’t really work, processing applications for five choices is an extremely cumbersome and labour intensive process for both UCAS and universities, and Clearing is stressful and confusing. That said, despite all of its problems, for the majority of applicants, it does work; there are plenty of comments from students in response to news stories who say exactly that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">For me, while post-results/qualification application would resolve the issue of grading accuracy, it creates plenty of others. Putting the impact and cost of changing exam and term dates aside, I simply cannot see how universities could develop a workable solution which compresses the bulk of applications (with accompanying interviews, portfolio submissions and auditions) into a three-month period between the end of June and beginning of October. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Post-qualification application is an important issue and one that deserves full consideration. Whatever the outcome of the UCAS review, it is clear that PQA - described by education ministers as “difficult and contentious” back in 2005 - remains so six years on.</span> </span>Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-16782002880264079062011-08-26T10:42:00.000+01:002011-08-26T10:50:29.230+01:00Spare a thought for university administrators this Clearing<span style="font-family: Arial;">For years there has been widespread publicity about the number of disappointed prospective students in Clearing. This week saw predictions of 100,000 missing out on a place this September because they either didn’t get the grades needed or secure a place in the world of capped student numbers we now live in. But spare a thought for the university administrators...</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Clearing is a stressful time for prospective students and quite rightly the focus is on the panic and anxiety they face. However, Clearing is becoming equally as stressful for those managing the recruitment process. Hitting the strict target on full-time undergraduate numbers is as much a lottery as the Clearing process itself. Universities face severe penalties if they overshoot targets – a £3K plus fine for every student over-recruited and the possibility that targets will be reduced in future years. </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It’s not as simple as just recruiting the number of students you need and then pulling out of the process. There are a myriad of variables and uncertainties throughout the recruitment process which make predicting the numbers who will go on to enrol as scientific as staring into a crystal ball.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Not every student who accepts an unconditional offer will turn up. Of those given a conditional offer – some will not meet the grade requirements and others, again, will choose to go elsewhere, particularly if they get higher grades than anticipated. Insurance offers are completely unpredictable – in the past most insurance offers almost never came to their second choice institution, but with higher fees looming from 2012 it’s reasonable to assume that this behaviour will change as people try to enter Higher Education under the current fee regime. </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Conditional university offers are dependent on results, most typically A-Level results which is why the Clearing process is perceived to begin on A-Level results day. In fact, Clearing begins much earlier and lasts much longer as many students are waiting on International, Access, BTEC and National Diploma results which are released at varying times. GCSE results came out yesterday and there will be students who have had to retake English or Maths to gain the minimum ‘C’ grade needed for some courses. Universities will have no idea how many of their conditional offers will be taken up until all of these results are confirmed and the universities have been notified by the students themselves (or UCAS if they are A-Level results). </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Many universities have raised their entry requirements to try to increase the ‘quality’ of students they recruit, not least because this impacts on the wider student experience for all students, but also because it leads to greater retention and progression, which in turn impacts income and league table performance. </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Students apply to a particular university based on the entry requirements published, but when it comes to A-Level results, universities are guided by the ‘predictions’ from schools or colleges. Unfortunately, these are not always very accurate. At Birmingham City University, this year, we experienced greater inaccuracy in predictions than previous years, which is distressing for the students, but also means that we found ourselves with places to recruit in Clearing that would otherwise have been filled much earlier in the recruitment process as our applications have risen year on year over the last three years.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Academic Planning and Admissions departments have developed sophisticated conversion models at course level to try to predict the number of students who will progress in each of the scenarios above, but over the last two years we’ve seen very different behaviour in student conversion with conversion generally rising in each scenario. Nothing is certain and managing numbers has to be done on a daily basis at course level, which is why prospective students will see courses being moved ‘in and out’ of Clearing. It’s also why we are encouraging people to check the list of courses on our Clearing pages at </span><a href="http://www.bcu.ac.uk/clearing"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">www.bcu.ac.uk/clearing</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> on a daily basis.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">All in all, Clearing has become a lottery for everyone involved and the Government cap on numbers, as far as I can see, isn’t helping anyone. </span></div>Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-8284060888791344322011-07-08T12:54:00.000+01:002011-07-08T12:54:36.737+01:00Media madness – but who’s to blame?<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Nobody could fail to be anything but horrified at the latest claims that the phones of Milly Dowler, Holly Wells, Jessica Chapman and a number of servicemen were hacked by private investigators working for the media. It’s quite rightly been dubbed as “one of the biggest scandals in public life for decades” and everyone is – naturally – quick to criticise the media concerned, which has ultimately led to the closure of the paper this Sunday.</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; tab-stops: 118.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">But as we happily pointed the finger, I do think we need to take a closer look at our own consumption of media and whether we share any part in the blame.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Having started out my career working as a journalist, I do feel some sympathy with the media – not that I in any way condone the recent events. The traditional print media faces a very challenging climate where news and information is much more freely available. To continue to make a profit journalists are being driven to find every angle in a story – ideally different to that of their competitors – because it’s what sells papers. The News of the World appears to have been the extreme point of a continuum in which most other media also sit when it comes to the means justifying the end. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">When you consider it, the practice of interfering to find intimate news is one that is well established – though admittedly ‘doorstepping’ is legal. This accepted practice is driven purely by the public’s desire to want to know more when something horrific, tragic or criminal occurs. Some people will quite happily open up their lives for publicity and some journalists enjoy the thrill of persuading individuals to do this. It was never for me. One of the reasons I chose to take my career in a different direction was because of the increasing desire to probe into the most tragic moments of everyday life. I particularly recall the accidental death of a young boy by strangulation, which occurred one Sunday. As the only reporter on duty, it was up to me to find the name of the victim – as the police don’t reveal these details – by whatever means possible. In the end I discovered the identity from a group of schoolchildren who had known the youngster and my next step was to approach the parents. I actually never did. On arriving at the house and seeing a group of people clearly extremely distressed and agitated, the photographer and I took the decision to leave them to their grief. I did get the story – or ‘tribute’ – from a neighbour, but I felt extremely uncomfortable and I don’t regret my decision (though my old Editor would not be best pleased).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As a journalist I felt that I should not approach others unless I would be prepared to provide an interview in a similar situation. As a parent, I’m just not convinced that giving an interview after the death of one of my children (God forbid) – even if it was intended to be a tribute piece – would be my top priority. Yet, if I’m honest, I remain as curious as the next when tragedy and misfortune touches someone else’s life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The hard truth is that ‘we’, the public, demand the ins and outs of these stories and we’ll happily read the headlines that no doubt arose from some of this phone hacking. Just look at how many gossip magazines have been created in the last decade. We want to know every aspect of a celebrity’s, politician’s, criminal’s or victim’s life and it doesn’t really bother us (at the time) who the ‘close source’ who reveals the information is. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The wakeup call for me into how low human behaviour can sink when it comes to curiosity (or sheer nosiness) is the shocking trial of Florida’s Casey Anthony, who was cleared this week of murdering her two-year-old daughter Caylee. The trial became a media circus which was fuelled by the press and led to tourists queuing from 5am to get seats in the gallery. I may be being cynical, but I somehow doubt their motivation was a genuine concern for the tragic death of a beautiful little girl.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The News of the World may now be doomed, but I don’t think that entirely solves the problem (and worse still, this decision penalises dozens of innocent individuals who had nothing to do with the behaviour being criticised). The demand for that type of news clearly still exists and we’ll seek it out. The root cause of the problem is being pushed underground and potentially we are just transferring the pressure (or the temptation) to meet this demand to another media source. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span>Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-18932552943377491282011-07-06T12:00:00.000+01:002011-07-06T17:33:32.317+01:00A personal perspective on the White Paper<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Having spent an afternoon trawling through the Government White Paper, it left me perplexed. I'm struggling to see how universities, like mine, despite our rising popularity will benefit, but I'm trying to remain open-minded. This is my personal perspective and my comments on the points that particularly stood out to me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The report is launched with a foreword that begins: "Our university sector has a proud history and a world-class reputation, attracting students from across the world". That’s true and it’s nice to see the Government acknowledge this, but we won't for much longer with the restrictions the UK Border Agency is putting in place. The message overseas is not a positive one and other countries are being quick to capitalize on the opportunities to divert international students their way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The second sentence I found particularly amusing as it stated that "Higher Education is a successful public-private partnership: Government funding and institutional autonomy". Unless I'm missing something, the Government funding seems to be reducing and, the last time I checked, autonomy means ‘self-government’, which is hardly the case when our full-time undergraduate numbers are strictly monitored and there is a Government-imposed limit on what we can charge for our services. The partnership, I’d suggest, is an increasingly uneasy one. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The foreword goes on to tell universities that we will be under competitive pressure "to provide better quality and lower cost". How exactly – with a magic wand? Where else does low cost mean better quality? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The Paper itself starts with an admission that “Higher Education has a fundamental value in itself” (I wholeheartedly agree) and that “the challenge [universities] face is putting the undergraduate experience at the heart of the system”. Again, true, but excuse me, I would suggest that most universities have been focusing on putting the student experience at the heart of what we do for some time now because if we don’t, we won’t have any students. I’m also not convinced that restricting student numbers, cutting funding and limiting university income potential are the really best ways to do this. </span><br />
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<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It points out that “the current system of controls limits student choice because institutions are prevented from expanding in response to demand from applicants”. This has been one of my biggest frustrations: UCAS applications to Birmingham City University rose 63% in a period where our numbers were capped. The Paper talks about creating “a more dynamic sector in which popular institutions can grow”, which sounds fantastic until you take a look at the criteria for releasing places. The Government is going to allow unconstrained recruitment of roughly 65,000 high-achieving students scoring the equivalent of AAB or above – okay, so that keeps the Russell Group happy. It’s also going to create a flexible margin of about 20,000 places to reward universities and colleges “who combine good quality with value for money and whose average tuition charge (after fee waivers) is at or below £7,500 per year.” But what exactly constitutes good quality and value for money and how much influence will the price have on the decision to award extra places? What if, as a result, your university doesn’t meet the eventual criteria but remains one of the most popular? It doesn’t sound like the “level playing field” the Government is keen to foster. </span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Where I think the Government has it right in terms of creating real market forces is the focus on transparency when it comes to our performance. I do support the plans to “radically improve and expand the information available to prospective students”. Universities should be proud of what they have to offer and unafraid of the indicators that benchmark them. And, in a university where we are leading the way in student engagement (on the back of our THE ‘Outstanding support for Students’ win last year), it’s not surprising that I support the move towards greater student feedback and consultation. Our services should be market-driven. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I do fundamentally agree – though I might not like the personal implications for my family – of having a system where the beneficiaries make a larger contribution to their costs on a “pay as you earn” basis. What I’m less comfortable with are plans to charge a levy on those who want to pay off their loans early. Consultation on the Early Repayment is taking place now and, following all the negative publicity about the fee rises, it’s particularly important we get this right. To make sure your voice is heard, visit </span><a href="http://www.bis.gov/HEreform"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">www.bis.gov/HEreform</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">On the whole, for me, the White Paper raises more questions than it answers and is somewhat self-contradictory. I do sympathize with the “enormous deficit” and resulting “spending pressures” the Government has inherited, but I am particularly anxious about plans to reduce the core allocation of student numbers at universities every year, particularly if the focus on additional numbers remains cost-driven and on an assumption that better quality equates to lower cost.</span>Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-70456538939659637022011-07-06T11:58:00.001+01:002011-07-06T12:51:09.404+01:00Against all odds - marketing British universities in 2011<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Barely a day goes by these days without another headline screaming from the nationals about the extortionate future cost of a degree. What with the ongoing saga of the UK Border Agency and the new warnings of the risk of extremism on campus, I’m beginning to wonder ‘What next?’</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I’ve been marketing universities for over 15 years – Nottingham, Wolverhampton, Northampton and now Birmingham City – and never before has it been as challenging to convey the genuine advantages of a university education as it is now. The only positive from my perspective is that Marketing is certainly in the spotlight!</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The damaging publicity about the rising cost of a degree for UK full-time students is so frustrating; particularly for someone who is marketing a variable fee that we believe is fair given the circumstances and in terms of what this University can offer prospective students.</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The message that you don’t have to pay for a degree up front is clearly not getting through. It is such a shame.</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In fairness, the Government is trying. Its ‘Make Your Future Happen’ campaign has lots of information to counteract some of the myths about the cost post-2012 and repayment. Unfortunately, the Government has to be seen to be fair to all of the options post-18, so it isn’t conveying the benefits of university alongside this campaign – and while I accept that’s clearly the job of universities – it is a bit of a problem when all people see is the cost. There are three paragraphs on the benefits of Higher Education elsewhere within the directgov site, but that’s it.</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There is so much evidence to demonstrate the value of a university education and even with higher tuition fees, the cost over a lifetime career is fractional. The student loan repayment amounts are negligible – just check out directgov’s repayment calculator at </span><a href="http://yourfuture.direct.gov.uk/calculate"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">http://yourfuture.direct.gov.uk/calculate</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> and pick a career. A Sales Executive on a salary of £25K will have a weekly take home of £379 and pay back just £8 a week on their student loan! </span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Concerns about UK undergraduate students aside, what is particularly worrying is the fact that there’s evidence to suggest (from colleagues elsewhere in the sector) that the popular phrase being bandied about by the media that the ‘cost has tripled’ – which incidentally isn’t the case for all courses and all universities – is now causing confusion in the postgraduate and international markets too.</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It would appear that some postgraduate students are now anxious that their courses are going to triple in price – certainly not the case at Birmingham City University or the majority of other universities I am in contact with. The fact is that most postgraduate courses will probably stay at a similar price because we know that people otherwise won’t be able to afford them. </span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">International students are worried that their fees – which have always been higher to reflect the fact there was no Government funding to begin with – are due to rise phenomenally too. Again, not true.</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And let’s be honest, part-time students are completely confused. They have no idea what they’ll pay, what support they’ll be entitled to and how and when they have to pay it back.</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In university marketing departments up and down the UK, we’ll keep battling on, pushing out the graduate case studies, highlighting our links with employers and what we are doing to enhance our students' employability. But at this rate it’ll be a minor miracle if anyone turns up to university in 2012 and I come back to my initial question. What next?</span></div>Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7599067631651033847.post-83084296286697782702011-07-06T11:56:00.000+01:002011-07-06T12:51:32.206+01:00Should universities advertise?<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As Birmingham City University launches its ‘</span><a href="http://www.bcu.ac.uk/upgrade"><span style="color: #13367a; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Upgrade your future</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">’ campaign to demonstrate how we deliver a student experience that gives students the skills employer want and combat the negative publicity around rising costs of HE, it will only be a matter of time before we receive the inevitable question – how much did it cost?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Whenever a University dares to re-brand, develop its website or launch a marketing campaign, the spotlight is immediately and often publicly drawn to the thousands of pounds being spent on these endeavours. The general criticism is that universities are spending “tax payers’ money” – but is this accurate any more and is it justified?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Public funding to universities has been decreasing at phenomenal rates over the last decade and increasingly universities are having to source income from elsewhere – not only additional tuition fees from students themselves, but also third stream income and, in many cases, voluntary giving. Over the last three years, funding to the University through the Funding Councils has fallen by nearly 25 per cent and now represents less than a third of the University’s total income.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">What about our motivations for advertising? Are we wasting money that should be diverted instead to enhance the teaching experience – implied in the criticisms we receive – or is this a fundamental part of any business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It’s not an exaggeration to say that every business, organisation and charity promotes itself in some way. From the adverts in Yellow Pages and local newspapers placed by smaller businesses to multi-million pound global advertising of companies like Nike and Microsoft and the direct mail and television campaigns of charities like the NSPCC and Marie Curie, advertising is a means to an end. People don’t come knocking on your door (or </span><a href="http://www.bcu.ac.uk/"><span style="color: #442266; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">website</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> as is increasingly the call to action) unless you first tell them who you are, what you do and give them a reason to want to find out more. Universities are no different.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There are now hundreds of universities and colleges in the UK and if we genuinely want students and businesses to find the university that’s right for them and their individual needs, we have to give them the information they need to make that decision and first point them in the right direction. Advertising remains the quickest way to do this, though we are all looking at the new channels provided by social media and remain reliant on some of the traditional channels of media coverage, school liaison and word-of-mouth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s 2010 Marketing Trends Survey found the average marketing spend as a percentage of turnover (excluding marketing salaries) for all UK organisations to be 7.29%. For public sector/charity it is 6.55%, compared with 7.79% for the financial services sector. Having worked at four universities, I can tell you that my budgets have never been anywhere near these levels – I generally benchmark at about 2%.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The reason I’ll make do with my 2% is that I believe investment in the teaching, research and business experience should quite rightfully be the priority for universities, but in order to ensure that the right people access these services, there has to be marketing spend as well. Why not let individual universities decide the balance of that spend and respect the professional decisions being made? In what can only be described as a very difficult financial climate, no university is going to be taking financial decisions lightly. So, please give us a break. Why not focus on the messages of our advertising – and the value in what we deliver as educational establishments – rather than the cost?</span>Kathryn Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04616050387617186559noreply@blogger.com0