Destination anywhere - EAIE 2016

Slide 1

Destination anywhere 2016 update: how students decide where to studyWelcome to session

Hall 2D, Level 1, 16 September, 09:00-10:00

September 15, 2016Slide 2Your presenters

Marie Clark@kiwimariec@hobsonsemea

Joran van Aart@joranvanaart@studyportals

HobsonsWe provide market insight, student recruitment and student success technology and solutions. We work with more than 15,000 schools, colleges and universities globally to enable them to achieve their student recruitment and retention ambitions. Running the International Student Survey for four years.

September 15, 20162

How do students decide where to study?Test your knowledge against other EAIE participants!

Question OneStudents can choose between many English-taught bachelors and masters programmes in the world. But how many?A20,000 at mostBAbout 50,000C100,000 at least

2400 universities together offer49,900 Masters (or equivalent)53,000 Bachelors (or equivalent)

September 16, 2016Slide 5100,000+ English-taught programmes!Source: StudyPortals

Question TwoWhen thinking about studying abroad students are thinking about things like the country, particular institutions and the subject. Which one of these is generally most important to them?ACountryBSubjectCInstitution

7Consistently

Source: Hobsons

This was a key question for us.

When they are thinking about studying abroad in what order do they think about first?

Is it the country they want to go to?

Is it the university that they want to go to?

Or is it the subject they want to study?

Now it wont surprise you that when they sit down at their computer they are thinking subject.40% say subject is their first consideration.

Its what comes next that is interesting. For most students the next thing that they think about is the country not the institution.

The bit of advice that we are giving clients based on this is that when you are marketing to students, even at enquiry stage make sure we are giving subject specific information up front. How that subject will benefit them.

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September 15, 2016Slide 8Search filters used by studentsSource: StudyPortals

Question ThreeIf a student is interested in studying here in the UK which are the three other countries they are most likely to want to study in?ACanada, Australia, USBUS, Canada, GermanyCNZ, USA, Ireland

Which overseas countries are/were you considering attending university in? N: 6,392What we knewwhere else are they looking?

Source: Hobsons

This is not a were all doomed situation nor is it about pointing fingersmuch. But the simple fact is that whilst we can be said to be just about moving forwards with regards to the numbers around international student recruitment, as the latest global stats show, it is at a much slower rate than our international competitors. Year on year Hobsons track international student interest through asking what other countries students interested in coming to the UK were also considering studying in. The top 3 competitors remain relatively stable US, Australia and Canada but there has been a significant increase in the number of students considering Germany as a viable alternative to the UK since we started this survey 3 years ago. Germanys international recruitment stats will ultimately show us how well they succeed with their current strategy what the above shows is that from a position of relative insignificance from a competitive point of view for the UK Germany has managed to position itself as a genuine competitor and needs to be monitored along our more traditional competitor countries for policy developments.

Why this has happened is of course the real question. And one which this forum is far from an ideal vehicle to discuss. But handily some people far more important than I have been discussing and debating this for a while and last week released their report the APPC report I mentioned earlier.

Higher education is one of our country's leading export success stories, increasing our soft power and helping the UK shape the world of the future. But the government's current approach to post-study work and student migration policy is jeopardising Britains position in the global race for talent. We are already losing out to countries with a more sensible approach such as Australia, Canada and the United States. Such a short-sighted stance is damaging to our economy and hinders the delivery of the Governments long term economic plan. We need to adjust our policy and improve our ability to attract students from around the world Richard Bacon Conservative.

UKCISA manifesto for international students launched last week: The UK has a really good track record for welcoming and supporting international students but we believe that having been through some very rough water, and our reputation taken something of a knock, we are now at a tipping point when we could rebuild our reputation or fall further behind, CEO of UKCISA, Dominic Scott. 2 key points: 5: part time work entitlements for international students need to be standardised and 6: all students at graduate or postgraduate level should be entitled to a limited period of post study work in the UK (and/or longer on their current visas to find tier 2 jobs).

Sensible stuff. The trouble is all of the above named countries, bar none, are making positive moves to not only increase the numbers of international students coming to study with them but more importantly, crucially in fact as Bacon notes - to cement the long term relationships that international study generates. This is potentially a long term issue with some very obvious short term fixes. Separately Europes doing some fun / annoying things: The report, English-Taught Programmes in European Higher Education, found that 61% of higher education institutions in the Nordic region are offering Bachelors or Masters programmes taught entirely in English. This is compared to 32% offering the same in 2007. Andthe proportion of study programmes that are provided entirely in English is at 20% in the Nordic region.

Canada changing their immigration policy not certainly for the better.

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September 16, 2016Slide 11Where else to they go?Final destination of UK prospectsPrimary reason for not studying in the UK at 36% was the lack of a PSW visa in the UK.Source: Hobsons

Question FourWhat do students say are the three most important things when they are thinking about the country they want to study in?AGetting a visa, job prospects post study, safetyBGetting permanent residency, countrys welcome, distance from home country CQuality, international recognition of qualifications, countrys attitude

13When thinking about study abroad

Source: Hobsons

So when it comes to the countryof course the quality of the education is paramount.

Quality of education compared to home country and international recognition of qualifications are up there on top.

What is interesting really the third and fourth factors. These are the ones that I want to highlight.The countrys attitude and safety, or at least perceptions of safety, come out very highly.

UK universities arent helped here with the rhetoric at a government level

In the absence of something centralised, anything that you can include in your marketing messages to reassure students about the welcome that they will receive or the safety of the country will be invaluable.

The same applies elsewhere too. In Australia when they had poor publicity around Indian students their numbers dropped dramatically.

On behalf of the universities we work with we are prepared to respond with emails or calls to their prospective students if there is an incident at a national level. A good example are the riots three summers ago across all our university partners not just those based in London started getting phone calls and emails from worried students. We were proactive in reassuring prospective students that these were isolated incidents and not race related.13

Question FiveHow often do students use a mobile phone to explore their international study options?A17% of the timeB41%C59%

September 16, 2016Slide 1541% of visits are via mobile (and growing)On StudyPortals websites, August 2016

A university website is still the preferred place to find most information

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Half are willing to spend more than 15 minutes looking for information

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What information are they looking for?#1 Course information

#2 Entry requirements

#3 How to apply

#4 Scholarship info.

#5 Accommodation information

#6 Career outcomes

#7 Contact details

#8 How to enquire

#9 Institution rankings

#10 Subject rankings

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What functionality are they looking for?

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Almost 9 in 10 are interested in Live Chat

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Parents and friends are the biggest influencers

Parents have a significant impact on the decision to study abroad

Careers advisors more influential for PG prospects than UG

Agents have a generally low level of influence on the decision to study abroad (the student is already thinking about study abroad when they approach the agent).

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Question SixWhat percentage of students say they use Whatsapp daily?A15%B62%C72%

The future of student communications?

Source: Hobsons

Social media and student decision making

September 15, 201624

Top social messaging platforms by market

Source: Hobsons

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Question SevenWhat percentage of students say that the Brexit vote has made them less likely to study in the UK?A69.5%B5.6%C13.4%

In the news

This data is drawn from a survey conducted by Hobsons Solutions on the 14th and 15th of July 2016. Surveys were distributed to 23,805 prospective international students from both inside and outside the EU. All of those invited to complete the survey had enquired to one of a range of UK Universities within the last 1218 months. Of these potential respondents, 1,014 answered the survey, a response rate of 4.2 per cent within a 24 hour period. 87% of respondents were from non-EU countrie27

September 16, 2016Slide 2870% students say they are less likely to study in the UK

Source: Hobsons

The UKs decision to leave the EU has created widespread uncertainty in the Higher Education sector on issues ranging from the future of research funding to tuition fees. One area that might be most profoundly affected by Brexit is international student recruitment. Drawing on new survey data, this short analysis provides an international student perspective on what this impact might be.Key findings include: 43 per cent of prospective international students feel that Brexit has affected their decision to study in the UK. Of these students, 83 per cent say it has made them less likely to study in the UK. However, 61 per cent suggested that the weaker Pound made UK Higher Education more attractive. September 16, 201628

Ive heard theres been a spike in racism and xenophobia within the UK and I dont want to support that in any form.

People have become so racist and with all the ongoing circumstances, Id not feel safe there.


September 16, 2016Slide 3059% believe the UK will be less welcomingSource: Hobsons

Anglophone countries were amongst the greatest potential beneficiaries of BrexitSource: Hobsons

6% mentioned scholarships

14% mentioned post-study work visas

13% mentioned lower tuition feesSeptember 15, 2016Slide 32What can the UK do?

Respondents were asked the question what could UK universities do that would make studying in the UK a more attractive prospect for you? The response took a free-text format, and there were 603 responses. Of these: 16 per cent mentioned scholarships (comments containing scholarship) 14 per cent mentioned post-study work visas (comments containing visa, post-study work or PSW) 13 per cent mentioned lower tuition fees (comments containing tuition, fees or cost) September 15, 201632

September 15, 2016Slide 33Students interested in UKBrexit ReferendumOn StudyPortals websites, August 2016

September 15, 2016Slide 34Impact of the Turkish coup attemptCoup attempt

Question EightWhen it comes to choosing between institutions, students consider a range of factors, which do you think are the three most important?AFacilities, scholarships, responsivenessBAcademic reputation, subject, facilitiesCTuition fees, entry requirements, links with employers

September 16, 2016Slide 36What makes you better?

Source: Hobsons

Once they have applied to you, you have hopefully by in large answered any questions about if you are good enough.

Now it becomes about being better than others.

Responsiveness slips right down the list and things like facilities shoot up.

Know who your competition is and channel why you are better.


How do prospective students define teaching quality?


38How much competition?Source: Hobsons

Why is it important to be better because we know that the vast majority of students plan to apply to four or more universities.

Howeverjust going back to enquiry stage if they plan to apply to 4 just think how many they are enquiring to.

Which makes what I said about responsiveness earlier so important. Stand out from that huge crowd.

How can you make sure you go from a pool of say 10 to 20 to 4 to five to the chosen one?38

September 15, 2016Slide 39Which league tables?

Question NineWhat percentage of students say that they expect a university to reply to their enquiry within one day?AOne-thirdBHalfCTwo-thirds

September 16, 2016Slide 4153% expect a response within 24 hours

Source: Hobsons

Previous ISS results have consistently shown that prospective students value responsiveness. In 2014 we found cases where students, faced with a choice between two universities, chose the one that responded to them most rapidly. Whats more, our research has found that this is not because students are impatient. It is because, from their perspective, the rapidity of a response acts as a proxy for the quality of a university.If responsiveness is important to students, then it is vital to understand what might typically be regarded as responsive. We have found that more than half of students 52 per cent desire a response within 24 hours after they make an enquiry, and only 15 per cent would be satisfied with a response taking longer than three days. Simply put, universities that fail to meet these response time expectations risk missing out on potential students.


Question TenHow many of the Top 500 universities in the world do not answer student enquiries within four days?A10%B20%C30%

September 16, 2016Slide 438% takes 5+ days, 21% never repliesSource: Through Student Eyes (2014), StudyPortals and British Council IELTS

How do prospective students define teaching quality?Response = quality


63% say speed of response affects their perception of teaching quality

What factors indicate that a university has good teaching quality?

Teaching quality is one of our five pillars, so worth understanding what this means to students

85% say having highly qualified academics influences their perception

75% say high graduate employment rates indicate good teaching quality

63% say fast response to an enquiry used as proxy45

Email and phone are the preferred means of communication

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Indian and Nigerian students are most likely to want a phone call

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Reflections by Marie Clark


Using big data to match the right student with the right institution.

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Many universities are too dependent on key markets this creates risk.

The best way to reduce risk is to diversify.

Student profiling is a way to diversify in a smart, targeted and efficient way.Why student profiling matters

India, China, Nigeria have all taken a hit the EU might be next

Universities who have relied too much on small numbers of markets have suffered most acutely

Most universities want to diversify, but its a complicated process

Student profiling is a simpler approach that can work for universities of any size without large up-front investment50

China and India will have smaller youth populations in the futureChinaIndia2016

Demographic changes mean that China and India will have fewer 18-25 year olds in the future

Youth is growing in other countries but its widely dispersed there is no new India or China51

Reduce single-market sensitivity.

Bring a broader range of perspectives and experience.

Create links with new areas of the world.

Avoid the creation of mono-cultural blocs of international students.

The benefits of a diverse international student population

The answer is to create more diverse intakes of international students

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Student profiling is a key ingredient of a more diverse international strategyIdentifies prospective students in a highly targeted way

Accounts for the fact that every university has something different to offer

Lends itself well to digital marketing attract new students with far less in-country activity

The old model of student recruitment fairs, events, partnerships has an important role but is hard to scale up

Every university has something unique to offer play to your strengths. Ulster example.53

What types of student should I be targeting?How can I reach and engage with them?What are the typical types of student who attend my university?What questions can profiling answer?How do my enquirers and current student differ?

Better understand your current students

Identify areas of difference between your enquirers and current students

Understand who to target, and how54

The five pillarsCostEmployment outcomesLifestyle and environmentTeaching qualityUniversity brandTuition fees

Cost of living

Other costs

Graduate employment rate

Graduate salaries

Employability skillsFacilities

Sports and leisure

LocationAcademic staff

Modes of teaching

Face to face time

Subject rankingsUniversity reputation

University rankings

Alumni

Our research over the last 4 years has enabled us to identify five areas that influence student decision making

We call these the components of choice

Every student sits somewhere on a scale for each factor.55

Teaching QualityEmployment OpportunitiesCost of LivingLifestyle & EnvironmentUniversity BrandEach student (or prospect) is measured

When profiling, we measure these from 0-100 for each student, using a range of questions that is specific to each university.

These scores are fed into our profiling model56

Clustering identifies groups of similar students

We use K Means Clustering to identify groups of similar students

The aim is to identify groups that are meaningfully different. For most universities there will be 3-5 different groups covering around 80% of students.57

TEACHING QUALITYV HighAvg Score 87COST OF LIVINGMedAvg Score 56UNIVERSITY BRANDHighAvg Score 91LIFESTYLE AND ENVIRONMENTMedAvg Score 45EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIESV HighAvg Score 94

Example profile

A profile is defined as groups of students whos scores for the five pillars are similar

In this example, the profile is extremely sensitive to teaching quality and employment outcomes, highly sensitive to the brand of the university, but less focused on lifestyle or cost.58

Compare the results of the profiling with a wider data set to find areas of opportunity

Locate prospects digitally and geographically

Engage with them in a highly targeted and personalised manner

The next step: matching your target profiles with the market

Profiles give us a framework for matching a university with the global pool of prospective international students

Our international student survey data gives us the ability to run this matching process to find out where they are: both digitally and geographically, often down to the level of individual city.59

Our vision for a smarter approach to international student recruitment:

More targeted using techniques like student profiling to target the best prospects;

More agile quicker to respond to threats and take advantage of opportunities;

More measurable using data to understand cost per acquisition and ROI;

More personalised tailored to the needs of each individual prospect.

International Student Survey 2016

Our report in May 2016.You can download a copy at www.internationalstudentsurvey.com and you can also register to take part next year.60

Interested in getting involved?Drop your business card to me or email me [email protected]

Reflections by Joran van Aart


September 15, 2016Slide 63





September 15, 2016Slide 67The choice processAwareInformedInterestedDecision

Visible in Search (SEO & SEA)Comparison sites & portalsSocial media targeted adsUser friendly site & retargetingMobile site, cross-channelFast & accurate responseReviews & influencersFriendly, helpful staff


Explanation of the answers? Get the actual research reports?

September 15, 2016Slide 70Your feedback is appreciated!Evaluate this session:Open the EAIE Events AppGo to Schedule and find this sessionAt the bottom of the session description youll see ResourcesClick Evaluate this session to answer a few questions

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Destination anywhere - EAIE 2016

Education

Transcript of Destination anywhere - EAIE 2016