Engaging Youth: Something About Students

There is though isn’t there? While we’ve focused on the challenge for institutions throughout the pandemic and since, such as the move to online learning and the financial challenges they face, we may be at risk of missing what’s been going on for students in this time that we can't afford to ignore.

As I outline in Engaging Youth: the Cost of Choice Crisis, so much now influences the decision of when, where and if someone should go to university, the sector can't afford to risk feeling generic, unfeeling or uninspiring within its student recruitment and engagement.

Online culture hasn't stopped. Students are showing up and experiencing culture in a myriad of ways. So why would we base our connection with them on the basics?

Something About Students aims to unpack how we appeal to a prospective student by more than just demographics and what course they’re interested in. We need to create affinity.

This taps into the online habits and social culture students are living in, the way they connect with others, identify themselves, and feel part of something, whether that’s a community, a fandom or niche interest area.

How do we create affinity?

Alongside the recruitment funnel you can see how a ‘Depth of Connection’ funnel exists, with top level, quite broad information portrayed, through to the lore and trends – joining the conversation with prospective and current students, observing that culture in the comments and building that network for those who are looking for, and see the potential for their life to exist at an institution.

Much of this we do naturally in the recruitment funnel, but with pressure on around recruitment, so much of the content focuses on recruitment and course, we forget about this huge experience we’re presenting.

You can take a look through Engaging Youth: Something About Students in full here