With fresh threats emerging from commercial providers of education and parliament debating the Higher Education and Research bill, universities are facing significant changes to the landscape within which they operate. Indeed, the first UCAS analysis for 2017 shows a diminishing number of university applications, from both the UK and the EU. Student recruitment is becoming more difficult, as the pool of applicants grows smaller.
In order to better target prospective students and retain existing ones, we proffer that universities must find new approaches to understanding and segmenting their audiences. By adopting a holistic, data-driven approach, it is possible to define students not by age or location, but by what motivates them. This deeper understanding can be used to inform the design of digital services, tailoring communications to effectively service user needs, and developing meaningful personalisation to deliver engaging experiences.
In this talk, we will explore how this data-driven understanding can ultimately be used to improve both the recruitment of new students and the retention of existing ones.
Summary:
- Title: Students as Humans: Understanding and Segmenting the Real Student Experience
- Type: Plenary
- Hashtag: #P9
- Speaker: Michael Frantzis, Precedent
- Date and time: 14.00-14.45 on Wednesday 12 July 2017
- Venue: Keynes Lecture Theatre 1 (LT1)
Additional resources:
- Twitter archive: archive of tweets (hosted on wakelet.com)
- Video: IWMW 2017 – P9: Students as Humans: Understanding and Segmenting the Real Student Experience (hosted on youtube.com)
- Sketch notes: IWMW17 Micheal Frantzis · mearso (hosted on mearso.co.uk)
- See slides available on Slideshare
