University recruitment and admission has transformed in the last year, but institutions have found ways to reach out to students in a meaningful way despite the upheaval
Staying connected to students has never been as important as it has during the past 12 months. University admissions teams have dealt with uncertainty over campus openings and embraced digital communication amid a changing landscape of qualifications and entry requirements.
In a recent webinar hosted by 探花视频 in partnership with Salesforce.org, titled 鈥淯niversity admissions strategy redefined: maximising innovation and personalising the student experience at scale鈥, the panel agreed that sending out a consistent and personal message to applicants creates a positive first impression that lasts through the student life cycle.
鈥淣o student ever says, 鈥榯he business studies department were really slow to respond鈥; they will always say 鈥榯he university鈥,鈥 said Robin Halley, director of global marketing and student recruitment at Aberystwyth University. 鈥淗aving a centralised system to manage the process enables universities to control the reputational side of things and will become more critical as we move into multiple admissions cycles.鈥
For most students, how they are treated at each step of the application process is a chance to聽compare their options against each other, added Roisin McEvoy, head of admissions at Queen鈥檚 University Belfast. 鈥淚t鈥檚 their first meaningful engagement with university life and becomes an indicator of what they will experience thereafter,鈥 she said.
Corey Snow, director for international solution architecture at Salesforce.org, felt that universities often run the risk of spoiling the first impression by exposing what鈥檚 behind the scenes. 鈥淲e should provide a unified external view regardless of how complex our internal systems are,鈥 he said. 鈥淗aving a composite application that gives a single view can enable the applicant to navigate more seamlessly through the process.鈥澛
Rebecca Hollington, director of UK recruitment and partnerships at the University of Wolverhampton, reflected on how some of these complexities played out at her institution. 鈥淲e鈥檝e always looked at students in terms of personas with different interests, barriers and motivations so we can talk to them in the right way through the right channel,鈥 she said. 鈥淚n nursing, for example, you could be a school leaver or a career changer and we have to unpick those journeys.鈥 Post-pandemic this landscape could become even more difficult to untangle, the panel said.聽
For this reason, transparency and consistency through the process is crucial. 鈥淭his student generation has expectations of responses and feedback on the same level as Amazon and Netflix, and as a small team this has been a challenge to manage expectations,鈥 said Rhys Thomas, head of admissions at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. As a specialist school, it can be the case that colleagues outside the core admissions team need to jump into the process and advise, he added. 鈥淭he essential thing is that everyone knows what the student is applying for and at what point in the journey they are, so they can advise appropriately,鈥 Thomas said.
Technology can support staff to address these questions seamlessly and focus on building relationships, added Corey. But despite changing admission times and multiple stakeholders, it鈥檚 still possible to apply themes and core processes across the board, said Shane Collins, director of student recruitment and admissions at the University of Dundee. 鈥淲hatever technology you鈥檙e using, what鈥檚 important is the messaging. You can鈥檛 have a centralised process that happens in a vacuum either, such as preventing applicants from speaking to academic colleagues, so the system needs to bring all of this in,鈥 Collins said.聽
Centralising data means universities can build a view of applicants throughout the student life cycle, from attraction to graduation, concluded McEvoy: 鈥淵ou have a group of people that will come back to you for CPD opportunities and lifelong learning, so bringing this together creates rich opportunities.鈥澛
Watch the webinar on demand above or on the聽.
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