Our Head of Business Development, Katy Davenport discusses some of the key talking points at BUILA 2024.
There is no denying that it’s been a challenging year for higher education institutions in the UK. The context behind that, and the subsequent impact on universities, has been well documented in recent months. However, it was evident at the 2024 BUILA conference which took place in Birmingham in July, that there is also a real sense of optimism about what lies ahead.
This fresh outlook at BUILA was no doubt fuelled in large part by the general election a few days earlier. Whatever your political convictions, a new government brings with it new ministers and new opportunities to engage and shape government policy.
The role that universities play in providing data to government is absolutely integral, and the sector has a responsibility to build as clear a picture as possible. For our part, UniQuest will be continuing to provide our partners, on a monthly basis, with meaningful, comprehensive data insights that they in turn can share with their government contacts. We’ll also be regularly packaging that up to help keep sector bodies like BUILA and UUKi up to date and in the best position to advocate for members.
So, how else can we ensure this sector optimism translates into real positive impact?
Conversion, Conversion Conversion
Last year, the focus at BUILA was very much on admissions. This year it was all about conversion and maximising every aspect of the student journey to that end. One of our long-standing partners, Teesside University, spoke at BUILA about the work we’ve done over the past decade to support the institution with this. This is captured in the comment below from Jessica Watson-James, Deputy Director of International Development at Teesside University:
“UniQuest's ability to swiftly adapt to our specific needs in response to changing market conditions each cycle has been highly valuable to us. Their proactive approach to conversion activity has significantly enhanced our ability to engage and support prospective students effectively. UniQuest’s flexibility and strategic insight have been vital in our efforts to stay ahead in a competitive and changing environment.”
Ultimately, it’s all about optimising the journey to enrolment, and those institutions that are better equipped to do this will convert at higher rates. We support our partners to contact students with the right messages, at the right time, on the right channels, and we’re able to feed in data to help them determine what those optimal approaches are at any one time.
If our data tells us that a particular student engagement tactic makes certain student offer holders three times more likely to convert, we help our partners to implement that. It’s about finessing efforts and focusing resource on the activities that are really going to have an impact.
Short Term Campaigns
Many institutions are turning their eyes to the January 2025 intake, and a lot of our conversations at BUILA centered on whether there is still time to impact January intakes. The answer is a resounding yes!
With the drop in international student applications for September 2024, institutions will need a strong January intake if they are to hit annual cycle targets (which typically combine September and January).
Now is the perfect time to take control of your narrative to support offer holder conversion. Be very clear on messaging about the benefits of coming to your specific institution – the programme, the industry partnerships, the career opportunities afterwards. Couple this with all the essential information offer holders will need on visas, deposits and accommodation. One-to-one calling campaigns can be really impactful to support those offer holders who may have displayed some hesitation.
Revenue wise, every single offer holder has ramped up in importance. Many institutions, however, simply do not have the staffing resource to engage with every offer holder in a meaningful way, if at all. We have the ability to scale up quickly to support this ahead of January.
Long Term Strategy
By starting to gather data and insights in the pipeline now, institutions can make far more informed decisions to maximise conversion strategy for September 2025 and beyond.
Whether it’s managing student enquiries, utilising lead scoring to prioritise audiences, or delivering personalised conversion plans, UniQuest can support with managing the end-to-end journey. What’s more, the UQ platform is underpinned by intuitive dashboards that capture what has worked well and what hasn’t, enabling our partners to refine activities to strengthen the likelihood of conversion as we approach September 2025.
Furthermore, it’s vital that institutions think about getting the right blend of strategies for 2025. With the Agent Quality Framework putting a spotlight on some unscrupulous agent practices, we can provide our partners with a platform through which they can engage directly with prospective students – complementing the work of the vast majority of agents out there who do excellent work!
The HEIST Awards 2024
Following the BUILA Conference, our Commercial Director, Adam Rennison headed up to Leeds for the HEIST awards 2024 with our friends from Find A University. If you need inspiration from the institutions doing engagement campaigns really well, look no further than the array of winners who showcase the best in student engagement from across the UK. A special mention to the University of Bristol, Anglia Ruskin University, and the University of Southampton – all UniQuest partners – who took home gold and bronze awards for their respective categories! Check out the full list of winners here.
If you didn’t catch Katy at BUILA or Adam at the HEIST awards and would like to pick up on any of the above points, contact them on katy.davenport@uni-quest.co.uk and adam.rennison@uni-quest.co.uk
