Jamie O’Connell Marketing Director, The Student Room (@ Insight_TSR @ jamietalk ) Toby Windsor

2. Students can't choose their university and course on statistics alone...Beyond KIS - What's important to students?And how well are universities equipped to handle the change in the sector? Jamie O’Connell Marketing Director, The Student Room (@Insight_TSR @jamietalk) Toby Windsor Managing Partner SMRS (@SMRS) #CEAC2011

3. Agenda • Introductions • Overview of the Key Information Set • TSR Research: How students plan to evaluate the decision making factors • How The Student Room will be supporting students and universities • Implications for marketers of change • SMRS Research: How well equipped are universities? • Summary #CEAC2011

4. The Student Room The largest student community in the world - 4.5m unique users per month url: www.thestudentroom.co.uk • Where students get peer support to help them out and inform decisions • More discussion about universities than any other website • Fully moderated by a team of 50+ volunteers • In the past 4 years we have worked with 115 higher education institutes in the UK • Close working with BIS and UCAS • 10 years old this year #CEAC2011

5. SMRS – ‘Communication that moves people’ • Full service communications agency • Specialists in the education sector • Over 20 HEIs throughout the UK • Digital and creative services • Research and reporting • Understanding the student journey #CEAC2011

6. KIS #CEAC2011

7. Key Information Set (KIS) • From 2012 every HE course will have a Key Information Set (KIS) setting expectation for course quality, support given and outcomes. • KIS will contain areas of information that students have identified as useful: • student satisfaction • course information • employment and salary data • accommodation costs • financial information, such as fees • students' union information. #CEAC2011

8. KIS sample taken from HEFCE site http://www.hefce.ac.uk/learning/infohe/kis.htm #CEAC2011

9. How will KIS be used? • Positioned in the forefront of student decision making • Official sources – UCAS and institute websites • Comparison websites – hotcourses, studyportals • Data driven websites – bestcourse4me, unistats • Editorial websites – Newspaper sites e.g. Telegraph But can stats be the primary driver of HE choices? Is it enough for a university to differentiate itself?

10. Beyond KIS • In 2010 HEFCE commissioned research to understand what key factors influence students’ HE course choices -16 factors were identified that went into KIS • In 2011 The Student Room carried out the same research to sensor check those 16 key factors and to find out HOW students would prefer to EVALUATE those all important criteria. • Methodology • Research carried out early 2011 • Survey promoted across The Student Room website forum • Survey incentivized with a prize draw for Amazon/Topshop/Topman vouchers • Total surveys completed: 1563 • Gender mix - 59% female, 41% male #CEAC2011

11. The factors students say are most important and how they prefer to evaluate them

13. Other factors singled out as being highly important #CEAC2011

14. Research summary • There are a series of key factors students want to know about when making HE choices • In addition ‘Social’ factors such as price of a pint and what the ‘atmosphere’ is like came out strongly but the highest of all additional factors were location and amenities around the university. • The two most mentioned methods for evaluating the factors that influence student HE choices were: • Open days • Read online reviews written by current or past students • Students cannot and do not wish to choose their university on stats alone – they want a range of information gathered from open days, the experiences of current students and official data. Full report available for download: http://insight.thestudentroom.co.uk/reports #CEAC2011

15. How TSR is responding #CEAC2011

16. University profiles on TSR launching end of 2011 At the CASE conference delegates were given a sneak preview of the university profiles launching later 2011. sorry but we have had to remove the screen shots. Below is a top level list of features: What is it? • A profile for every university in the UK • The best place students to come to get the views of other students and grads on what a university is really like. • Incorporates official KIS data and provides a platform on the world’s largest student community website for a university to differentiate itself and support applicants, their students and alumni • Built in consultation with universities and students • Positions TSR as ‘The Trip Advisor for Higher Education’ • It has the following feature: • Student ratings and comments on the following: • Student life • Courses • Facilities • Accommodation • Students can ‘Connect’  to a profile (just like you join a Facebook group) but you specify if you are ‘an applicant, undergrad, grad or  staff’ you can then network with others connected to the same university with the same status • You can only rate and comment if you are connected. As an undergrad you can only be connected to 1 institute. • Full privacy controls • Video content – user generated and official • Photographs  - user generated and official • An overall score given to a university derived by student ratings • Official HEFCE data used to make up KIS included for each institute • Open day calendar • Map showing key locations that students themselves can add to ‘best kebab shop?) • All profiles will be accessed through a new homepage search box and from a university finder portal featuring searchable map • All comments fully moderated #CEAC2011

17. Benefit for a uni • Your home on the largest student community • Differentiate yourself from your competitors by publishing engaging content that showcases your facilities and achievements • Be seen to support your applicants by responding to questions asked through the profile directed at you • A university can publish their ‘student stories’ – case studies of what students achieved and went on to • The perfect platform for your student advocates to share with other students why they have enjoyed studying at your university • A means to communicate with various groups – applicants, current students and alumni • Open day promotion in events calendar • Fully trackable order a prospectus button • Full access to editing tools for a university to update their pages • Links to your facebook and twitter pages • Sharing friendly url: www.thestudentroom.co.uk/bangor_university When it will be available • End of 2011

18. Implications for you #CEAC2011

19. What are the implications for university marketeers? • An increasing array of channels for students to get information • Understanding those channels and the different ways of engaging is crucial • The statistics alone will not be your key differentiator • Differentiation will come from brand development #CEAC2011

20. Brand development • Imperative to have a consistent look and feel across all communications • Have a consistent narrative tone • Have the flexibility to have multi-faceted messages to cover: • Information • Experience • Engagement • You need to understand your audience and be true to yourself • Ultimately you need to capture peoples imaginations and inspire them

21. THE FOUR VECTORS THROUGH WHICH A BRAND EMERGES PRODUCTS BEHAVIOUR CORE IDEA ENVIRONMENT COMMUNICATION

22. Questions for the audience • Do you have a clear core idea? • Can you explain what you do and what makes it different from your competitors in a sentence? • Do most of your colleagues share these feeling? • Does the outside world understand what you stand for and how it’s different?

23. How well equipped are you?

24. We asked HE Marketing Directors... • What will be your most significant challenge? • Proving quality and value • Communicating the right message • Differentiation • How do they need to address these challenges? • Brand • Advertising • Prospectus/collateral • Website • How will the role of marketing develop within HE? • More diverse • Greater control of the university brand • More focussed on ROI • Even more strategic • Nurturing a lifelong relationship with your students

25. In conclusion • KIS will be a fantastic source of information • BUT...it won’t be used in isolation • There is a growing need and opportunity for universities to differentiate themselves • Growing number of channels in which to communicate what makes you special • ‘Cradle to grave’ relationship with students – listening, support, engagement • Clear consistent branding and positioning are crucial – open day, prospectus, website • Online reputation more important than ever (Richard Taylor Leicester)

26. Thank you Jamie O’Connell Marketing Director, The Student Room (@Insight_TSR @jamietalk) jamie@thestudentroom.co.uk http://Insight.thestudentroom.co.uk/reports Toby Windsor Managing Partner SMRS (@SMRS) toby.windsor@smrs.co.uk #CEAC2011