BridgeU In Brief: w/c 5th September, 2022
BridgeU For Universities
Connect with international schools in 140+ countries to improve the quality & diversity of your student enrolment.
Good evening,
We're back after a short summer break. And this week BridgeU has been gearing up for a new term across our international schools, and a new admissions cycle for our partner universities.
September and October are always crucial months for our schools as international students across 140 countries begin to make a dedicated shortlist of their preferred higher education institutions in the BridgeU guidance platform.
For universities, we know that one of their biggest problems is getting their brand in front of international school students at such a crucial moment of decision making. How can they speak to a students' deeper aspirations, awaken their curiosity and paint a picture of a future life on their campus?
In a recent article for Times Higher Education, Paul Baines, Professor of Political Marketing at the University of Leicester, wrote some useful insights into some of the problems that UK higher education institutions face with brand differentiation.
For us, one of Paul's most interesting insights was the surprisingly limited ways in which universities can differentiate themselves.
For example, your institution might simply be renowned for his age or heritage (like Oxford, Harvard or Durham). But, as Paul points out, age is not enough. There are many older institutions that don't make it into the top global rankings.
What about differentiating on size? It might work for some universities. But here too, Paul highlights a problem. The Indira Gandhi Open University serves over 4 million students but never makes it into the top of the global rankings.
One of the many reasons Paul cites for universities struggling to differentiate is because many try to be all things for all students. To quote Paul directly,
Too often, and I take the UK as the prime case, universities want to offer all levels of teaching provision from undergraduate through postgraduate, doctoral to post-experience, in all subjects, including science, arts, social sciences, medical sciences and engineering,
For us, Paul's argument is even more pertinent when we consider international students as am audience, especially when we consider that nearly 50% of BridgeU international students are shortlisting institutions across 2 or more countries.
Differentiating yourself to international students in a competitive global marketplace is hard. Paul suggests a new brand ranking system which, among other things, would
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"...also illustrate that some universities are markedly better than others at recruiting overseas students or building successful overseas campuses."
But how do international students judge whether a university is 'markedly better' at recruiting them? Often, this judgement comes down to how the student engages with this brand on a specific, personal level.
But brand awareness for an international school student means more than just a name, or even a ranking. As we're so fond of saying, often a higher ed institution based in the North of England needs to first explain what the North of England is like as a place to live
Brand differentiation in an international context means understanding more about how international students make decisions, why they make them, and when.
As we're so fond of reminding our university partners, brand differentiation will need to change, depending on the unique circumstances of an international students' education, their socio-economic background and their pre-existing perceptions of your institution and yes, even your country.
So as another admissions cycle begins, ask yourself: what's your brand story, and how can you tailor it to make it compelling to your international audiences? What are your differentiators in an international context, and what will help you stand out against your global competitors?
It could be campus, faculty or mission statement. Whatever you decide on, an audience first approach has never been more important if your international admissions strategy is to succeed.
What's new at BridgeU
What's caught our eye this week
Housekeeping
The keen-eyed among you will have noticed we've been sending In Brief out on a Tuesday recently. This was to accommodate some much deserved annual leave on our content team! We'll be back to the regular Monday publication date from next week. See you then!