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According to CampusESP, 85% of students' parents (sample size 21,000) desire to hear from universities at least ONCE PER WEEK. That’s 20% more than it was in 2020.But there’s an issue: Less than half of students communicate with their parents about university regularly.

Cleveland State University dropped $1.4m on a rebrand. Let’s see what it got for its trouble: New logo attacked on Twitter - check. A well-paid media provider - check. A “sleek” promotional video with half a million views (but zero engagement) - CHECK. It’s not the most expensive rebrand, but funnelling some of those funds to its website wouldn’t have gone amiss.

In 2020, the entirety of the HE sector pivoted to online learning within days. Since then we’ve tried to take the best of digital education forward. But The Telegraph, The Mail (and about 80% of the UK press) didn’t like that, and despite a lot of signals that students enjoyed the flexibility of online learning - headlines said otherwise. Well, Susan Orr’s report removes all the ideology and (surprise) reveals that blended learning is actually pretty good.

A group of alumni are suing University of Southern California and the online education provider 2U for “artificially inflating rankings.” Allegedly, the University cherry-picked data and used the success of its in-person doctoral students to represent ALL its online cohorts. Again, the ranking in question is U.S. News & World Report but I’m sure it’s not an isolated incident. How many other ranking organisations accept data without question? It’s fascinating how much emphasis universities still place on league tables considering students don’t seem to care. For the last few years, UCAS has reported the declining influence of league tables on student decision-making. On UCAS’s applicant survey in 2020, rankings were ranked in 8th place. In 2022, they didn’t even feature in the top 10 with students having a preference for student reviews. Why the change? 10 years ago, ranking organisations held all the information, but today students can get the same insight from “the crowd” in seconds. Expect more league table revelations in 2023 and significant reform to follow.

For all the hype, you’d expect TikTok to be the preferred social platform for students. But it really isn’t. Based on a survey of 20,000 UG, PG and PhD students globally, TikTok ranks way lower than I expected. Now, this doesn’t mean that students aren’t on TikTok. It just means it’s not their favourite or “go-to app.” Just because students are on TikTok doesn’t make it their no.1 platform. Be careful if you’re planning to pare back efforts on Facebook and Instagram. They are still very much in the game.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University invited its “almost-alumni” Ryan Reynolds to share his favourite holiday movies - which he did on their blog (presumably to crickets.) But then Kwantlen shared the list on LinkedIn and BOOM! Reynolds picks it up and the University gets its name in front of a stupid number of people. Just like you would with student creators, do partnerships with your most influential alumni - the reach on LinkedIn is among the best right now.

The University of San Francisco has partnered with the automated taxi company Cruise to provide free driverless rides for students. What could go wrong? Cruise highlights that the programme is a “first-ever” (so they’re using students as guinea pigs?) with USF's chief information officer saying "there's a cool factor here... [Students] feel like they’re part of the future." Wow. Sounds like they understand their audience.

The University of Hertfordshire knocked it out of the park with a video game campus tour. Honestly, we expected a horror story, but it clearly has taken inspiration from Animal Crossing. You run around campus completing tasks and learning about the uni. You even get to try out facilities - we made our own hoodie (but screwed up the stitching.) It never feels forced and above all: It’s fun!

ChatGPT made waves when it was launched in Q4 2022. Is this the iPhone moment for Artificial Intelligence? Now it's freely available and easy to use - what does this mean for marketers and educators? Do we all need to learn prompt writing skills?   Have a go for yourself: https://chat.openai.com/chat  #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #HigherEducation

Not a big player university? Neither were National university. But they're bucking the US trend of terrible financial health. They took lessons from one specific type of business. We go through the incredible story as posted on Forbes. We are joined by very special guest Joel Goodman from Bravery Media! You can find him on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelgoodman/ Watch the article for yourself - https://www.forbes.com/video/6313563662112/how-a-littleknown-school-earned-top-marks-on-forbes-2022-college-financial-grades/?sh=19f7bcf56bea #HigherEducation #NationalUniversity #Forbes

Google is extending its “Grow with Google” education initiative to university partners. Similar to degree apprenticeships, each programme addresses in-demand skills gaps like Data Analytics, however, there is no work experience offered as part of the package. That said - the cost is attractive. $49 a month is the price to enrol on a programme which takes around four to five months to complete. Considering the average cost of a college degree now stands at $35,000 per year - it feels like a no-brainer for time and cash-strapped adult learners. The portfolio isn’t bad either. Right now, students can study qualifications in finance, engineering and even sustainability. Another model nipping at the heels of the traditional 3-year campus degree. Find out more: https://fortune.com/education/articles/a-tipping-point-for-higher-ed-google-launches-new-low-cost-online-programs-for-high-demand-jobs/ #Google #HigherEducation #University

UCD have u-turned on their email for life policy - but in fact, it's more than that. And students aren't happy. Read the full article now: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/education/former-ucd-students-told-they-will-no-longer-have-access-to-their-college-email-accounts-42043414.html

£236 million, anyone? With the majority of universities in the UK classed as public institutions, they are subject to open procurement procedures to ensure fair competition. This also means you can spy on what your competitors are thinking of spending cash on. We take a look at an investigation from The PIE and check out some awarded contracts.

We’ll see the death of the social media newsfeed within five years (if not sooner.) The warning signs are here: Instagram trialling an “immersive feed, ”every OG social platform pivoting to discovery and teens primarily consuming content via creators.  In today's episode, we talk about the opportunities for university marketers. The newsfeed has been a staple of social media. But it's giving way to something new.

Great State have released a report on digital experiences from HEIs in the U.K.  What did students tell them? And what do Great State say that universities need to be doing? Read the report - https://prismic-io.s3.amazonaws.com/greatstate/bfb40d4d-a437-49ae-81f8-3d3cab55ad50_The+Higher+Education+Digital+Experience+Report+2022.pdf

The cost of living crisis has reopened a discussion on the return of maintenance grants. Fun fact: The maximum maintenance loan available to students this year is £1,000 less than a job paying the national minimum wage – the biggest gap between the two since 2004. In this episode, we discuss how the cost of living affects student decisions and how education marketers can respond.

 @Monmouth University  is the first university that we know of, to transition to WordPress' Full Site Editing. The whole site is now built out of Gutenberg blocks. That means less dependency on developers. Will it increase their pace? Find Tryon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tryon-eggleston-34939833/ Find Steve on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjgraboski

In the UK, Lizz Truss (PM candidate) has announced a policy where anyone with three 3 A*s is automatically invited to an interview at Oxbridge. Fair play. But there’s one major flaw.

It’s Clearing month, so we've taken a look at some university search ads. Honestly, we're a bit concerned. Lots of ads are leading to the wrong kind of content. If someone searches “[uni name] Clearing,” for us, that’s a sign of intent.

Google’s reported that nearly half of Gen Z are using TikTok and Instagram for search. If you still need convincing that publishing natively is the future - there it is. This all comes off the back of news that kids and teens are watching (on average) 91 minutes of TikTok per day compared with just 56 minutes of YouTube.