industry & research
campusreview.com.au
What students want
How can higher ed institutions
better market themselves to
prospective students?
Chris Strods interviewed by
Kate Prendergast
I
“
t cannot be overstated how vital it
is that courses are structured and
promoted with ‘career readiness’ as
a primary focus.”
This is one of the main takeaways from
a new domestic prospective student
survey conducted by QS Enrolment
Solutions, a company that specialises in
student research.
An annual initiative, this year’s survey
collected responses from over 7000
prospective students across 13 institutions
in Australia. It found that, perhaps more
than ever, prospects are evaluating
22
higher education institutions according
to whether they are likely to equip them
with the skills that will be most attractive
to their employer of choice.
Non-technical skills (like being good
at communicating, teamwork and
interpersonal relations) are valued
alongside technical skills, the survey found.
Campus Review spoke with Chris Strods,
QSES market research and data manager,
to dig deeper into the survey results and
learn how institutions can better market
themselves to prospects at varying stages
of their career journey. Similarly, when deciding on which
institution they’re going to study at, it’s
about whether it offers the course they’re
interested in.
What we’re seeing is that it’s about
getting a good education that’s going to
help them get to where they want to go.
CR: The QS survey found that there’s one
standout factor which influences students’
study decisions. Can you explain briefly
what this is? It does seem to be a trend. As we know,
university degrees are becoming more
accessible. Therefore, there’s more
competition in that employment market,
particularly for the graduates. What we
can see is that students are looking
for a high-quality education to help
them stand out from the crowd in that
busy and growing graduate market.
We know that higher education is a
huge investment. For many students,
it’s probably the biggest investment
they’ve made in their life to that point.
They want to know that their investment
is worthwhile and that it’s going to
get them to where they want to go.
CS: The primary consideration for most
prospective students seems to be that they
want to know that the course or institution
they choose is going to help them achieve
their professional goals, that it’s going to
get them to where they want to go.
What we can see is that, when deciding
on a course, the two most important
factors the prospect is looking at are
whether the course will lead to their
chosen career, and whether the teaching
is high quality.
It seems that students are very much
seeing higher education in a utilitarian
sense: assessing it as a means to a
professional end, rather than as an end
in itself. Has this always been the case,
or is this rather careerist mentality
a relatively new phenomenon?