View over the big pond

The UK higher education sector often takes a wistful look over the big pond at what our colleagues are doing in US universities and we are left with a feeling that we are so far behind and just hope one day to catch up. I asked Paul Govey, Head of Student Communications and Marketing here at The University of Manchester if there was any hope for us.

It certainly is true that the US totally dominates the world university rankings (Times Higher, QS or Shanghai Jiao Tong) with only a handful of universities outside the USA ever making it into the top 20. The US dominates in research (the primary measure used in world rankings) and we are all aware of the importance of alumni to the reputation and financial stability of US universities (the Harvard Endowment fund alone is currently worth $32 billion!).

Paul Govey, #Highered legend

So are there any areas where we think we can compete with the US or dare we even dream that we might be ahead?

Having recently spent some time in the USA with my counterparts from the world of student communications and marketing, I believe there is a glimmer of hope. I believe that the UK Higher Education sector has started to offer some best practice and insight for our American colleagues on student communications and the strategic value of current students as the primary stakeholder group. This bold statement is supported in the following ways;

1. The importance of the National Student Survey in the UK has driven up standards in how to support, nurture and communicate to our current student body. Improving overall satisfaction may be the driver, but the outcome means our students are just getting a better communications and a better student experience overall. While many US universities undoubtedly provide an exceptional student experience, the focus is more often on output and alumni than current students.
2. In the UK we are raising standards in our communications to keep pace with raised expectations. There is no such thing as a “student look and feel” for communications and marketing. It just has to be excellent and stand up alongside the big corporates. In the UK we are less restrained by the huge pull of the college brands that dominate the US, more often than not directly connected to college sports and the classic letter shirts — largely unchanged since the 1950s.
3. With the increasing marketisation of higher education in UK, we have seen an explosion in creative ways to better engage and hold on to prospective students. We find ourselves tapping into 20 years of market orientated experience from our international student recruitment and marketing activities where in many ways we have been more effective than our US counterparts.
4. In the UK we are increasingly placing higher value on our alumni relationships, but as part of the natural extension of the student journey. Our alumni are not viewed as the successful distant relatives who we see once in a while hoping for a nice gift, but are seen as the kids who may have grown up a bit and left home… but are still our kids!

So in summary, we are competing with our US colleagues in student communications and in many ways perhaps can perhaps offer them some best practice as our UK students expectations ever increase. There may even be a wistful look or two in our direction over the big pond!

Originally published at studentcomms.wordpress.com on September 25, 2015.