Students: customers, funders, or partners? Helen Thorne Director, External Relations & Interim Director, Finance & Corporate Services

How do universities and students see you? Universities & colleges Students Purpose Attract, recruit, and select students, plan and monitor admissions Find suitable programme, make a strong application, track progress, secure a place Usage Every year; weekly/daily Often once, for a limited period Cost Average €31.7k, annual payment (25.3% UCAS income) €27, one-off payment (32.7% UCAS income) Value Enables major source of income Enables formation of student body Efficient Supports fair admissions Gateway to life changing experience Trusted

UK market dynamics 45% of young cohort in England (18 and 19 year olds) apply to HE 400+ UK universities and colleges offering HE (c130 universities) 60% study more than 25 miles from home – varies by region Good, well-informed choices deliver individual and public benefits Government drive to encourage students to act as consumers to encourage universities to compete with each other – and therefore drive up quality Facilitating good student choice is fundamental to UCAS’ mission

How our strategy has changed Pre-2010: primarily focused on services for universities 2010-2015: more focus on students making good application choices; expansion into video content and social media; additional focus on post-16 choices 2015-2020: strategic decision to focus on “students” rather than applicants and their journey; range of I&A from age 14 to adult; introduction of personalised communications and advice, first data driven services 2018-2022: watch this space

The learner journey

How we engage with prospective students Website - content, how to videos, blogs and vlogs Social media Search tool Offer rate calculator Tariff calculator UCAS fairs and events – collect pre applicant data to enable personalised emails with subject information and city guides Website carries advertising Universities and others can buy direct marketing campaigns for specific groups of students, which UCAS Media executes

How we engage with students applying to HE Website - content, how to videos, blogs and vlogs Application service Track service – to follow progress Social media and UCAS customer experience centre Event driven email and SMS prompts Opt-in for additional services: Personalised email – with marketing content Matching with vacant places Verification for student banking End of cycle survey of applicants

How students help us develop our services Sponsored chat room sessions - Q&A about new or improved products and services User testing School visits and workshops Surveys of pre-applicants and applicants Research and insight reports Analysis and review of contact centre data and complaints

How students help us develop our strategy Student representatives on UCAS advisory Council – which provides advice to our Board of Trustees Schools and colleges – and those who work with students – are UCAS Trustees We are setting up a student panel to provide advice on more strategic issues

Do we get it right? Mostly… 89% of student survey respondents extremely or most happy with experience of using UCAS (2016 survey) “UCAS makes it so easy to apply”… but “extremely complicated for mature students” “Initially, I worried as felt it would be difficult to go through process but, I was led the whole way through good communication, guidance, deadlines and support. It was all explanatory and easy to follow.” “You're doing a great job, keep it up”

Some challenges & questions How do you engage with students – and why? How can we offer personalised information and advice without compromising responsibilities to represent universities equally? How can we build student and university confidence in personalised data services? How do we continue to be a trusted and well-used sources of I&A in an era when experts are less trusted and there are thousands of information sources available?