“Working Collaboratively to Develop a Strategy for Marketing Early Childhood Programmes at The University of Worcester” A SAP Project Angela Hodgkins Abbie Phillips Stacey Hodgkins Nik Terrell

Introduction Recruitment for BA CEC Marketing and Recruitment Strategy “Higher education environments have become increasingly competitive and institutions have to compete for students in the recruitment markets. With the introduction of student fees, it is hypothesised that potential applicants to HE will increasingly become consumerist” (Maringe, 2006) Angela Introduce team Recruitment was down for the BA for 2014-15 Marketing strategy was developed in CEC H.E. is an increasingly competitive arena

Introduction Feedback from “Widening Participation” conference: 92% of the Level 3 prospective students said the best part of the day was “meeting the student ambassadors” We decided to use this positive experience of listening to peers to our advantage “In conjunction with family background and parental expectations, school-level and teacher expectations, and also the influence of peer groups and friends are very important in shaping young people’s orientations to higher education” (Dunnett, 2012) Angela CEC held a widening participation conference for level 3 students from out partner colleges The conference was a huge success Evaluations showed that “meeting the students” was the best part of the day Prospective students were much more likely to approach students and ask questions I approached the ambassadors at the end of the conference day and suggested we take this forward further Students ambassadors were very positive and excited about it

Students as Partners AH put proposal together Gained ethical approval Initial meeting Angela Put a proposal together Gained ethical approval Met with students to determine what to do next, how to tackle the problem Wanted it to be a student-led project

What we Decided to do… What do prospective students want? What do our current students like about UW? Why did they choose to come here? Stacey We decided that our first step was to find out what prospective students want, when they are looking at their university options To find this out, we decided to talk to current students and ask what it is about UW that made them choose us

What we Did… Decided to devise a questionnaire for current CEC students Decided to create something to be used for marketing I devised the questionnaire Stacey We decided to devise a questionnaire for current CEC students The idea was to find out all the positive things about studying Early Childhood here Our original idea was that we could create something to be used for marketing, like a PowerPoint presentation or a leaflet. I devised the questionnaire for students, using a few carefully considered questions in order to identify the positive aspects of our courses

What we did… Distributed the questionnaire Collated the results Abbie We students then distributed the questionnaires to as many student groups as we could. The three of us represent different year groups and courses, so we were able to access a good cross section of students, including full and part time and mature students We collected the questionnaires and I then collated all of the results I did this by....

What we did next… Collaborated on a PowerPoint presentation to be used in CEC marketing Decided on a students’ photo journey Abbie We then met again and decided that we would create a PowerPoint presentation, to be used alongside the CEC staff presentation at open days, etc. We decided to create a students’ photo journey to show in a visual way the life of a CEC student here at UW We wanted a visual presentation, rather than lots of written information

What we found… Positives – Friendly, experienced lecturers Online study options Great spaces to work Good support and guidance Good atmosphere Great campus (Food and drink availability, attractive campus and city) Conferences and workshops Nik The results of the questionnaire showed that the majority of students chose UW because of the location and the choice of courses offered

What we found… What Influenced your Choice?– 50% had been to an open day (they all found it useful) 25% had accessed the UW website for course information 20% had been given positive recommendations by friends /colleagues 25% said that UW was a natural progression from college, as they had had good experiences on their Foundation Degree “students do not consider traditional university promotional tools such as the websites, prospectuses and other written material as playing a significant role in their choice and decision making” (Bennett, 2006, in Maringe, 2006) Nik We found that open days were really useful, although only half of our applicants attend one. Students were not likely to be influenced by the website – this supported Bennett’s view

The Result We all took photographs around campus and the city, in order to provide a view of university life for students in CEC. Stacey We took photos of students studying, in lectures, at the Hive, and on days and nights out in Worcester. The presentation is almost complete and will be ready for CEC staff to use this summer.

References Maringe, Felix (2006) Implications for Positioning, Recruitment and Marketing, International Journal of Educational Management, 20:6, 466-479 Dunnett, Andrew, Moorhouse, Jan, Walsh, Caroline & Barry, Cornelius (2012), Choosing a University: A conjoint analysis of the impact of higher fees on students applying for university in 2012 Tertiary Education and Management, 18:3, 199-220, Abbie We are confident that our completed presentation will give a student-centred view about life here