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

2. 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

3. 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

4. How our strategy has changed
Pre-2010: primarily focused on services for universities
: more focus on students making good application choices; expansion into video content and social media; additional focus on post-16 choices
: 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
: watch this space

5. The learner journey

6. 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 s 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

7. 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 and SMS prompts
Opt-in for additional services:
Personalised – with marketing content
Matching with vacant places
Verification for student banking
End of cycle survey of applicants

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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”

11. 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?