The challenges brought by Brexit and the lingering impact of the pandemic have reshaped the landscape for higher education institutions worldwide specially UK.
The number of EU students enrolling in British universities has become half of what it used to be, since Brexit. Brexit is seen as the primary deterrent, with home fees and student finance no longer available to EU students who do not already live in the UK. Before Brexit, students paid home fees of just over £9,000 and had student finance available. Fees have risen as high as £38,000 after Brexit. Covid further impacted the student flow from China and India. Things are coming back to normal in recent months.
Here’s how your institution can navigate these challenges and increase student enrolment effectively:
It’s time to don a new hat and look at Brexit & post-pandemic world differently.
Even as Brexit is out of our hands, are there opportunities to leverage? Would fresh perspectives present newer openings? Is this all a blessing in disguise? How can universities cope up with the behavioural shift in students? Would it finally push long due administrative reforms that put the house in order and yield long-term benefits?
Top strategies to enrol more students
Leverage favourable global rankings
Historically, British Universities have been globally sought-after universities. According to the Times Higher Education World Rankings 2019, UK universities have 3 in the top 10, 7 in the top 50, and 28 in the top 200. They rest comfortably atop global rankings when compared to other EU Universities.
While it is speculated that Brexit might affect collaboration of the partnerships between the British and the European Universities and affect these rankings in the long run, they remain speculations. After all, Universities as Oxford have survived ancient empires and world wars! Perhaps it is this brand value and quality of education that has persuaded 54% of the respondents to a survey by the Graduate Management Admission Test Council that Brexit has no impact on their decision to study in the UK!
When it comes to international students’ overall satisfaction, UK ranks first according to the International Student Barometer. Britain must fall back on its rich historical roots and leverage these global rankings by designing attractive marketing campaigns.
Attract British nationals and students from developing countries
Uncertainties over Brexit might be the right time to persuade UK students to return home. Upon Brexit EU countries would be at liberty to decide about the plight of UK students studying elsewhere in Europe. Homecoming of UK Nationals would lead to an increase in local enrolments.
Further, universities can turn to recruit more Indian and Chinese students who pay higher fees, £30,000 more for a 5-year medical degree, to be exact, than locals. According to June 2018 data, visas to Indian students grew at 32%, and 94% of applicants for student visas have been cleared. Covid has, of course, negatively impacted international student recruitment.
But it must be noted that visa laws are not as favourable when compared to other countries, especially the EU nations. Therefore, colleges must actively carry out campaigns and provide adequate information on the application and visa process, financial support options, and preparatory online courses. Engagement with prospective applicants has now become inevitable!
If there is lower migration to the UK in the future, this will reinforce the need to tackle weaknesses in UK education and make the country more self-sufficient in skills.
Opportunity to automate
Universities and FEs are constantly saddled with the menace of staff turnover. Fresh post-Brexit immigration laws might make this worse. While 4% of staff in the education sector are non-UK EU staff, the number rises to 15% in Higher Education, according to The Office of National Statistics. This pool of skilled and unskilled personnel from the 27 EU countries might not be available anymore. This is perhaps the right stimulus for universities to automate their student engagement processes using the right student relationship CRM platforms and ensure minimal staff intervention. Such strategic decisions are sure to yield long-term benefits to FEs and HEs.
Engage2serve’s student lifecycle management suite is one of the solutions to turn things favourably to dramatically scale enrolments and improve student success. Purpose-built, highly intuitive, mobile-friendly solutions of e2s can be configured to every institutions’ needs to aid marketing campaigns, dramatically improve admission, retain students through early warning systems and improve student success ratio.
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Engage2Serve Inc. is the creator of transformational cloud-based, mobile-first Student Lifecycle CRM products for student, student success and recruitment, retention, and alumni engagement.
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