Episode 8: Engaging prospective students (UK-HOME)

Aaron Porter, Associate Director at IDP Connect is joined by Charlotte Renwick (Associate Director: Marketing & UK Recruitment) at Leeds Beckett University and Elliott Newstead (Head of UK Student Recruitment and Outreach) at the University of Leicester.  

Aaron discusses some key topics and themes relating to engaging with prospective students in the age of COVID-19. There have been huge changes in the way that universities have to engage with prospective students, many of which were developed in a short space of time.

Charlotte and Elliot discuss the changes they had to make at their institutions following the lockdown announcements on the 23 March 2021. Many institutions had move to virtual experiences for applicants and non-engaged enquirers. Universities needed to create valuable and high quality virtual events for students. 

The panel discuss how they helped students make the difficult decision of selecting a university through virtual experiences to still allow students to get a 'feel' for a university, getting across the personality and community feel of an institution, albeit not in person. The panel also discuss which elements may continue into the future and what universities events will look like in the future.

The panel look at how recruitment teams have engaged academics in a virtual environment - looking at how online events may make engaging with academic's diaries and teaching timetables easier - improving facetime for prospective student with academic colleagues at universities.