[myamane]

Hi Everyone!

I am considering studying in the UK. I currently live in the United States and am doing research on HE in the UK.

As part of my studies, I need to do some marketing research on how students choose which Uni they want to attend or how the Uni chooses them.

1st question -

How do Universities in the UK attract students? i.e. are they mailing you a prospectus, advertising on billboards or TV, coming to your schools to meet you?

How are they selling their institution to you?


Any information you could share with me would greatly help me in my studies.

Thanks!

[AeroLB]

Most people I guess, would just start with a UCAS search of their subject to see which universities do their course. I guess location would play a part also, and maybe know people that have gone to or are at a specific university.

They don't go out of their way to advertise publicly often, but you can pick up prospectuses at HE fairs and the like.

[txo]

I haven't chosen yet, but I'm going to close my eyes and run my finger down a list and randomly stop and then go to whichever uni I land on.

I guess most universities in England don't really "sell" themselves to you, it's actually the other way around. Students often go out there and research everything they want to know about the institutions or order prospectuses from the uni's site or go to open days. The only adverts I've seen for universities has been on this website.

[shezshez]

Yeah Uni's are pretty poor at recruiting people here, Without the prestige of places like Oxford and Cambridge, people research themselves and find a place that just feels right for them.

I chose mine based on the facilities it had to offer, the things i'd heard from current students and the fact that it was far enough away from home that I'd have independence but close enough that if i ever wanted to come home for the weekend it wasn't going to be a nightmare.

[Dbrown18]

Funnily enough i saw an advert for the university of derby today. Was strange.

But yh, pretty much a ucas search on the course first, and then after that it will differ from applicant to applicant. For example, i was looking for location first and foremost, whereas others would look at prestige of the uni.

Theres also a UCAS fair in which loads of unis gather in a hall and just advertise themselves to perspective unis basically.

After i got my all my offers, i picked the uni whos course interested me the most.

Hope that helps.

[SpicyStrawberry]

I was never 'recruited' by a specific uni when the time came to apply, I just looked up which local universities did my course and went to open days to find out more and get a feel for the way they run things. I love the place I chose and am glad I go there!

[aspirinpharmacist]

Basically what the others have said. I looked up which universities did the course I wanted to do, ordered some prospectuses, went to open days. My school had a HE/careers fair every couple of years and that always had people from various uni's there, but only the Scottish universities were there so you had to do a bit more searching if you wanted to go to Wales or England or something like I did. Although now I'm hearing a few more adverts for uni's on the radio and on facebook and things. So after the open days I paced my living room a lot trying to decide which ones I liked best, and then applied to those universities. When I got an offer from UEA I dragged my family down to Norwich so I could check out the city and I made up my mind a week or so later.

[SecretDuck]

Ucas course search. Then I narrowed my choices to five.

I firmed the uni which had the most interesting course. Also it's closer to home.

And general opinions in TSR and from my teachers and family friends also helped in the decision making process.

[YMLT]

The Boy:Girl ratio on UCAS & how far away the nearest Greggs is.

[laura1234]

The best way to find out about UK uni's is go go on their websites. Some do use TV adverts, bilboards etc over here but to be honest they aren't really that effective. Try using the UCAS website and search the course/subject area you are intrested in studying and it will bring up a list of every UK institution that offers courses in those subjects, then just go on their websites and order prospectuses etc. You can also look at the subject league tables on the Times website however I wouldn't purely make your choice on the basis of league tables just use them as a rough guide. They cover things like student satisfaction, research, % of graduates in employment etc. If you want to look into their entrance requirements then they should be online of if not just email admissions and they should give you all the infomation you need I've probably just repeated everything people have already written but if I haven't then I hope this is helpful

[pbsjohnz]

I researched on the department for my course and then the overall ranking, thirdly I was put off some universities because they had a high male:female ratio. I already went to an all boys high school ffs.

[River Shadow]

Looking at prospectuses and the course listings on universities' websites/the UCAS website. A UCAS fair at a nearby uni meant that I picked up prospectuses from unis I'd not even heard of before (including the one I'm actually at), and could chat to student and staff representatives from those unis. I also went to open days, and decided based on a combination of course content, how much I liked the uni, and to a lesser extent, its proximity to home and I guess prestige/its reputation for my course. Thankfully the uni I liked best in terms of the campus also had the best course, and I absolutely love it.

In regards to unis advertising themselves, I've seen some posters and billboards up for various unis in various places, and if I recall, Edge Hill did a television advert a couple of years ago. Also, often train stations have signs saying "Home to University of..." I've noticed.

[Rachael]

Interestingly, I've seen adverts on the tube for Unis I'd consider completely unprestigious, but I've never seen any billboard/poster type advertising for Oxbridge/Russell group level places.

The train station signs are silly - note that Cambridge station signs declare it the home of Anglia Ruskin University...(Anglia Ruskin does have a campus at that end of Cambridge, but Cambridge is understandably known for being where the University of Cambridge is...)

We had a bit of guidance in school, but mostly I looked stuff up on my own - looked at league tables online for some ideas of places to look at, then looked at their websites, ordered a prospectus from places I was interested in, and decided mostly based on that. I looked around one place (Cambridge) on an open day before applying (although I had friends in Oxford so had seen the place before deciding between them) and looked at two of the others I had offers from on post application open days before choosing my insurance choice.

[Joinedup]

Don't complain about seeing no adverts for unis... You'll see plenty when the results are out and there's clearing places to shift

[emthedrummer]

1. Searched the course I wanted to do on UCAS
2. Wrote out a massive list of which uni and which course, in order of what grades were necessary.
3. Read the course content for each one, crossed off the ones which looked rubbish.
4. Looked up when all the open days were, if any clashed I picked the one which looked better.
5. Went and looked round, picked Essex because it looks mint. *whiny voice* want to be there nowwwww!


I don't even know which other ones to pick. Maybe Royal Holloway. If I don't get into Essex I'll probably just cry.

[mel0n]

1) Searched UCAS
2) Created a list of unis I wanted to attend and, because of the subject I wished to study, what modules each had to offer
3) Filtered through the list to get rid of those with modules I wouldn't want to study
4) Kept unis that I was interested in and courses I was interested in
5) Narrowed it down to five
6) Applied

I had a look around a few of the unis, I didn't think I would get into KCL so I didn't get my hopes up about it and I reaally, really liked Royal Holloway when I visited it. I had set my heart on it to an extent and it was the end of March yet King's still hadn't replied, decided that once I got back from visiting it I would log onto UCAS and firm it.. only to log on and see a conditional offer from King's which was a bit awkward.

[No Man]

(Original post by mel0n)
1) Searched UCAS
2) Created a list of unis I wanted to attend and, because of the subject I wished to study, what modules each had to offer
3) Filtered through the list to get rid of those with modules I wouldn't want to study
4) Kept unis that I was interested in and courses I was interested in
5) Narrowed it down to five
6) Applied

This, except I visited the unis after stage 4 to decide if I liked them or not.

[t0ffee]

(Original post by myamane)
Hi Everyone!

I am considering studying in the UK. I currently live in the United States and am doing research on HE in the UK.

As part of my studies, I need to do some marketing research on how students choose which Uni they want to attend or how the Uni chooses them.

1st question -

How do Universities in the UK attract students? i.e. are they mailing you a prospectus, advertising on billboards or TV, coming to your schools to meet you?

How are they selling their institution to you?


Any information you could share with me would greatly help me in my studies.

Thanks!

Its not America over here, you sell yourself to the universities.

[myamane]

First off, thank you all so much for your posts. This is helping me a lot with my report.

I noticed a lot of you are saying you did research on the UCAS website. My understanding is everyone applies on UCAS. Do you feel another application process would be beneficial? What are some pros and cons of UCAS?

In the US we can apply to as many Unis as we want, but there is a cost associated with that. We also do not have a central location with detailed information about each Uni in the country. Do you feel the UCAS website overall is beneficial?

Also, I am extremely impressed by the information found on websites like Times Higher Education, The Telegraph, and The Guardian. We also do not have resources such as these in the US.

[myamane]

How often are HE fairs held and is anyone permitted to attend?

(Original post by AeroLB)
Most people I guess, would just start with a UCAS search of their subject to see which universities do their course. I guess location would play a part also, and maybe know people that have gone to or are at a specific university.

They don't go out of their way to advertise publicly often, but you can pick up prospectuses at HE fairs and the like.