Targeting Parents in Student Recruitment?

Video Transcript

Pip Hamilton

Alright, so last episode we discussed who helped our focus group make their decision about higher education and what university they wanted to go to, so I feel like we had some really great insights there from the four people in the focus group. What did you guys think?

Brett de Leijer

Yeah, we definitely had a lot of different responses. Like Molly, for example, she said that she had her heart set on going to that university and it was like she almost didn’t need anyone to help her make that decision because it was already happening.

Molly Steel

Well it was mostly word of mouth and, to be honest, I always wanted to go to that uni.

Brett

We had Tim and Kane talking to industry, sort of people who had been in the industry and got sort of their recommendations.

Tim Newton

Some of my aunties and uncles are actually teachers, so then talking to them about what it was like for them, what I should expect and that sort of thing definitely helped in terms of making… like letting me know whether I wanted to make that decision.

Brett

And then there was career counsellors, parents, friends, word of mouth, everything was sort of mentioned so there’s a lot to go from.

Alice Nuttall

Yeah, I think all of them did state, that they ultimately made the decision on their own and they were really empowered by the fact that it was their own independent decision. However, the school leavers, so Molly, Jack and Tim all did say that, they did ask the opinions of their family and the careers counsellors and their friends.

Jack Quartermain

The careers counsellors really helped me in making decisions and exploring my options, basically explaining everything to me.

Alice

Whereas, Kane who’s on a mission, he’s had a couple of years out of school.

Brett

It’s been on a long consideration phase cause he’s already, he’s already… It’s not like I’m finishing school now – bang – I have to go straight to university or extra study.

Alice and Pip

Yeah.

Brett

Like I’m happy doing what I’m doing but I feel like a change.

Alice

Yeah.

Pip

You need some more from this, yes.

Kane Fitzgerald

I started flying and the more I learned about aviation and flying, the more I learned to sort of love it. Because there’s so much to it that I didn’t really realise.

Brett

Absolutely, I thought there would be two things as well that I picked up on, one is that the theory of school leavers. You know, there should be campaigns around that, but you need to have a presence in the market throughout for those people who might have finished already. You need to be able to be found when they… and that could be at any time they’re making the decision.

The other thing was influencing the influencers like you know, how we influence in the people that are shaping these young people’s minds like either it’s parents or you know, alumni. We’ve heard from Molly that – she didn’t actually say in the video – but her parents went to that university.

So, even from engagement from their alumni through to them passing on the recommendations to the kids, is super important.

Make sure you’re subscribed to our blog for the latest season of Higher Education TV!