TAG - higher education

Millennials – those born between 1981 and 1996 – make up approximately 23 percent of the global population, making them the largest adult generation worldwide according to the World Economic Forum.

TikTok and Instagram reels – buzzy, short-form content. That’s the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about grabbing the attention of Generation Z, individuals born between 1997 and 2012. They are the generation following Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha, often described as the first digital native generation. But as we know, nothing is really that simple! So, what is it that business schools specifically can do to attract Gen Z to their programmes?

Post pandemic, amidst widespread cuts across the university sector - especially in the UK, finding a stable and consistent identity from which to market one’s institution from, can create challenge and uncertainty for universities and schools, in a forever changing industry.

It's 6pm on a Saturday night in Birmingham, firework smoke rolls across the Bournbrook playing field as cheerleaders perform a routine to a hillside with several thousand onlooking spectators.

Across the globe, business schools and universities are locked in fierce competition for the best and brightest students. From MBA programmes to executive education courses, institutions are not only tasked with delivering world-class education - they also need to consistently attract new waves of applicants who are informed, selective, and often overwhelmed by choice.

One of the hardest parts of PR is knowing when to say no. Google ‘How to say no’ and you’re met with countless think pieces, links to therapists, podcast episodes, Reddit threads, and YouTube videos.

In today’s evolving corporate landscape, diversity and inclusion (D&I) are not just checkboxes, but fundamental elements of an organisation's success.

As an academic, cultivating an online presence offers essential opportunities for networking, career advancement, and boosting the visibility of your research. For women and members of more marginal groups in academia, developing an online presence can also empower people by enabling community-building.

When considering the best way to scale your communications efforts, a common question arises: Should start-ups hire in-house PR experts, or outsource to specialised PR agencies? Unfortunately, there is no simple yes-or-no answer.

Press releases can be one of the most effective communication tools. They’re a quick way to disseminate information widely to a targeted audience, and a well-written press release can demonstrate professionalism and credibility for your business school.

A PhD in Classics and English Literature might not look like the most natural point from which to jump into PR, but many of the skills you learn doing a humanities PhD are highly relevant for PR work and train you in effective communication. With all that time in dusty libraries, it is also a pleasure and a privilege to get to take those skills and put them in a team setting.

The higher education sector exists in a permanent state of flux. Things are constantly changing. Priorities. Curriculums. Offerings.

One thing you can find in most news pieces, whether that is live TV, radio, podcasts or written news, is an expert opinion to add variety and back up the statements in the article. Has this person – or their PR support – jumped on the news agenda to get there?

We’ve all been there: an exciting piece of research lands on our desk, having sparked a buzz in the academic world. The problem? It’s written in such dense, technical wording that its relevance flies right over the heads of anyone outside the expert bubble.

Once academic research has been done, it is important for that research to be exposed to people, to the general public, and for the important messages of the research to be broadcast widely, for its findings to be disseminated and thereby being able to effect society at large. This is as important for researchers as it is for research itself; professors are assessed more and more on the academic and wider “impact” of their research.

For business schools and universities, PR plays a critical role in shaping perceptions, enhancing visibility, and engaging prospective students. An interview may be brief, but the article that comes from it can have long-lasting effects.

Writing an academic research paper can take a few months to several years. But the work doesn’t stop once the paper is published. Now it’s time to think about promoting your findings in the media and on social media.

From new products and services to fresh approaches to old problems, entrepreneurs are often the force behind innovation and cultural change. Whether for good or bad, entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg, Billy Ingram & Walter Anderson, Henry Ford, and Steve Jobs have had global cultural impacts.

The pop girlies are having a moment this year. Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Charli XCX can all teach us a thing or two about effective PR campaigns.

So, you’re hosting a webinar, summit or debate at your institution. And you want to make it a success, instead of it becoming… forgotten about. The tools in your arsenal? Maybe some impressive stage lights…some fancy dinners… a celebrity guest?

Social media is central to the way in which young people engage with the world around us. It is essential for your institution to establish, of course, brand awareness and brand loyalty, but one that is of significant importance, is the connection with students. With so many people already active on social media platforms, you need to meet your prospective students, current students, and alumni where they are. An effective social media marketing strategy can be a great recruitment tool, a convenient way to quickly share announcements, an effective way to build a community, and so much more. The possibilities are endless!

As universities and business schools around the world face an increasingly competitive recruitment environment, it’s vital that educational institutions continue to come up with creative and strategic ways in order to attract students.

Higher education institutions often strive to set themselves apart from the crowd. For their programmes to be viewed differently – more innovative, more industry-focused, more competitive, better respected – from similar market offerings. The ideal of being “unique” is highly sought.

The concept of ‘word of mouth’ reviews has changed dramatically now that the internet and social media is an integral part of our lives. Years ago, disgruntled students and applicants would express their dissatisfaction by telling their friends and family. Now, they tell the world via a frustrated tweet, withering LinkedIn comment or damning Google review. The speed at which these comments can be shared means that your institution can suffer reputational damage, even though we know these complaints are usually rare, which is why it is important to manage them with care. So, what can you do? Well, firstly, social media makes it harder to distinguish genuine reviews as some networks like Twitter make it easy for people to set up fake profiles, and the anonymity that people can achieve on the internet makes some more comfortable with losing their sense of decency, respect, and good manners. So what's the best way for universities and business schools to overcome these hurdles when dealing with negative reviews and comments? Don’t try to take the review down Respond to all feedback – positive and negative React promptly Treat the negative review as a lesson to put things right and demonstrate your outstanding service Assemble all of the facts and be fully aware of the details of the complaint before replying Remember to apologise Discuss the problem privately Even the very best institutions get the occasional negative comments and reviews

It’s a fair assumption that many people only have a vague idea of what publicity is and why it’s useful for universities and businesses alike.

Learning from your success is great – but learning from your mistakes? Even better.

Results, sadly, do not speak for themselves. Make no mistake, they are still an important part of an institution’s prestige, but relying solely upon them to uphold a reputation is like constructing a one-legged chair: recline upon it at your peril.

My colleague Stephanie Mullins and I recently gave a webinar on how to why we must highlight the successes of women in higher education through the media - and how to do it (for those of you who missed it and would be keen to take a look – its available for free on-demand on our website!)

On the surface, PR and advertising look like similar beasts, but they’re actually quite different. Advertising gives you paid content that reaches as wide an audience as possible, but PR offers a more focused objective, targeting key publications whose readerships are more likely to engage with and act upon what they read.

In Education PR, there are a number of different approaches you can take to boost the profile of your business school or university in the media depending on what your specific goals are.

Would you like to see your name in flashing lights?

Industry 4.0: it’s a term that’s become pretty commonplace in recent years.

Today, master's degrees are surging in popularity, and the number of master's programmes on offer within business schools is growing every year, especially those taught in English.

The competition to attract élite faculty has never been more intense.

(Here’s a hint: the answer is YES!) When choosing where to study my own degree I didn’t just stick to reading university prospectuses and the rankings, I also took the time to look at what other people were saying about the institution and its programmes outside of what the universities chose to share. I read the stories of alumni and I took note of students who’d shared their experiences in newspapers, magazines and blogs.

How do you successfully improve your online reputation? Well, the key is to listen to what your potential students are talking about. To monitor where your competitors are appearing and to anticipate where your industry is heading. It’s about being and staying ahead of the curve.

As Valentine’s Day wraps up, and love is in the air, it seems everyone is thinking about partnering up…

The early days of PR largely involved networking with journalists over the phone, face-to-face meetings, and building relationships with them in order to get companies, institutions and clients into newspapers and magazines. As such, prior to the internet, PR traditionally focused on print-based publications, TV and radio. But is it even PR now if we don’t include online media? With the growth of online marketing, the majority of PR professionals both in-house and in agencies today have shifted their focus further towards digital PR, with online publications becoming more and more influential.

As with any other service you purchase; you want to be able to measure if it has been worth the cost. But with PR, this may not always be easy or obvious. PR works by attempting to influence and change the behaviour, thoughts, and decisions of others. This can be a hard thing to measure, but it’s a lot easier to see the results of a PR campaign if you first outline the impact you want your campaign to have.

There’s no doubt that the role of a PR and communications expert within a higher education institution is a demanding one. Having to keep one foot firmly entrenched within all the comings and goings of their institution and the other foot in the wider world outside, and trying to marry the two. With multiple stakeholders to keep satisfied; students, applicants, faculty, Deans, corporate partners and alumni. It’s an exhaustive list.

Millions of students from across the world go into higher education each year, but with each selecting from thousands of universities and business schools around the world, it is vital that you understand what students are searching for when deciding on where to study, and how to get your school to stand out from the crowd.

How many bars are there in town? Is the accommodation close enough to stumble out of bed at 8:50 for a 9am lecture? Is there a Domino’s that stays open until 5am?

As the head of a business school or other higher education institution, a Dean is in a position of leadership with their profile inextricably linked to that of the institution – think of the Dean as the face of the school’s brand, possibly even their secret weapon.

Covid-19 has proven to be a real test for higher education institutions. The industry has been completely turned upside down over night. Though new research suggests student recruitment numbers are likely to still be fairly high in the UK, the Covid-19 period has still been financially challenging. So much so, that 13 UK universities announced this week they may be going bust without a government bailout.

One of the key aims of your institution is to attract students right? But how do you that successfully? Of course, there are lots of ways you can do this. But here at BlueSky Education we think using stories to do this, might be your secret weapon.

As we enter a new decade, the political climate is arguably more turbulent than ever. The UK has officially left the European Union, which has left everyone in a “transition” period but not everyone really knows what it means, and in terms of education, it’s putting off some EU students from choosing the UK to study.

What are the results of PR efforts for universities? If you are investing money in a service or product, you will want to know whether the investment is worth the time and money. For example, if you’re investing a lot of money in a house, it will only be worth it if the house increases in value. The results of this type of investment is easy to see – an increase in value means it was a good investment.

PR features in a lot of movies and TV shows, albeit in a dramatized and sometimes inaccurate way; Scandal, Sex and the City, and House of Cards all portraying various aspects of PR in a way that shapes what the general public think PR actually is. In fact, when I tell my friends that I work in Public Relations and what that involves, I am often met with responses similar to the following:

There’s an old saying: "Advertising is what you pay for, publicity is what you pray for” (Helen Woodward, 1938). I couldn’t agree more.

Producing innovative and influential academic research is one of the best ways a business school can make itself stand out in a crowded market. In fact, academic research is now so important to a business school’s brand that leading business education news site, Poets & Quants, recently created a new ranking selecting the top 100 business schools for academic research in the world. And it’s no surprise that globally known brands, such as Harvard, Wharton and NYU Stern, finished at the top for academic research too. It’s clear that both a strong brand and strong, impactful academic research go hand in hand in the business school world.