Too many students studying full-time honours degrees at university are causing higher education to be ‘over-consumed’.
A Call for Radical Reform: Higher Education for a Sustainable Economy by Professor Tim Blackman argues that full-time honours degrees were created when universities were small and elite institutions. They were rolled over into the modern mass system of higher education we have today, with little thought about the appropriateness and affordability of providing such a large volume of learning straight after school, with the educational content expected to last a lifetime.
Instead, Professor Tim Blackman says more people need to be studying shorter courses, spreading the cost over time while encouraging lifelong updating of skills and knowledge.
Competition for students has never been tougher. With rising parent expectations and limited budgets, school marketing ideas need to do more than get attention. They have to inspire trust and drive enrolment.
At its core, school marketing includes every effort your institution makes to strengthen brand visibility and attract families. Today’s parents research online, compare schools carefully, and look for authenticity at every touchpoint.
That’s why the most successful private schools are shifting toward creative, data-driven marketing strategies that meet families where they are. The goal isn’t just to promote your programs; it’s to tell your story in a way that highlights your school’s true value, whether that’s academic excellence, a close-knit community, or innovative extracurriculars.
So how can your school stand out? Through inbound marketing, strategies that pull families in rather than push messages out. Inbound marketing builds trust by being genuinely helpful: answering parents’ questions, showcasing real student stories, and creating an online experience that feels personal and sincere.
Even with modest resources, schools that use inbound methods see stronger engagement and higher enrolment.
In this guide, we’ll break down 10 proven school marketing ideas to help boost private school enrolment, from optimizing your website and social channels to using testimonials, events, and storytelling that connect on an emotional level.
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1. Create a High-Quality, SEO-Optimized Website
Your school’s website is your digital front door, the first real impression most families will have of your community. It’s where curiosity turns into consideration, so design and usability matter. A great school website should feel both professional and personal: clean visuals, simple navigation, and all the essentials easy to find, such as tuition, programs, admissions steps, and contact details.
But here’s where many schools fall short: visibility. Even the most beautiful site won’t help if parents can’t find it on Google. That’s where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in. Most families begin their search online, typing things like “best private schools near me” or “bilingual schools in Toronto.” To show up for those queries, your site needs relevant keywords, descriptive titles and meta tags, and fast load times.
Localization also helps. If your school attracts families across regions, tailor content by geography. And don’t stop at information. Your website should engage visitors visually and emotionally. Use dynamic photos and videos of real students, candid campus moments, and parent or alumni testimonials to bring your story to life. Clear calls to action: Book a Tour,Request Info,Apply Now, guide families naturally toward the next step.
Example: Connections Academy (K–12 Online Public Schools): This online school network uses a geo-targeted approach on its site to connect families with their nearest program. A “Find Your School” tool routes visitors to state-specific pages based on ZIP code, ensuring that parents quickly find relevant information like curricula and enrolment steps for their locality. By organizing content by region and using local keywords (e.g., Georgia Connections Academy), the school boosts its presence in local search results.
Finally, make sure it’s mobile-first. Parents are browsing between meetings or from the car. A responsive, regularly updated website signals not only professionalism but also vitality, proof that your school is active, thriving, and ready to welcome new families.
2. Develop Valuable Blog Content and Resources
If your website is the front door, your blog is the conversation that happens once families walk in. It’s your chance to build trust, show expertise, and let your school’s personality shine.
Content marketing works because it educates while it engages. Blog posts, news stories, or downloadable guides can position your school as a thought leader on topics parents actually care about. From how to choose the right private school to how your teachers nurture student confidence. Every post is also an SEO opportunity: each new article gives Google another reason to show your site to searching parents.
Example: Great Lakes College of Toronto (Private High School, ON): GLCT’s blog targets the needs of international students and parents. The school regularly publishes practical articles, from “5 Essential Tips for ESL Students to Succeed in a Canadian Private School” to guides on university admissions. Each post provides valuable advice (e.g., study strategies, application how-tos) while naturally highlighting GLCT’s supportive programs. By answering real questions (like how to improve English or navigate applications) in its content, GLCT attracts the right audience via SEO and builds trust.
Here’s the key: write content that answers parents’ real questions and reflects your school’s strengths. End each post with a next step: Book a Tour,Download Our Admissions Guide, or Join Our Mailing List.
The result? A blog that informs while also converting curiosity into connection.
3. Leverage Social Media to Build Community
In 2025, a strong social media presence is essential. Parents (especially millennials) and students spend hours every day scrolling through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. The majority of students say they use social media when researching schools. For K–12 families, these platforms are often their first window into your community, and leveraging them effectively is one of the most effective school marketing ideas.
Here’s the thing: social media is where your school’s story comes alive. Share moments that reflect your culture: a championship win, a robotics project, a candid classroom laugh. Posts with real photos and videos consistently outperform text-only updates, and they help families visualize what life at your school feels like.
Example: Temple University (Higher Ed, PA): Temple’s social media team has achieved award-winning success by sharing vibrant, authentic content that resonates with students and parents alike. One viral example was a TikTok video of a service dog at graduation, which garnered 3.2 million views and helped Temple achieve a top TikTok engagement rank. More importantly, Temple treats social media as a storytelling and outreach platform: posts across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube showcase campus life and student achievements in ways that help prospective students “see themselves” at Temple.
Consistency and tone matter just as much as creativity. Keep your voice genuine and community-driven, never overly promotional. Use a content calendar to maintain regular posting and highlight diverse voices from your community. Finally, don’t overlook targeted ads. Platforms like Meta and TikTok let you reach local parents by age, location, or interests, which makes them perfect for promoting open houses or admissions deadlines.
But above all, remember this: social media isn’t just about reach, it’s about connection. When families see a living, breathing community on your feeds, they’re provided the opportunity to imagine being part of it.
4. Implement Email Marketing & Lead Nurturing Campaigns
How do you market a private school? By combining digital strategies like SEO, email nurturing, and social media with in-person tactics like open houses and community events. Tailor messaging to families’ needs, use authentic storytelling, and provide clear calls-to-action to drive inquiries and enrolment.
When a prospective family fills out an inquiry form, downloads a guide, or subscribes to your newsletter, they’ve taken the first step, but they’re not ready to apply yet. That’s where email marketing and lead nurturing come in.
Most families need five or more touchpoints before they decide to apply or enrol. The key is staying in touch consistently, offering value each time, not just reminders to “apply now.”
Start by segmenting your email list. Group families by grade level, interests, or where they are in the admissions process, from first inquiry to scheduled tour. This allows you to send messages that actually matter. A parent curious about scholarships will appreciate updates about financial aid or payment plans. Another, interested in athletics, will engage more with stories about your latest championship or coaching philosophy. Modern CRM tools make this kind of personalization simple.
Effective lead nurturing happens through a drip campaign, a planned series of emails spaced over several weeks. The sequence might look like this:
A thank-you email and link to your virtual tour.
A week later, a student or parent testimonial.
Then, an update about upcoming events or key deadlines.
Track metrics like open and click-through rates to see what resonates. If engagement dips, tweak your subject lines or timing.
Example:Peddie School (Boarding High School, NJ): Peddie personalizes its follow-up emails based on each family’s interests. When inquiries come in, the admissions CRM captures details like academic or athletic interests. The school then connects prospects with relevant community members (coaches, teachers) and sends tailored content. For instance, a family noting interest in basketball might receive an email invite to a game and a note about Peddie’s sports facilities. This segmented approach (made clear on Peddie’s inquiry form, which promises to “connect you with coaches and teachers who match your interests”) makes families feel understood and keeps them engaged. A series of drip emails: thank-yous, student stories, deadline reminders, then nurtures each lead from initial inquiry to campus visit to application.
Finally, make your emails two-way. Encourage replies, invite questions, and link to live chats or calls. When families feel heard and guided rather than “marketed to,” they’re far more likely to see your school as their future community.
5. Use Video Marketing to Showcase Your School’s Culture
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video can tell the whole story. Video marketing gives prospective families an inside look at your school, its energy, community, and heart, in a way that text simply can’t. A great video captures what it feels like to be on campus, walking through halls, meeting teachers, or cheering at a game. It builds an emotional bridge between your school and the viewer, and harnessing it properly is another of the more impressive marketing ideas for schools.
Video doesn’t have to be flashy to work. Start small. Create short, story-driven clips: student testimonials, “day in the life” vlogs, quick faculty interviews, or highlight reels from school events. Keep them engaging and under three minutes when possible. Post across platforms: your website, YouTube, Instagram, even TikTok. Videos with strong storytelling and emotional authenticity consistently build trust and drive inquiries.
Example: Westminster Christian Academy (Day School, MO): Westminster created a cinematic short film called “The Wonders of Westminster” to encapsulate its school spirit. Premiered at an open house event to 550+ attendees, this nine-minute video weaves together stunning visuals of campus life with heartfelt student and teacher narratives. Beyond this feature film, Westminster produces numerous short clips: alumni testimonials, “day in the life” vlogs, and event highlight reels, all shared on YouTube and social media. These videos let viewers virtually walk the halls and imagine themselves as part of the community.
Authenticity is what matters. Even a smartphone-shot interview can outperform a high-budget ad if it’s real, relatable, and human. Use live streams, student-led content, and candid storytelling to show your school’s true culture, and let families see themselves as part of it.
6. Optimize Your Local Presence (Google Profile & Reviews)
When parents search “private schools near me,” your school should be one of the first names they see, complete with photos, reviews, and all the right details. That’s where your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) comes in. Think of it as your school’s digital front door.
Here’s what to do: claim your profile, verify it, and fill out every field: address, phone number, website, hours, and category. Upload high-quality photos of your campus, classrooms, and events. An optimized Google profile gives prospects “an easily digestible snapshot of your institution and makes it much easier for your target audience to find you” online. Schools that post regularly and add fresh visuals tend to appear more prominently in local search results and get more clicks.
Next, turn your attention to reviews. Parents trust other parents. Encourage satisfied families to share their experiences on Google, and respond to every review (good or bad) with professionalism and gratitude. It shows transparency and genuine care.
Example: Great Lakes College of Toronto (ON): GLCT leverages its happy families to boost local and global reputation. On its site, GLCT prominently links to external review platforms and showcases testimonials from international graduates. In fact, GLCT encourages parents to share their experiences on Google and Facebook, knowing that “parents trust other parents.” The school provides step-by-step instructions (via a dedicated page) on writing a Google review for GLCT, making it easy for busy parents to post feedback. By managing its online presence through accurate info on Google, active responses to every review, and abundant testimonials, GLCT ensures that when families search “best international high school Toronto,” they not only find GLCT but also see proof of its quality through peer reviews.
In short, managing your local presence is one of the simplest, most powerful enrolment tools you have. When families see accurate information, warm reviews, and vibrant imagery, your school instantly feels credible and worth exploring.
7. Host Open Houses and Community Events (Virtual & In-Person)
There’s nothing quite like seeing a school in action. Open houses, school tours, and community events let families feel what your school is really about. The energy in classrooms, the warmth of the community, the values that guide every interaction. That experience often does more to drive enrolment than any ad campaign ever could.
Today, the most effective schools blend in-person and virtual options. A well-run virtual open house allows busy or distant parents to attend from anywhere, while in-person events create the emotional connection that seals decisions. The key is to make every visit interactive, structured, and personal.
Start with a short welcome presentation from your head of school, followed by Q&A panels with teachers and students. Offer guided tours — physical or via livestream — and create themed “stations” where families can explore specific programs like arts, athletics, or STEM. Virtual attendees? Use breakout rooms or session links so they can choose what interests them most.
Example:Queen Anne’s School (Boarding, UK): Queen Anne’s offers a wide range of visit opportunities to fit every family’s needs. They host large Open Morning events each term (e.g., a Friday or Saturday with campus tours, student panels, and the Head’s welcome) and personal “bespoke” tours by appointment. For students, Queen Anne’s runs Taster Days: full school days where prospective girls join real classes, meet future classmates, and even try boarding for a night. This flexibility ensures that whether a family is local or overseas, busy weekdays or only free on weekends, they can experience the school. The Queen Anne’s website makes it easy to book tours or taster days online, and even features a 360° Virtual Tour so families can explore facilities remotely.
Finally, don’t limit yourself to admissions events. Sponsor local fairs, host workshops, or open performances to the community. Every event is a brand moment. Capture contact info, follow up with thank-you messages and next steps, and keep the conversation going.
When families walk away feeling welcomed and informed, they’re already picturing themselves and their children as part of your school’s story.
8. Invest in Targeted Online Advertising (Including Retargeting)
Organic marketing builds awareness over time, but sometimes you need an extra push to reach the right families fast. That’s where targeted digital advertising comes in. Platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, and Instagram let you put your school in front of parents who are actively researching options, not just scrolling aimlessly.
Think of it this way: when someone searches “private schools in [Your City]” or browses parenting and education pages on Facebook, you can show them a perfectly timed ad for your next open house. These platforms let you narrow by location, age of children, and interests, ensuring your message hits families most likely to engage. Even a few hundred dollars can make a measurable impact when ads are well-targeted and optimized.
How much should a school spend on marketing? Most schools allocate 1–10% of their overall budget to marketing, depending on goals and enrolment needs. Competitive schools aiming to grow or reach new markets may invest more, especially in digital advertising, content, and lead-nurturing systems.
Make every ad count. Use inviting visuals, happy students, engaging classrooms, welcoming teachers, paired with clear headlines (“Discover [School Name]”) and direct CTAs (“Schedule a Tour,” “Join Our Open House”). Test two or three variations at once to see which version gets more clicks, then double down on the winner.
Example: Stenberg College (Private College): Stenberg partnered with HEM to elevate its Google Ads campaigns for student enrolment, ensuring the ads attracted more and higher-quality student leads. With HEM’s support in restructuring and managing these paid search campaigns, Stenberg’s marketing saw “record-breaking enrolments and lead flow” beyond previous levels. The refined advertising strategy also achieved a 28% reduction in cost per lead, demonstrating the efficiency of targeted online ads.
Beyond new audiences, retargeting helps you reconnect with families who already visited your site or clicked on an earlier ad but didn’t inquire. Maybe they browsed your tuition page or watched your virtual tour. A gentle reminder later that week (“Still exploring schools? Visit us this fall!”) can bring them back.
Pro tip: segment retargeting by behavior. Parents who downloaded your admissions guide might see an ad about financial aid, while those who viewed athletics pages could get one about campus life. The more relevant your messaging, the better your conversion rates.
According to Google, every $1 spent on search advertising can generate up to $8 in value. For schools, that often means more inquiries, more tours, and more applications, without overspending. In short: targeted ads aren’t about throwing money at the problem; they’re about placing your story in front of the right families, right when they’re ready to listen.
9. Create Downloadable Guides and Lead Magnets
Want a steady stream of new inquiries from your website? Offer something valuable first. Downloadable resources like e-books, checklists, or planning guides give parents useful information and give your admissions team qualified leads to nurture.
Here’s how it works: you create a helpful resource (“5 Things to Consider When Choosing a Private School,” for example), place it behind a short form asking for a name and email, and voilà, you’ve started a conversation. It’s a win-win: parents get expert advice, and you get insight into who’s exploring your school.
Example:Fairfield Prep (High School, CT): Fairfield Prep entices prospective families with a free e-book called the “High School Decision Guide.” On its admissions page, a prompt acknowledges that “choosing a high school is a life-changing decision” and invites visitors to download the guide to help them weigh their options. To get the guide, parents simply fill out a short form (name, email, child’s grade), providing Prep with a valuable lead. The guide itself, “5 Things to Consider When Choosing a High School,” offers general tips on factors like academics, community, and fit – not a pure advertisement, but a genuinely useful resource for any 8th-grade parent.
The best lead magnets solve real questions: a “School Visit Checklist,” a “Private vs. Public Comparison Chart,” or a “Financial Aid Planning Worksheet.” Even quizzes like “What’s Your Child’s Learning Style?” can engage parents while introducing your school’s philosophy.
Design matters too. Make your guide visually appealing, branded, and easy to read. Include a final call-to-action inviting families to take the next step, like booking a tour or contacting admissions.
Finally, promote your downloads across your website, blog posts, and pop-ups. Each new subscriber is a potential applicant, and your content positions your school as the trusted expert helping them get there.
10. Encourage Reviews, Testimonials, and Word-of-Mouth
At the end of the day, no marketing tool is more powerful than a happy parent or student sharing their story. Families trust real voices over polished ads. It’s why word-of-mouth remains one of the strongest enrolment drivers for private schools.
Start by collecting testimonials from your most satisfied families, students, and alumni. These can take many forms: written quotes, short videos, or casual social posts. Display them prominently. Sprinkle parent quotes across your website, include testimonial snippets in your newsletters, or dedicate a full webpage or YouTube playlist to success stories. The goal is to help prospects think, “That could be us.”
Example:Tessa International School (Preschool & Elementary, NJ): Tessa turns its parent community into its best ambassadors. The school’s website features a dedicated Testimonials page with dozens of short parent videos and quotes. Each testimonial is labeled with the family’s name and program (e.g., “Etienne’s Dad – Elementary”, “Zoe & Sophia’s Mom – Preschool & Elementary”), adding a warm personal touch. Tessa promotes these stories on social media as well, regularly sharing “Thank you” posts to parents who give shout-outs on Facebook. Additionally, the school links to external reviews on Niche.com and invites new parents to talk to veteran parents. This open celebration of parent voice not only builds trust with prospects (they see real satisfaction) but also fuels a virtuous cycle: Tessa’s parents feel valued and are even more likely to spread the word.
Encourage satisfied families to leave Google and Facebook reviews after positive milestones such as a great report card or a successful event. Monitor those reviews and respond thoughtfully. An active, appreciative reply tells others that your school listens and cares.
Don’t stop there. Turn your current community into ambassadors. Offer small referral incentives or create shareable moments, photo days, spirit challenges, and alumni shoutouts that naturally spark pride and conversation.
The result? A thriving network of advocates. When people talk about your school with genuine enthusiasm, it builds credibility and attracts families who already believe in what you stand for.
Partner with HEM to Build Momentum That Lasts
Attracting new families is about consistency, connection, and authenticity. Every piece of your marketing matters: a clear website that tells your story, social media posts that capture daily life, thoughtful emails that guide parents, and real voices from your community that build trust. When all of these elements work together, they create something powerful: a lasting impression.
Schools that commit to steady, strategic communication see results that compound over time. Keep testing, refining, and listening to what families respond to. When your marketing reflects the real experience, your students and parents love, it shows, and it resonates.
If you’re ready to take your private school marketing to the next level, Higher Education Marketing (HEM) can help. We specialize in crafting digital strategies that combine creativity, data, and storytelling to boost visibility, engagement, and enrolment.
From SEO and content creation to paid ads and automation, we’ll help you connect with families who are searching for exactly what your school offers. Because when your marketing feels genuine, families don’t just notice, they believe. And that’s what turns interest into enrolment.
Struggling with enrollment?
Our expert digital marketing services can help you attract and enroll more students!
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: What is school marketing?
Answer: At its core, school marketing includes every effort your institution makes to strengthen brand visibility and attract families. It involves branding, outreach, and communications across channels like websites, ads, email, social media, and events to connect with prospective families.
Question: How do you market a private school?
Answer: By combining digital strategies like SEO, email nurturing, and social media with in-person tactics like open houses and community events. Tailor messaging to families’ needs, use authentic storytelling, and provide clear calls-to-action to drive inquiries and enrolment.
Question: How much should a school spend on marketing?
Answer: Most schools allocate 1–10% of their overall budget to marketing, depending on goals and enrolment needs. Competitive schools aiming to grow or reach new markets may invest more, especially in digital advertising, content, and lead-nurturing systems.
UK universities are under mounting financial pressure. Join HEPI and King’s College London Policy Institute on 11 November 2025 at 1pm for a webinar on how universities balance relatively stable but underfunded income streams against higher-margin but volatile sources. Register now. We look forward to seeing you there.
The Prime Minister’s new target is for two-thirds of young people to participate in higher-level learning by age 25. This encompasses not only undergraduate degrees but also higher technical education and apprenticeships, all delivered under a single funding model for all Level 4-6 courses. Some have described this as England’s turn to tertiary, six years after the Augar Review called for a more ‘joined-up system’.
Since at least the 1990s, English post-secondary education has been characterised by market-based regulatory apparatus and fragmentation. Further education is associated with technical and vocational education, and training and entry to the labour market; higher education with professions, leadership, and research. Oversight of both is dispersed across multiple agencies and further disconnected from adult and lifelong learning. Critics have argued that, consequently, market logics have sustained wasteful competition and produced a homogenised system that privileges higher education over further education, to the detriment of equity and national skills needs.
If Augar exposed the limits of market-driven differentiation between further education and higher education, tertiary approaches in the devolved nations illustrate how greater collaboration and integrated oversight offer a potential corrective. Wales and Scotland have advanced considerably in a ‘tertiary’ direction and developed governance modes that exercise holistic stewardship over funding and quality regimes. They are justified on grounds of efficiency, concertedness, and the capacity to advance the common good. In Wales, Medr uses its statutory powers under the Well-being of Future Generations Act to guide institutions in meeting duties on equality, sustainability, and civic mission. In Scotland, the Scottish Funding Council leads the Outcome Agreement process, through which colleges and universities set out activities in return for funding. Even in England, partnerships at a regional level, such as those in the North East or through Institutes of Technology, aim to facilitate partnerships to align lifelong learning with local economic needs. In 2021, the last time a representative survey of the scale of collaboration took place, 80% of colleges and 50% of universities in the UK had formal programme links (and it is likely that collaboration has grown since then).
Despite this prevalence and enthusiasm, research on how the benefits arising from tertiary collaboration manifest at the level of institutions and students is limited. In a short exploratory study with the Edge Foundation, I examined one facet of tertiary systems in Scotland and England: the creation of formal student transition ‘pathways’ between colleges and universities. The aim was not a comprehensive survey, but to sample something of the nature of collaboration in existing systems, to gather evidence to think with and about the concept of tertiary and the place of collaboration and competition.
Collaboration as an adaptive strategy
Existing collaborations are, perhaps surprisingly, not foremost concerned with any given common good. Instead, collaboration often emerges as an adaptive strategy within conditions of resource scarcity. Local ‘natural alliances’ in shared specialisms, mutual values, and commitments to widening participation were important in establishing trust necessary to sustain joint work. Yet, as the study found, institutional precarity is the principal driver.
One Scottish interviewee put it plainly:
‘If I’m sitting there and I’ve got 500 applications, like 10 applications for any place, I’ve got good, strong applications. I’m not going to be going, right, how am I going to look at different ways to bring in students?’
Well-resourced institutions do not collaborate out of necessity: those under pressure do. Partnerships often take the form of a ‘grow your own’ recruitment pipeline, guaranteeing transitions between partner institutions. Universities could ask ‘some tough questions’ of colleges if progression was lower than anticipated. In some cases, institutions agree to partition markets to avoid directly competing for the same students.
Collaboration could also be used as an instrument of competition. In Scotland, articulation agreements (under which universities recognise vocational qualifications such as HNDs and HNCs and admit students with advanced standing) are commonplace. Colleges in this research reported ‘some bad behaviour’ where partner universities would use these agreements to siphon off students from colleges to secure enrolment numbers. This was contrary to the wishes of colleges, which argued that many such students might benefit from the more intimate and supportive college environment for an additional year, better preparing them to enter the more independent learning environment of university.
What collaboration offers students
Where collaboration was stable, tangible benefits followed for learners. Partnerships combine colleges’ attentive pedagogies and flexible resources with university accreditation and facilities. This enables smaller class sizes, greater pastoral attention, and sometimes improved retention and progression, particularly in educational cold spots. Colleges bring local specialisms and staff expertise, often linked to industry, which enrich university courses through co-design and joint delivery.
This lends cautious support to the claims of tertiary advocates: that collaboration can widen access and enhance provision. Yet formal, longitudinal evidence of graduate outcomes remains rare. The value of such partnerships, their distinctiveness, public benefit, and contribution to regional prosperity need to be more readily championed.
From expedient to strategic collaboration
As an instrument, collaboration is worth understanding. The capacity to facilitate collaboration as a strategic good is an important policy lever where market mechanisms are unable to respond immediately or efficiently to the imperatives of national need and public finance. The study suggests four priorities for policymakers:
Clarify national priorities and reform incentives
Collaboration has greater utility than an institutional survival tool. With the bringing together of funding for further education and higher education, there is an opportunity to create stability. Together with the clear articulation of long-term educational goals, strategic cooperation in pursuit of these ends could be sustained.
Strengthen regional governance
Where regional stewardship exists, through articulation hubs or in Scotland’s Outcome Agreements, collaboration is more systematic. England’s existing fragmented oversight and policy churn undermine this. Regional coherence enables institutions to collectively make strategic planning decisions.
Value colleges’ distinct niche
Colleges’ localism, technical capacity, and pedagogical expertise are distinctive assets. Policy should promote these specialisms and encourage co-design and co-delivery rather than hierarchical franchising. Partnerships should foreground each institution’s unique contribution, not replicate the same provision in different guises.
Improve data sharing and evaluation
The absence of mechanisms to track students’ journeys and long-term outcomes, including ‘distance travelled’ evaluations, makes claims about distinctiveness and public benefit harder to substantiate.
Tertiary turns in resource scarcity
Policy discourse has tended to over-dichotomise competition and collaboration. The question is: to what extent each strategy is most helpful for achieving agreed social ends. Where partnership is an appropriate mechanism, it requires a policy architecture with clarity of purpose and stability. To what ends collaboration is put to must be settled through democratic means – a more complicated question altogether.
It is the second blog in HEPI’s series responding to the post-16 education and skills white paper. You can find the first blog here.
Despite the post-16 education and skills white paper devoting an entire sub-section to ‘Improving Access and Participation’, the genuine challenges facing students receive minimal attention. The skills agenda within the Government is so strong that the paper frames students, and the student experience, in terms of their potential future contribution to the economy and regional growth. This results in little attempt to understand and address the student experience and the very real challenges that students are currently facing.
A shift to the skills agenda
The Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) takes up several bullet points within this section of the paper. In fact, the decision to categorise the LLE under the heading of access provides an interesting insight into the Government’s broader approach to access and participation. Considering the LLE as a subsection of this initiative reframes the focus of access from entrance to higher education to employment outcomes and progression throughout a person’s life. This shift is an idea repeated throughout the white paper that dovetails with the Government’s skills agenda. It indicates that the Government views higher education as a means to add future value to the economy and a tool through which its Industrial Strategy can be furthered. This approach leaves little room for those subjects and disciplines that fall outside the strategy, let alone for learning for its own sake.
Both modular LLE courses and the newly announced maintenance grants (as announced within the white paper, and previously at the Labour Party Conference) are available only to those studying courses that link to the Government’s wider Industrial Strategy. As may be easily guessed, this results in a list of subjects that largely dovetail with the science and technology sectors – arts and humanities subjects don’t get a look in. Tying maintenance grants to the study of pre-approved science subjects risks disincentivising students from low-income backgrounds from pursuing arts and humanities subjects – potentially entrenching bias and elitism within this sector, as well as furthering the narrative of ‘Mickey Mouse degrees’. As the costs of studying at university continue to rise, some prospective students will struggle to justify studying the subject of their choice if it means losing out on access to maintenance grants. Many of these excluded subjects are already in crisis – as the HEPI / Duolingo report The Language Crisis: Arresting Decline demonstrates, undergraduate enrolments in ‘Language & Area Studies’ have decreased by 20% in five years. Disincentivising students from taking these courses will surely only deepen this crisis further.
These criticisms do not mean the LLE and the reintroduction of maintenance grants are bad policies. The latter is a particularly welcome development that has long been campaigned for by HEPI and the National Union of Students. However, the limited nature of their current form limits the positive impact they could otherwise have. While there is no current clarification on the precise threshold that will be placed on access to maintenance grants, the Government’s lack of movement on the parental income thresholds within the student finance system likely means only a very small number of students will be eligible.
When first announcing this policy at the Labour Party conference, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson claimed that the reintroduction of maintenance grants would ensure students spent their time at university ‘learning or training, not working every hour God sends’. This perhaps suggests that maintenance grants will be available in addition to, not instead of, the maintenance loan for those eligible students, although we keenly await the detail which will be outlined by the Chancellor in the upcoming Budget. However, this doesn’t solve the deepening financial crisis facing a large number of students in higher education – many of whom simply will not be eligible for the new maintenance grants.
HEPI’s research into the Minimum Income Standard for Students highlights how the current maximum maintenance loan covers just half of the costs faced by freshers. Furthermore, the parental income threshold for eligibility for the maximum loan is currently so out of touch that a student from a household with a single parent earning just above the minimum wage will not be eligible for the maximum loan. The Government has sought to highlight that maintenance loans will increase in line with forecast inflation for every academic year, but this is merely a continuation of the current policy and will not address the financial crisis that many students face. Plus, forecast inflation tends to be lower than actual inflation. Similarly, the promise that care leavers will automatically become eligible to receive the maximum rate of loan is also a reiteration of a policy already in place. Care leavers (and estranged students) are classified as independent and therefore are eligible for the maximum loan. To reiterate, this maximum loan covers only half of the costs these students will face while at university.
Postgraduate access
The inclusion of postgraduate access in the white paper is a welcome addition – and an unsurprising one when considering how this white paper has framed access in terms of career progression and skills. However, once more, the inclusion of postgraduate students within access goals falls short due to a failure to address the root causes of the widening crises for home postgraduate students in England. Postgraduate taught tuition fees now exceed the maximum postgraduate loan – meaning that a student has used up their entire loan before even considering their cost of living.
Instead of engaging with this, the paper encourages providers to include postgraduate study in their Access and Participation Plans (APP). This is, in itself, a positive development; however, without addressing the financial barriers faced by many prospective postgraduate students, this inclusion will have very limited impact.
The access and participation section of the post-16 education and skills white paper provides an insight into how this Government conceives of these issues. However, the focus on students as future employees paints a worrying picture of a Government that is more concerned with next steps than with higher education itself.
This blog was kindly authored by Dr Gisela Tomé Lourido (@gisetomelourido.bsky.social), Associate Professor in Sociophonetics at the University of LeedsandNiamh Mullen, Associate Professor in English for Academic Purposes at the University of Leeds.
‘All Accents Welcome’ campaign launch
Everyone has an accent – a way of speaking that reflects different aspects of our identities
Accent variation is a natural feature of spoken language, shaped by our social, geographical, and cultural backgrounds. This diversity enriches our academic and professional environments by bringing a wider range of perspectives and ways of thinking.
At the University of Leeds, we have launched the “All Accents Welcome” campaign: an initiative designed to raise awareness of the importance of accents to individuals’ identities. It highlights how accent bias can affect students’ and colleagues’ experiences and opportunities at university, while promoting the value of the diverse voices that strengthen our community, from all corners of the UK and the world.
As one contributor to the campaign put it:
My accent is an integral part of who I am. It’s like my cultural identity, my roots.
Through the campaign, we present the University’s new Accent Equality Statement, a policy commitment to welcoming and respecting all accents, the statement aligns with broader institutional efforts to address class, race, gender, and other forms of inequality.
Why accent bias should be on every higher education institutions’s agenda
Another contributor to the “All Accents Welcome” campaign said: “I thought twice before speaking in class because I thought I would be mocked at just because the way I spoke.”
For many students, accent bias adds another layer of complexity to their university experience. It influences how they are heard, how they participate, and how they succeed, not just at university, but in their future careers. While this is fundamentally an equity issue, it also affects key institutional metrics, including student satisfaction, outcomes, continuation, and employability. Yet, it remains under-recognised in most institutional equity and inclusion strategies.
We believe that tackling accent bias must become a sector-wide priority. That means taking a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and holistic approach to create a cultural change where linguistic diversity is recognised as an asset and mocking, and questioning someone’s accent is de-normalised. In our earlier HEPI blog, we outlined four actionable recommendations for higher education institutions:
Raise awareness of the value of linguistic diversity and the impact of accent bias in Higher Education. Deliver campaigns, workshops, and talks using real stories, data, and interactive activities.
Embed action to tackle accent bias into policy and practice. Revise institutional policies to include linguistic diversity and accent bias explicitly; incorporate training on accent bias into students and staff induction, and teaching, tutoring, and leadership development; and ensure assessment criteria and feedback are inclusive.
Create report and support routes for students and staff who are the target of linguistic discrimination. Complement these with training staff providing support to students.
Evaluate impact and identify areas for further change to ensure that efforts to tackle accent bias are effective, sustainable, and responsive to their specific contexts.
From statement to action
At the University of Leeds there is a growing community of staff and students committed to addressing accent bias and embedding this work into institutional practice. The campaign was co-designed with students, academic and professional services staff, and representatives from Leeds University Union, ensuring it reflects a wide range of lived experiences. It forms part of the work of the University’s institutional working group “Tackling Accent Bias”, which is focused on translating the statement into policy and practice, guided by the recommendations outlined above.
Join the conversation
We invite colleagues across the sector to watch our “All Accents Welcome” video and join us in reflecting on how accent bias may be operating in their own institutions. What assumptions do we make based on how someone speaks? How do those assumptions shape our interactions, decisions, and environments?
UK universities are under mounting financial pressure. Join HEPI and King’s College London Policy Institute on 11 November 2025 at 1pm for a webinar on how universities balance relatively stable but underfunded income streams against higher-margin but volatile sources. Register now. We look forward to seeing you there.
This blog was kindly authored by Philip Bakstad, Diversity and Inclusion Manager at Liverpool John Moores University.
Chris’s mum died soon after his birth and his dad was out of the picture. He was brought up by his Nan, living with her in her council house. Chris’s Nan passed away while Chris was doing his foundation year at Liverpool John Moores University. The council wanted the house back. Still grieving for his Nan, Chris was at risk of becoming homeless and dropping out of university.
Stories like Chris’ are not uncommon, yet they are at risk of being overlooked as university staff across the country gear up for the return of students each September. More on Chris later…
The start of the academic year is both an exciting and hectic time for students and staff on university campuses across the country. For care-experienced and estranged students (CEES), this time of year often comes with a unique set of anxieties and challenges, as they not only navigate the usual issues around meeting new friends, understanding timetables and deciding which Freshers events to attend, but also transition into new living set-ups which will often now be their permanent home while studying at their new university.
A diversity of experience
The terms ‘care-experienced’ and ‘estranged’ encapsulate a broad range of lived experiences of students who have faced particular challenges related to their family circumstances while growing up. This can include having previously lived in a formal foster care arrangement with a Local Authority; being raised by another family member in kinship care or becoming estranged from their parents after the age of 16.
Much has been done across the sector over the past two decades to address the under-representation of care-experienced and estranged students in higher education, but there remains a great deal of inconsistency. Young people who meet the formal definition of a ‘Care Leaver’ are eligible for a level of statutory support but this varies by Local Authority. For students who do not meet this legal definition but have experience of care or have faced other family disruption, there remains no national benchmark for what key support should be offered by all institutions across the higher education sector.
Organisations such as NNECL, the Unite Foundation and the much-missed charity StandAlone have been invaluable partners as universities have developed Access and Participation Plans and specific interventions to not only improve the number of care experienced and estranged students accessing higher education, but also ensure that each care-experienced or estranged student receives a holistic support package, tailored to their individual needs.
A home for success
A key element of most institutions’ offer will be the provision of extended tenancies or ‘all year round’ accommodation. This recognises that many care-experienced and estranged students will be making their new accommodation their permanent base once the academic year begins. While this is now broadly accepted as best practice across the sector, many students still face difficulties in providing a guarantor or raising the funds for a deposit to secure the accommodation that will best suit their needs.
At Liverpool John Moores University, we have long operated a ‘Guarantor Waiver’ scheme as part of our partnership arrangements with our accommodation providers in the city, ensuring that no care-experienced or estranged student should be excluded from accessing accommodation at this key transition point in their lives. The Unite Foundation, led by students on their scholarship programme, are now campaigning for all universities to provide similar support.
The following case studies provide some insight into the experiences of care experienced and estranged students and highlight the importance of accommodation as an invaluable support during their degree studies. Some details have been changed to protect anonymity.
Case study 1 – growing up in kinship care
Chris had been raised by his grandmother since an early age. During his Foundation Year at LJMU his grandmother sadly passed away and he contacted the Student Advice team for support as he would no longer be able to return home to their council house at the end of the academic year. Chris’ mother had passed away shortly after his birth and he had no contact with his biological father so he was at immediate risk of becoming homeless over the summer period.
In the first instance, our accommodation partnership meant the university was able to reassure Chris that he would be able to extend his tenancy over the summer. At the same time, LJMU provided academic and wellbeing support to ensure his studies weren’t adversely impacted.
Chris’ key worry was having a stable home for the duration of his studies. He was very clear that living in halls worked for him as he had built up good relationships with the staff there. Moving into private accommodation and the logistical issues that posed caused him a great deal of anxiety.
The university signposted him towards the Unite Foundation Scholarship and his application was a success. Chris lived in a Unite Students property, with his rent and bills covered by the Scholarship, for the duration of his studies at LJMU.
As he navigated this complex period in his life, knowing that his university accommodation was guaranteed for three years was an anchor for Chris. He graduated with a 2:1 and is currently working in the IT sector.
Case study 2 – becoming estranged at 18
Alice became estranged from her mother aged 18, following a breakdown in the relationship between her and her mother’s new partner. She was asked to leave the family home and slept on friends’ sofas before her college became aware of her circumstances. She then moved into a young person’s foyer – a supported living space for young people who would otherwise experience homelessness.
Alice’s Foyer Support Worker contacted LJMU as she was unable to provide a deposit or guarantor to secure her accommodation and had questions about how to apply for student finance as an independent student. Our partnership agreement enables LJMU to request that partner accommodation providers waive the need for a guarantor for care experienced and estranged students, so the university was able to quickly provide reassurance that the absence of a guarantor and deposit would not be a barrier to Alice booking her chosen accommodation.
Upon arriving at LJMU, Alice met other estranged students at a social meet-up and chose to live in an LJMU partner hall with three other students for years 2 and 3 of their studies. While their family circumstances were all different, this sense of community and peer support was invaluable to Alice and her flatmates. She is now a high school teacher and keeps support staff at LJMU updated on new developments in her life.
In conclusion
There is so much to be excited about at the start of each academic year. Meeting new students and supporting them to step into independence is a privilege for both academic and Professional Service staff at universities across the country. It is an important milestone in every young person’s life but, for care experienced and estranged students, can be an even more pivotal moment of change and uncertainty. While I’ve only touched on the importance of accommodation in providing stability in this blog, it’s worth reflecting on the fact that not every student moving into university accommodation will be doing so with the support (and ‘Bank of’) Mum and Dad and that, for this group of students, we need to continue to go the extra mile to ensure they are able to get in and get on in higher education.
This blog was kindly authored by Professor Randall S Whittaker Principal and CEO Rose Bruford College.
London’s creative industries are not a cultural accessory; they are an economic engine. Around one in seven jobs in the capital sits within the creative industries, and if you include creative roles embedded across other sectors, that figure rises to nearly one in five. Almost a third of all UK creative businesses are based in London.
The UK’s creative success is no accident. It rests on a delicate, interdependent education ecosystem: specialist arts institutions; research hubs; and universities that together generate not only talent but innovation, identity and national soft power.
That ecosystem is under pressure. Rising costs, uneven funding, and the new fashion for mergers, the proposed “super university” being the latest example, are driving a wave of consolidation.
Why “super universities” miss the point
When two generalist universities merge, their academic portfolios may blend. When a small, practice-led arts institution is absorbed, it rarely blends; it dissolves. Studios become seminar rooms. Ensemble training becomes optional. Niche disciplines disappear in the name of efficiency. Scale rewards the generic; creativity thrives in the specific.
The Kent–Greenwich merger, planned for 2026, is being hailed as a pragmatic response to sector-wide financial stress. On paper, such consolidations look neat: shared back-office functions, pooled estates, a single regional brand. But higher education is not a spreadsheet exercise.
It’s understandable that, given Rose Bruford College’s geography — located between Kent and Greenwich — and a financial position that has been challenging but is now improving, some might assume that joining a “super university” is the logical next step.
Yet that assumption misunderstands what specialist colleges contribute. Rose Bruford’s strength lies precisely in what cannot be merged: its scale, its agility, its ensemble ethos, its craft-specific research culture, and its proven industry connectivity. The College’s recovery — from stabilised finances to a UKRI-funded research project and multiple national awards for both performance and technical excellence — shows that independence is not indulgence; it is impact.
The question is not whether Bruford can survive outside the merger, but whether the creative industries can afford to lose what institutions like Bruford uniquely provide. When specialist institutions disappear, we do not gain efficiency; we lose an entire mode of creativity.
There are, of course, examples where partnership has protected identity: the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire operates as an associate faculty of Birmingham City University, retaining its governance and character while sharing infrastructure. That balance, autonomy with alignment, is the exception not the rule. For most specialist creative institutions, a merger could mean absorption, not collaboration.
From curtain call to crucible
It remains true that it is a curtain call for the old, exclusionary model of time-intensive training that shuts out those without privilege or flexibility. What must be defended now is the right of specialist institutions to re-imagine rigorous training on equitable, sustainable terms.
Specialist creative higher education is not a conveyor belt. It is a crucible. To mistake it for a “skills pipeline” is to misunderstand its purpose. Specialist higher education institutions are not service departments for the creative industries; they are cultural forces — sites of disruption, experimentation and social imagination.
Graduates from these environments do not merely enter the creative industries; they redefine them. They found new companies, invent formats, challenge hierarchies, and expand who gets to tell Britain’s stories.
Research, re-imagined
Specialist arts institutions do not reject research; they redefine it. Practice is their laboratory. Performance, design and experimentation are their methodologies. Rose Bruford’s recently UKRI-funded research project exemplifies how specialist providers drive national innovation, producing knowledge that moves from rehearsal rooms to public discourse, from artistic experiment to policy impact.
The power of the specific
The reach of this work is visible every night on screens and stages.
Jessica Gunning, BAFTA, Emmy and Golden Globe winner for Baby Reindeer, trained at Rose Bruford.
Bernardine Evaristo, Bruford alumna and Booker Prize winner, saw her novel Mr Loverman adapted for television and a Women’s Prize Outstanding Contribution Award, recognising her “transformative impact on literature and her unwavering dedication to uplifting under-represented voices”.
Stephen Graham and Hannah Walters, who met as Bruford students, co-starred in Adolescence — proof that specialist institutions forge lifelong creative partnerships.
Sir Gary Oldman, Slow Horses, began his journey at Bruford and continues to define British performance worldwide.
Excellence extends far beyond the spotlight. At the Profile Awards, lighting design alumni Jessica Hung Han Yun, Sarah Readman, and Joshua Pharo, together with Joshie Harriette, all received national recognition. Hung Han Yun — also an Olivier Award winner for My Neighbour Totoro — shows how specialist training produces innovators whose artistry is both technical and conceptual. These achievements prove that excellence in production crafts is not ancillary to the arts; it is integral to Britain’s creative leadership.
Diversity and student choice
A healthy higher-education system depends on difference, in mission, in method, in who it serves.
If independent specialist higher education institutions disappear, the UK’s higher-education landscape flattens. The sector loses, not only training for performers and designers, but the pedagogical diversity that keeps higher education alive, the alternative modes of learning that reach students who may not thrive in traditional university structures.
For students, the consequences are immediate. Choice collapses from a landscape of craft pathways to a handful of broad “creative-arts” degrees. The student who might have trained as a lighting designer, scenographer or community-theatre facilitator is left with a single, generic option. In a system obsessed with “student choice”, consolidation removes the very choices that matter most — about identity, craft and form.
GuildHE’s recent Championing a Diverse Higher Education Sector manifesto underscores this point. It highlights the extra costs of small-class teaching and industry-standard facilities that specialist colleges cannot cross-subsidise, and calls for direct funding, reform of research and knowledge-exchange thresholds, and capital investment to secure the sector’s future. These are not indulgences; they are the practical conditions for diversity itself.
Funding reform is an investment in inclusion
What specialist institutions seek is not indulgence — and not simply more money to do the same thing. They seek resources that enable transformation: sustainable workloads, flexible modules, hybrid teaching, and equitable access, without sacrificing rigour.
As GuildHE notes, funding architecture must recognise that small specialist colleges cannot offset studio-based costs in the way comprehensive universities can. Reforming those systems is how government can genuinely champion diversity rather than merely declare it.
Starving specialist institutions into mergers is not efficiency; it is slow erasure.
A national imperative
Britain’s creative industries are a cornerstone of the economy and of international reputation. Yet the institutions that make that possible are treated as optional extras.
If independent, practice-led institutions vanish, we lose not only talent pipelines but the laboratories of imagination, the incubators of diversity, and the ability to renew what British creativity means.
Specialist creative institutions are not relics of the past. They are the crucibles of the future — where risk is rehearsed, difference made visible, and new worlds imagined into being. Fold them into super universities, and the loss will not be obvious at first. But over time, our screens, our stages and our stories will all start to look the same. And by then, it will be too late.
The blog below was kindly authored for HEPI by Claire Toogood, Research and Strategic Projects Manager at AGCAS.
Elsewhere, Nick Hillman, HEPI’s Director, has responded to the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper in a piece for Times Higher Education.
In recent years, UK higher education has made significant strides in embedding employability into the curriculum. From frameworks and toolkits to strategic initiatives, the sector has embraced the idea that employability is not an add-on, but a core element and outcome of any academic course. Yet, as the new Uncovering Skills report reveals, embedding is only part of the story. A future challenge, and significant opportunity for impact, lies in helping students uncover, recognise, and articulate the skills they are already developing.
The latest findings from the Uncovering Skills project suggest that visibility, confidence, and perceived relevance remain major barriers. Students often struggle to recognise the value of their informal experiences (such as part-time work, caring responsibilities, and volunteering) and they can lack the language to describe these in employer-relevant terms. As one focus group participant noted, ‘Students often think if it’s not linked to their degree then it is not relevant.’ Another added, ‘They disregard skills gained from everyday life – like being a parent or managing during Covid.’. To resolve this, reflection is critical, but it is inconsistently supported across higher education. Time-poor students tend to engage only when prompted by immediate needs, such as job applications. ‘Reflection from the student perspective doesn’t become a need until they’ve got an interview,’ said one participant. Others highlighted that ‘self-reflection and deeper knowledge of skills is where students fall down… poor preparation in earlier education is a factor.’.
The report also highlights that some student cohorts face compounded challenges. International students, disabled students, and those from widening participation backgrounds require tailored and targeted support to uncover and express their strengths. Institutional collaboration with career development experts is essential, yet reflections from careers professionals involved in the project show that they are not always included in curriculum design, and staff who champion employability often lack recognition, no matter where they are employed within their institution.
Technology, including AI, offers new possibilities, but also risks encouraging superficial engagement if not used intentionally. ‘Rather than learning what these skills are and having to articulate them, they just abdicate that responsibility to AI,’ warned one contributor. Another observed that students are ‘superficially surfing through university – not as connected to skills development’. The Uncovering Skills report includes a series of case studies that explain how careers professionals and academic staff at ACGAS member institutions are tackling these multiple challenges.
So, what needs to change?
The report makes six recommendations:
Make skills visible and recognisable: Use discipline-relevant language and real-world examples to help students connect academic learning to transferable skills.
Support students to uncover skills across contexts: Validate informal and non-traditional experiences as legitimate sources of skill development. Embed reflection opportunities throughout.
Equip staff to facilitate skills recognition: Provide training, shared frameworks, and recognition for staff supporting students in uncovering and articulating their skills.
Use technology to enhance, not replace, reflection: Promote ethical, intentional use of AI and digital tools to support self-awareness and skill articulation.
Tailor support to diverse student needs: Design inclusive, flexible support that reflects the lived experiences and barriers faced by different student cohorts.
Foster a culture of skill recognition across the institution: Embed uncovering skills into institutional strategy, quality processes, and cross-functional collaboration.
The report includes a call to action, stressing that it is time to build on excellent work to embed and integrate employability by fully supporting students to uncover and articulate their skills. This includes ensuring that all students can equitably access the tools, language, and support they need to succeed. It must include the creation of environments where students feel confident recognising and expressing their skills, whether from academic settings, extra-curricular spaces, or lived experiences; championing equity by validating all forms of learning. It also means investing in staff development and cross-functional collaboration.
Uncovering skills is a shared responsibility, and a powerful opportunity, to transform how students understand themselves, their experiences and learning, and their future.
The HEPI / Kaplan Soft-Power Index looks at the number of very senior world leaders (monarchs, presidents and prime ministers) who studied at a higher level in another country.
Countries that have educated a significant proportion of the world’s most senior leaders are thought to benefit from a boost to their ‘soft power’.
The results for the leading two countries, the US and the UK, are broadly comparable to those for recent years but other countries, like France and Germany, fare worse than in past years while Russia and India have improved their position.
For the first time, the results are being published according to the institution that world leaders studied at. Harvard University and the University of Oxford lead the pack, with Sandhurst, the University of Cambridge, the LSE and the University of Manchester making up the rest of the top 6.
When launching the Soft Power Council in early 2025, the UK’s then Foreign Secretary, the Rt Hon. David Lammy MP, said, ‘Soft power is fundamental to the UK’s impact and reputation around the world. I am often struck by the enormous love and respect which our music, sport, education and institutions generate on every continent.’ The HEPI / Kaplan Soft-Power Index offers one way to measure the extent of this soft power.
In 2025, the United States remains comfortably in first place, as their higher education institutions have educated 66 senior world leaders, which is only slightly lower than the US total for 2024 (68). The UK remains in a comfortable second place, having educated 59 world leaders. France performs less well than in the past but stays in third place, with 23 leaders.
The Index is based on a snapshot of world leaders for early August 2025. Changes since then are not reflected in the data. The Index should not be regarded as the only way to measure soft power and should be used alongside other sources of information.
Since the Soft-Power Index was launched in 2017, 81 (42%) of the countries in the world have had at least one very senior leader educated at a higher level in the UK. The Index is regularly quoted by UK Government Ministers – for example, last year’s results featured in this week’s Post-16 Education and Skills white paper.
World leaders educated in countries other than their own
For the first time this year, the results are also being published according to the institution that the leaders attended, with Harvard (15) and Oxford (12) topping the tree.
Harvard alone has educated more senior world leaders than all higher education institutions in Russia (13). Harvard has also educated more senior world leaders than Italy (5), Spain (5) and Germany (4) combined.
Key findings
The strong performance of the United States represents the country’s second best ever total (equal with 2022 but slightly down on 2024).
In terms of absolute score, the United Kingdom matches the best it has done since the Index began in 2017 (59), equalising the record that was also hit in 2019 and 2021.
France fares worse than in the past, with a big drop-off of 17 since 2019 from 40 to 23, but retains third place.
Russia posts its best performance, with 13 world leaders educated there, beating its previous high of 11 in 2022.
Australia (9, +2) remains in fifth place, while Switzerland is in sixth place (7, +1).
India scores its best ever performance. In 2022, only two serving very senior leaders had been educated to a higher level in India; in 2025, five had been – this is the same total as for Spain and also Italy.
Germany drops out of the top 10 for the first time, having educated just four serving world leaders, the same number as Canada, Germany, Morocco, the Netherlands and South Africa – and the same number as for the LSE alone.
The higher education institution that has educated the most current world leaders while they were international students is Harvard University (15), closely followed by the University of Oxford (13).
Five of the six best-performing institutions are situated in the UK, meaning world leaders educated in the UK tend to have been concentrated in a smaller number of institutions. While Harvard is the only US institution to have educated more than three serving world leaders, the UK has five institutions that have educated more than three: Oxford (13); Sandhurst (8); Manchester (6); Cambridge (5); and the LSE (4).
Institutions attended by very senior world leaders
Ranking
Higher education institution
Number of world leaders
1
Harvard
15
2
Oxford
12
3
Sandhurst
8
4
Manchester
6
5
Cambridge
5
6
LSE
4
7=
Boston
3
7=
Bristol
3
7=
George Washington
3
7=
New York
3
7=
Pennsylvania
3
7=
UCL
3
7=
US Army Command and Staff College
3
The 15 world leaders educated at Harvard are: i) the Prime Minister of Bhutan (Tshering Tobgay); ii) the President of Botswana (Duma Boko); iii) the Prime Minister of Canada (Mark Carney); iv) the King of Denmark (Frederik X); v) the President of Ecuador (Daniel Noboa); vi) the Prime Minister of Greece (Kyriakos Mitsotakis); vii) the Prime Minister of Israel (Benjamin Netanyahu); viii) the Prime Minister of Jordan (Jafar Hassan); ix) the Prime Minister of Lebanon (Nawaf Salam); x) the Prime Minister of Luxembourg (Luc Frieden); xi) the President of Moldova (Maia Sandu); xii) the Chief Minister of Sierra Leone (David Moinina Sengeh); xiii) the President of Singapore (Tharman Shanmugaratnam); xiv) the Prime Minister of Singapore (Lawrence Wong); and xv) the Prime Minister of South Korea (Kim Min-seok).
The 12 world leaders educated at the University of Oxford are: i) the King of Belgium (Philippe); ii) the King of Bhutan (Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck); iii) the Prime Minister of Canada (Mark Carney); iv) the President of East Timor (José Ramos-Horta); v) the Prime Minister of Hungary (Viktor Orbán); vi) the Emperor of Japan (Naruhito); vii) the King of Jordan (Abdullah II); viii) the President of Montenegro (Jakov Milatović); ix) the King of Norway (Harald V); x) the Sultan and Prime Minister of Oman (Haitham bin Tariq); xi) the President of the Philippines (Bongbong Marcos); and xii) the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands (Jeremiah Manele).
Nick Hillman OBE, the Director of HEPI, said:
International students bring enormous benefits to the UK. They all spend money while they are here and some then contribute to the UK labour market after studying. The diplomatic benefits are less well understood even though they can be equally important. In 2025, over a quarter of the countries around the world have a very senior leader educated in the UK, which amounts to tremendous soft power.
The current UK Government have established a Soft Power Council and promised a new education exports strategy. These are welcome, but they are counterbalanced by the incoming levy on international students, huge dollops of negative rhetoric and excessive visa costs.
Recent new obstacles standing in the way of people wanting to study in Australia, Canada and the United States provide an opportunity for the UK to steal a march on our main competitors. We are at risk of squandering this opportunity.
Linda Cowan, Managing Director of Kaplan International Pathways, said:
It is fantastic to see how many of our best known universities are educating foreign leaders. This year’s list also highlights the growing diversity and range of institutions contributing to the UK’s soft power, including Cranfield, Leicester, Liverpool and Westminster.
Another trend to watch is the expansion of transnational campuses of British universities abroad, such as in India and the UAE. These initiatives have the potential to further enhance the UK’s soft power by extending the reach of our higher education sector beyond students coming to the UK – a development to watch going forward.
Professor Irene Tracey, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, said:
That so many world leaders have studied at Oxford speaks to the transformative power of education — to shape ideas, deepen understanding, and inspire service on the global stage.
Professor Duncan Ivison, the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester, said:
If soft power is fundamental to the UK’s impact and reputation around the world, then so too are the UK’s outstanding universities.
The HEPI / Kaplan Soft-Power Index makes clear just how important international students are to the UK’s global influence – both now and into the future. Extraordinary future leaders get their start at many of our universities and retain a deep affection for our country long after. And yet the Government is, at the same time, putting up obstacles to welcoming future international students to the UK with a proposed international levy, higher visa costs and reducing the graduate visa route.
We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to make the UK the global destination for the best and the brightest in the world given what is happening elsewhere – and especially in the US and Canada. Let’s not blow it.
The 59 leaders educated in the UK lead 55 countries (as a small number of places – Bahrain, Luxembourg, Namibia and the United Arab Emirates have two very senior leaders educated in the UK). Changes affecting the UK list for 2025 are outlined in the table below. They include:
The Rt Hon. Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada since early 2025, studied Economics at the University of Oxford.
Taye Atske Selassie, the President of Ethiopia since late 2024, studied International Relations and Strategic Studies at Lancaster University.
The President, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, and Prime Minister, Elijah Ngurare, of Namibia, who have both been in post since early 2025, studied in the UK – the Namibian President studied at Glasgow Caledonian University as well as Keele University and the Prime Minister studied at University of Dundee.
The Prime Minister of Rwanda since July 2025, Justin Nsengiyumva, studied Economics at the University of Leicester.
The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka since autumn 2024, Harini Amarasuriya, studied Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh.
Click here to download a table showing all the countries with at least one senior leader educated in the UK for the whole period from 2017 to 2025.
The 66 world leaders from 58 countries educated in the United States head the following countries:
Bahrain (2); Bangladesh; Belgium; Belize; Bhutan (2); Botswana; Bulgaria; Cambodia; Canada; Costa Rica; Denmark; Dominica; Dominican Republic; East Timor; Ecuador; Egypt; Finland; Greece; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti (2); Iceland (2); Ireland; Israel (2); Ivory Coast; Jordan (2); Kuwait; Latvia; Lebanon; Liberia; Luxembourg; Malawi; Malaysia; Marshall Islands; Micronesia; Moldova; Monaco; Montenegro; Namibia; Nigeria; Palau; Palestine; Panama; Paraguay; Philippines; Rwanda; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Sierra Leone (2); Singapore (2); Slovenia; Somalia; South Korea; Spain; Sudan; Switzerland; Togo; Tonga; and Vatican City.
Notes for Editors
1. Leaders are defined as heads of state and heads of government (monarchs, presidents and prime ministers). Countries often have more than one (such as a president or monarch and a prime minister).
2. Countries are included if they are members of, or observers at, the United Nations, currently numbering 195 places. Palestine is therefore included but Northern Cyprus, for example, is not.
3. The HEPI / Kaplan Soft-Power Index is a measure of tertiary education. This is defined broadly but distance learning and transnational education are excluded for the soft-power benefits are thought to be less.
4. Leaders change throughout the year, so we provide a snapshot for August 2025. For example, the fieldwork was undertaken prior to the recent change of leadership in Thailand.
5. Each country is treated equally and we do not claim each individual result provides good evidence of positive soft power. No one is excluded on moral grounds.
6. Some people are educated in more than one other country and they can therefore count towards the totals for more than one country.
7. While we use multiple sources to obtain information, the educational background of some national leaders is opaque. HEPI welcomes feedback that would enable us to build up a more complete picture.
8. When new information comes to light, we update the figures. So there are some slight differences in the figures provided here for earlier years compared with what we have published in the past. For example, in the preparation of the 2025 numbers, we found new information that reduced the recent past total for the US (as we discovered two leaders were distance learners rather than in-person learners).
9. King Charles III’s higher education was delivered in the UK (at the University of Cambridge), the country where he was born and lives, and he is head of state of other countries in part by virtue of his position in the UK. So we have opted to exclude this information. This matches how we treat the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who is one of the heads of state (Co-Prince) of Andorra.
10. The University of the West Indies (UWI) serves 18 countries and territories in the Caribbean. Attempting to unpick the place of study for those world leaders who studied at the UWI is beyond the scope of this study. Therefore, we have assumed that each one studied in their home nation. This is the same practice as followed in earlier years.
Student recruitment has never been more competitive, or more personal. The institutions standing out right now aren’t the ones shouting the loudest; they’re the ones showing the most truth. That’s where authenticity comes in.
Prospective students want to see real stories from real people, not polished marketing copy or staged photos. They want to hear from the student who filmed a late-night study session, the alum who just landed their first job, or the professor who shares genuine classroom moments. That’s the power of user-generated content (UGC). It turns your community into your most credible storytellers.
In this guide, we’ll look at what authentic content really means, why it works, how to build it into your strategy, and how to measure its impact. Along the way, you’ll see examples of schools already doing it well and learn simple ways to kickstart your own approach.
If your goal is to humanize your brand and connect with Gen Z on a deeper level, authenticity isn’t a trend. It’s the foundation. Let’s get into it.
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What Is User-Generated Content (UGC) in Higher Education Marketing
User-Generated Content (UGC) is any material created by people outside your marketing team: students, alumni, faculty, or even parents. It includes everything from TikToks and Instagram stories to blog posts, reviews, and testimonial videos. What makes UGC powerful is its honesty. It’s not scripted or staged; it’s content created by individuals sharing their own experiences. That authenticity lends it credibility that traditional marketing can’t replicate.
Authentic content, on the other hand, goes beyond UGC. It’s any content that feels real, relatable, and trustworthy, even if your institution produces it. A student-led vlog created by your admissions team, a behind-the-scenes video from orientation week, or an unfiltered faculty Q&A on LinkedIn can all count as authentic content. The goal is to showcase genuine stories without the hard sell.
Here’s the distinction: UGC is always created by your community, while authentic content can come from anyone, as long as it feels natural and transparent. The most effective education marketers use both. Inviting their audiences to create, while also producing school-made content that keeps the same raw, human touch. Together, they tell a believable story that draws students in and builds lasting trust.
What Is Authentic Storytelling in Higher Education Marketing?
Authenticity is the backbone of modern education marketing. Students trust people more than institutions, and they can spot inauthenticity instantly, especially Gen Z, who’ve grown up spotting inauthenticity from miles away. Research shows people are about 2.4× more likely to say UGC feels authentic than brand-created content. That difference matters: authentic stories make prospects stop scrolling, listen, and believe.
Authenticity also builds emotional connection. Gen Z and Millennials want to see themselves in your content, to think, “That could be me at that school.” A student-run TikTok showing dorm life or a grad’s blog about their first job after graduation brings that feeling to life. It’s no surprise that social is now a default research channel. The vast majority of students use social media to research colleges, and peer-created posts carry even more sway.
The impact extends to engagement. Across benchmarks, UGC often delivers meaningfully higher social engagement and can drive up to ~4× higher CTR in ads. And over time, that engagement builds trust: 81% of consumers trust UGC more than branded content. In a high-stakes decision like education, that trust can make all the difference.
Benefits of UGC in Campaigns
Incorporating user-generated content (UGC) into your marketing mix delivers tangible gains in both performance and perception. The first, and often most noticeable, benefit is higher engagement. According to industry data, social campaigns featuring UGC see up to 50% higher engagement, while ads with UGC achieve 4× higher click-through rates (CTR) than standard creative. The reason is simple: real photos and videos from students feel relatable. Prospects engage with them more readily than with polished brand assets. The August 2025 HEM webinar confirmed this pattern, showing that UGC consistently lifted social engagement by 50% and CTRs by a factor of four.
UGC also stretches your marketing budget. Instead of producing every asset in-house, you can tap into the creativity of your student community. UGC can reduce content production costs by shifting more creation to students and alumni, and in paid campaigns, CPC/CPL are often lower when UGC is used.
Beyond performance metrics, UGC builds credibility. It’s a living form of social proof, real students sharing their experiences in their own words. That authenticity creates trust and fosters community pride. When students and alumni contribute content, they become advocates, helping schools turn everyday stories into powerful recruitment tools that attract, engage, and convert.
Best Practices for Implementing UGC
Launching a user-generated content (UGC) initiative takes planning and structure. Here’s how to build a sustainable, effective framework that keeps authenticity at the heart of your strategy.
Make UGC a Core Content Pillar: Treat UGC as a foundational part of your marketing plan, not an add-on. Include it in your annual content calendar alongside official updates, blogs, and campaigns. Schools that do this well, like the University of Glasgow’s #TeamUofG campaign, consistently weave student voices into their newsletters, social feeds, and websites, making authenticity a constant thread, not a seasonal feature.
Align with Enrollment Cycles: Timing matters. Match UGC themes with where prospects are in the funnel. Early awareness? Share student life and orientation highlights. Decision season? Spotlight testimonials and day-in-the-life videos. Seasonal UGC enrollment marketing tactics, like winter study sessions or graduation snapshots, keep your school top of mind year-round.
Assign Ownership and Collaboration: Even though UGC is created externally, internal management is key. Assign a small cross-functional team, including marketing, admissions, and communications, to coordinate, moderate, and track results. Admissions can identify standout students to act as ambassadors, while marketing supports them with creative direction.
Guide Contributors Without Scripted Control: Students thrive with light structure. Provide a short framework—Hook → Introduction → Key Message → Call-to-Action. To help them share meaningful stories that align with your brand. Offer practical production tips: use natural light, steady shots, and clear audio. Authentic doesn’t mean low quality.
Protect Participants and Your Brand: Always secure written permission before reposting UGC, especially when featuring minors. Create clear content-use policies, moderate posts regularly, and track your branded hashtags with social listening tools. This ensures alignment with your school’s tone and values.
Prioritize Diversity and Inclusion: Feature a range of student perspectives, including international, mature, online, and graduate learners. Authentic storytelling thrives on variety. Prospects should be able to see themselves reflected in your content.
Examples of Real UGC Applications in School Marketing
To inspire your own strategy, let’s look at the many ways schools are using UGC and authentic storytelling to strengthen engagement and humanize their brands. Across the education sector, institutions are experimenting with creative formats that empower students, faculty, alumni, and even parents to share their real experiences.
Example: Syracuse University, Student Vlog on YouTube. A Syracuse student’s “Day in the Life” YouTube vlog offers an unscripted, immersive look into campus life: lectures, study sessions, and community activities. YouTube’s longer format allows for deeper storytelling and helps prospective students experience the campus virtually.
Student “Day in the Life” Takeovers One of the most effective UGC formats is the student takeover, where a student documents a typical day on campus through Instagram or TikTok. These videos often follow an unscripted, narrative flow, showing classes, dorm life, study sessions, and social activities from morning to night. Schools typically host these takeovers on official channels or promote student posts through hashtags. This format resonates because it offers an unfiltered look at campus life and helps prospective students picture themselves in that environment.
Example: Stanford University, UGC Nature Reel Stanford University curated a student-shot Instagram Reel featuring the aurora borealis over Pinnacles National Park. The video, captured entirely by a student, embodies the spirit of authentic storytelling, showing beauty, wonder, and student life through the lens of a real experience.
Behind-the-Scenes of Events UGC thrives on authenticity, and few things feel more genuine than spontaneous moments from student events. Encouraging students to share behind-the-scenes perspectives from orientations, club fairs, or sports games helps outsiders experience the energy and community spirit that define your school. These candid glimpses make institutional content more approachable and emotionally engaging.
Faculty or Staff Takeovers and Reflections Authentic content doesn’t have to come solely from students. Faculty and staff can also contribute by sharing casual reflections or quick videos about their daily work. A professor might record a short lab update, while an admissions officer could post a quick tour from a college fair. These snapshots add a human touch to your education marketing strategies by showing the passion, personality, and commitment that drive your institution.
Student-Run Q&As and AMAs Interactive Q&A sessions, where current students answer prospective students’ questions live on Instagram or through social threads, are among the most effective UGC formats. This setup offers unfiltered, peer-to-peer insights that prospects trust. When real students respond in their own voices, it builds transparency and community, turning your social platforms into spaces for genuine connection.
Social Media Contests and Hashtag Campaigns Encouraging students to create around shared prompts or themes is another great UGC driver. Campaigns like “Show your campus pride” or “Dorm room decor challenge” can generate dozens of authentic submissions in a short time. Just ensure clear rules and creator permissions (and parent consent for minors) so you can safely feature the best entries across your platforms. These initiatives not only supply fresh content but also boost engagement and school spirit.
Testimonials from Parents and Alumni UGC isn’t limited to current students. Parents and alumni can offer powerful, credible perspectives through short testimonial videos or written stories. Sharing how a parent watched their child grow or how an alumnus found career success can feel more authentic than any scripted message, and often connects strongly with audiences considering your programs.
Example: Louisiana State University, Alumni-Submitted Carousel LSU showcased an alumna’s entrepreneurial journey through a carousel post featuring her photos and story. The alumni-submitted visuals celebrate post-graduation success while reinforcing a sense of lifelong belonging, transforming alumni into ambassadors for the LSU brand.
Fun Trends and Challenges Participating in lighthearted social trends can also create strong UGC moments. Whether it’s a campus meme, a TikTok challenge, or a humorous group video, joining or amplifying these moments signals that your institution is lively, student-centered, and culturally aware. These pieces of content not only entertain but also reinforce your brand’s relatability and spirit.
Using Podcasts to Showcase Authenticity
Podcasts have become one of the most powerful tools for education marketers looking to connect with audiences through genuine, long-form storytelling. Unlike short-form social media content, podcasts allow room for nuance, emotion, and conversation, making them ideal for showcasing the real voices and experiences that define your school community. Whether you’re featuring students, faculty, or alumni, the format gives your audience something they crave: authenticity.
Set a Clear Purpose and Goals Before launching a podcast, clarify its purpose.
What role will it play in your marketing strategy?
Is it meant to support recruitment by spotlighting programs and student experiences?
To engage current students through campus discussions?
To deepen alumni connections with nostalgia and advice?
Each episode can have a distinct focus, but your overall series should align with strategic objectives. Identify your audience: prospective students, parents, current students, or alumni, and craft episodes that meet their needs. A school emphasizing innovation might produce a series around student research and campus projects, while one focused on student life could highlight real stories about growth, belonging, and discovery.
Plan Your Content Strategy Successful podcasts rely on structure and consistency. Choose a defined theme or niche rather than covering every topic under the sun. Themes like Student Voices: First-Year Journeys or Faculty Conversations: Research That Matters help listeners know what to expect. Pre-plan your first 8–10 episodes to maintain a steady release rhythm.
Aim for a predictable cadence (biweekly or monthly) so listeners know when to expect new episodes. Formats can vary: student interviews, faculty discussions, narrative storytelling, or on-site event recordings. Involving student co-hosts or interviewers adds natural authenticity and relatability, bridging the gap between your institution and prospective students.
Focus on Storytelling and Value Every episode should deliver something meaningful. Encourage guests to share honest stories, not scripted talking points. A student might recount a defining academic challenge; a professor might discuss what inspires their teaching; an alum could describe their career journey post-graduation.
Let conversations unfold naturally; even small moments of humor or vulnerability can make an episode memorable. Strive to balance emotional connection and practical value, offering listeners insight, inspiration, or tangible takeaways.
Feature Diverse Voices Authenticity thrives on diversity. Feature a wide range of speakers—students from different backgrounds, professors across disciplines, and staff who shape campus life behind the scenes. Mixing perspectives gives your audience a fuller, more human picture of your institution. Episodes could spotlight student-led initiatives, faculty research, or stories that reflect different aspects of campus life, from residence halls to community outreach.
Production and Promotion Good audio quality matters. Use a reliable microphone, record in a quiet space, and lightly edit to maintain clarity while preserving natural conversation flow. Publish episodes consistently and promote them across channels, email newsletters, your website, and social media. Short audiograms or quote graphics can extend your podcast’s reach while reinforcing its authentic tone.
Example: Higher Ed Storytelling University Podcast. The Higher Ed Storytelling University podcast features marketers, educators, and students discussing authenticity, narrative strategy, and digital storytelling. This example illustrates how schools and industry experts are using long-form audio to humanize their messaging and reach broader audiences.
Building a successful user-generated content (UGC) strategy doesn’t require starting from scratch. With the right tools and a few well-planned quick wins, your institution can begin collecting and showcasing authentic stories almost immediately. Below are practical tools and easy-to-implement tactics that can help you get started.
UGC Creation and Curation Tools
Canva: A go-to tool for both marketing teams and students. Canva makes it easy to design branded graphics, quote cards, and short visuals using preset templates. Students can create Instagram takeover intros, testimonial cards, or club event spotlights, all while staying on-brand thanks to shared school colors and fonts.
CapCut: A free, mobile-friendly video editing app perfect for short-form social content. Encourage students to use it to trim clips, add subtitles, and polish their footage before submission. Subtitles, in particular, improve accessibility and help engagement since many viewers watch videos without sound.
Later or Buffer: Social media scheduling platforms like these help teams plan and publish UGC consistently. For example, you can schedule weekly “Student Spotlight” features or testimonial series, keeping your feeds active with minimal daily effort.
TINT or Tagboard: These UGC management tools collect content tagged with your campaign hashtags across multiple platforms into one dashboard. They also help you request permissions, filter submissions, and display curated UGC feeds on your website (such as a live “#CampusLife” wall on your admissions page).
Quick Wins to Kickstart UGC
Identify 3 Student Storytellers: Start small. Find three enthusiastic students, perhaps a club leader, athlete, or international student, and invite them to share their stories through takeovers, vlogs, or blog posts. Their content will serve as authentic examples and inspire others to participate.
Launch a Branded Hashtag: Create a memorable, campaign-specific hashtag like #[YourSchool]Life or #Future[YourMascot] and start promoting it immediately. Add it to your bios, marketing emails, and on-campus signage. Repost tagged content regularly to reward engagement and grow participation.
Pilot an Authentic Video Post: Experiment with one short, genuine video on Instagram or TikTok. Try a student Q&A, a “what I wish I knew” segment, or a move-in day recap. Compare engagement metrics with your usual posts. You’ll often find authentic, lightly produced clips outperform polished ads.
Amplify Existing UGC: Look for what’s already out there. Students are likely tagging your school in posts or videos. Engage with those by resharing or commenting, signaling that you value authentic voices.
Offer Student Club Consultations: Provide quick content workshops or audits for student groups. Helping them improve their storytelling or branding indirectly elevates the quality of UGC being created across campus.
Measuring the Impact of UGC
Just like any other marketing initiative, your user-generated content (UGC) strategy needs to be measured to prove its value and refine future campaigns. The impact of UGC goes beyond clicks and likes. It touches trust, community sentiment, and enrollment. That’s why it’s important to measure both quantitative and qualitative outcomes. Here’s how to assess what’s working and why.
Track Engagement and Reach Start with the fundamentals: likes, comments, shares, saves, and views. Compare these against your institution’s regular branded posts. UGC often performs better, signaling a stronger connection and authenticity. Also track reach and impressions—are your hashtags expanding visibility? If your student takeover generates thousands of views and dozens of replies, that’s evidence of increased awareness and interest at the top of the funnel.
Monitor Cost Efficiency If UGC is part of paid campaigns, track cost per click (CPC) and cost per lead (CPL). Ads using student-generated content tend to have higher click-through rates and lower costs because they appear more genuine. Run A/B tests: one glossy ad versus one featuring a real student photo. If the authentic ad drives more engagement at a lower cost, you’ve got clear ROI data to share with stakeholders.
Measure Conversions and ROI Track what happens after engagement. Did a UGC-driven post increase form submissions or event sign-ups? Ask applicants how they heard about your school. If they mention your social media or specific student stories, that’s qualitative proof of impact. You can also calculate Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) by comparing tuition value or lead generation to ad spend, or use proxy metrics like cost-per-application to show improved performance. Learn more in HEM’s social media playbook.
Gather Feedback from Students and Staff Numbers don’t tell the whole story. Collect feedback from your community through surveys or informal polls. Ask whether students feel represented in your content or whether prospective students found your UGC helpful. Anecdotal comments, like “Your Instagram takeovers made me want to apply,” are qualitative gold and demonstrate the emotional impact of authenticity.
Track Sentiment and Community Growth Pay attention to the tone of comments and discussions. Are people tagging friends or expressing excitement? Positive sentiment indicates your content resonates. Also, monitor the growth of branded hashtags and organic posts. If more students are tagging your school or sharing their own stories without prompting, your UGC strategy is inspiring real advocacy.
Build a UGC Dashboard Bring it all together with a simple dashboard that tracks UGC performance quarterly, engagement rates, CPC/CPL trends, sentiment highlights, and standout examples. This helps visualize the tangible outcomes of authenticity-driven marketing and makes it easier to communicate results to leadership.
Example: University of Tennessee, Knoxville A University of Tennessee senior’s “Day in the Life” video exemplifies how authentic, student-produced content can outperform traditional marketing posts. The Reel’s organic engagement, thousands of views, and high interaction highlight the measurable impact of relatability on social media reach and engagement.
Authenticity in marketing is the foundation of meaningful connection. By weaving user-generated and authentic content into your strategy, your institution can foster trust, spark engagement, and inspire real relationships with students and families. Throughout this guide, we’ve explored how to define UGC, why it works, and how to implement it strategically through proven best practices and simple quick wins. The takeaway is clear: campaigns that feel real outperform those that feel rehearsed.
Of course, launching an authenticity-driven strategy takes more than good intentions. It demands planning, creativity, and a partner who understands how to balance storytelling with measurable results. That’s where Higher Education Marketing (HEM) comes in. Our team has helped colleges and universities around the world capture genuine student stories and transform them into powerful digital campaigns. Whether you’re planning a branded hashtag initiative, building a library of student video testimonials, or training student ambassadors and UGC programmes to create engaging social content, HEM can guide you every step of the way.
Authentic voices are your greatest marketing asset, and with HEM’s expertise, you can amplify them strategically. Reach out today for a free UGC strategy consultation and discover how genuine stories can drive real enrollment results. Let’s build trust, engagement, and community authentically.
Struggling with enrollment?
Our expert digital marketing services can help you attract and enroll more students!
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: What Is User-Generated Content (UGC) in Higher Education Marketing
Answer:User-Generated Content (UGC) is any material created by people outside your marketing team: students, alumni, faculty, or even parents. It includes everything from TikToks and Instagram stories to blog posts, reviews, and testimonial videos.
Question: What Is Authentic Storytelling in Higher Education Marketing?
Answer: Authenticity is the backbone of modern education marketing. Students trust people more than institutions, and they can spot inauthenticity instantly, especially Gen Z, who’ve grown up spotting inauthenticity from miles away.
