Studyportals Academy 2019: a two-day deep dive in recruitment strategy and digital marketing for Higher Education 

#spacademy

Eindhoven, October 2019 – Studyportals recently hosted the 3rd edition of the Academy in the beautiful city of The Hague, The Netherlands. 

Studyportals Academy 2019 offered two full days of presentations, hands-on workshops and speeches from industry leaders on developments in international education and learnings for marketing & recruitment strategies to achieve true international classrooms.

With approximately 80 participants including Directors of Marketing, Directors of International Office and Coordinators of Internationalisation from European and North American HE Institutes, the Academy offered heaps of opportunities for networking and experience sharing among peers.  

Some highlights of this year’s Academy: 

‘Studying abroad allows you to not only think from the one page from your own country but from a book of all the world’s experiences’. 

Via a digital contribution, Professor Jo Ritzen, Minister of Education in The Netherlands (1989 – 1994) and President of Maastricht University (2003 – 2011), emphasized the importance of international education to stable societies. 

Adam Chassin, former Head of Business at UBER, Head of Global Business Development at Amazon & Yahoo, raised our sense of urgency by sharing his view on disruption initiatives and opportunities for Higher Education: ‘Either you lead the disruption, or you will be disrupted by your competitors’. 

In a packed work-session,  Aimee Kleinman and Lydia Harwood  from University College London, shared the pros and cons of strategy development models such as the GE McKinsey matrix, Ansoff and the Value Proposition Matrix, when applying them to student recruitment marketing. A highly pragmatic view on proven models. They also covered how to develop and strengthen your institutions’ brand to build emotional connections and increase awareness, using examples from within and beyond higher education. 

For growing international enrolments, China obviously has vast opportunities, yet is a complex market to enter for a European university.  Michelangelo Balicco and Arianna Malavasi  from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore shared their success factors and key-learnings from their omni-channel marketing approach towards Chinese students as well as on-the-ground experience. 

How to increase the conversion rate form lead to enrolment with less efforts? Jaime García-Rebollo Martínez shared his innovative approach at TBS Barcelona for automated lead scoring and nurturing. His recommendation: ‘Communicate credibility and trust by sharing valuable information, so that when your sales team contact your leads, they are welcomed instead of being regarded as intrusive’. 

Further inspiring sessions were delivered by Mathias Falkenstein – Higher Education Management Group, Manuel Frutos-Perez, Cambridge Education Group, Greg Long – Centennial College, Charlotte M’Doe – University of Groningen, Raul Ranne – DreamApply, Olga Sholderer – AASCB International and Burcu Sen – Ingage Digital Marketing Services.

In addition to various sessions by guest speakers, Studyportals’ own experts hosted hands-on workshops about student interest data,  Google Analytics, SEO, user research and how to use these tools effectively in Higher Education.  

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Watch the Aftermovie 

About Studyportals Academy  

The Studyportals Academy brings together passionate higher education professionals, from senior to junior levels interested in the changing trends of international education, and involved with strategic internationalisation decisions, international branding, marketing and recruitment.

If you are interested to participate or contribute as a speaker, please contact us at academy@studyportals.com 

About Studyportals 

Studyportals is the global study choice platform, enabling students to find and compare their education options across borders and make an informed choice. With over 190,000 on-campus and online courses from over 3,200 participating universities and over 36 million users in 2018, Studyportals is the world’s leading information source for study seekers. Since 2014, the organisation, headquartered in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, has expanded its services and is also covering universities in the Americas, Oceania, and Asia. 

Studyportals aims to match students globally with the learning opportunities that fit them best. It helps institutions to optimise and grow their student population through a fully digital channel with transparent results.  

Contact: Olivia Rusu - Marketing Manager ( olivia@studyportals.com | +31 402 180 255)