The THE University of the Year Award recognises exceptional performance, as well as bold and imaginative initiatives that have advanced a Higher Education institution’s reputation. Northumbria's win reflects its transformation to become the UK’s first research-intensive university that also delivers social mobility. Hear more about Northumbria’s strategy which puts high-quality research at the centre, while still focusing on widening participation, putting it at the heart of the resurgence of Newcastle, and the wider North East economy. This session covers how and why Northumbria won, and how it used the win to catapult itself into the global, national and regional spotlight.

Starting with the ambitious goal of creating the "best campaign reports in the world" KAUST's Global Branding and Communications team and 448 Studio developed a project team and undertook a 6-month long project that encompassed 100s hours of work. Using KAUST's largest brand campaign as the template, we deep-dived into every possible data point across web, emails, print, social media, digital marketing, and brand partnerships to determine what gets reported, how it is reported, and to who. This session showcases our learnings, and we make recommendations on how to adapt and apply these to your own work and institutions.

Podcasts continue to grow in popularity in a variety of channels, especially among a younger audience. This presents an exciting opportunity for universities to publish interesting content in fresh ways - for stakeholder engagement in general, but also for marketing and recruitment in particular. In this session, we will explore the current and evolving landscape of university podcasts; what it takes to plan, produce, and publish a podcast; and how your university’s recruitment can benefit from one. We will draw from successful podcasts that the speakers helped produce at University College London, the Royal College of Art, and the University of Antwerp.

The University of Limerick had never implemented a large-scale marketing campaign solely focused on postgraduate study options. The launch of a new university strategy, increased focus on PG recruitment, and a new devolved marketing model changed everything. With small budgets but grand ambitions, we started by researching this core audience group, figuring out what they wanted from their uni and for themselves and brainstorming a campaign creative completely in-house that would inspire them to take action and follow their ambitions. Targeted peer-to-peer communication was the most authentic and impactful messaging we could offer, we knew had to ‘show, not tell’, bringing to life journeys students could identify with and imagine for themselves. We also had to bring all UL colleagues with us and stay true to the university brand. In this session we will bring you through the steps of the campaign strategy and implementation and how achieving buyin throughout the University helped it to gather momentum. We hope to also reaffirm that there is phenomenal experience and marketing expertise in universities and how small budgets should not stop our big ideas. We hope as a group roundtable we can discuss the obstacles we all face to deliver effective campaigns and help each other overcome them.

This session will explore the ingredients of an effective promotional (marketing and communications) campaign for universities. It will draw on examples from many universities around the world and include a particular focus on Monash University's #ChangeIt campaign - with the campaign leader providing the details of this campaign as a shining global example. We'll look at campaigns that build brand awareness, project certain brand values, and provide a compelling narrative. There's been a particular growth in how universities promote their (academic) research strengths and credentials - so we'll be providing examples of these campaigns and the benefits. This will be a case study session - with a senior speaker from Monash University providing details of the #ChangeIt campaign and an experienced global communications consultant providing a range of examples and drawing out the commonalities that make such campaigns impactful and successful.

Less is more. A whole lot more. The University of Nottingham launched the world’s first micro-prospectus in Spring 2022. Our micro-prospectus may be tiny, but it made a huge impact at student recruitment events and open days. Moving on from a traditional print prospectus has allowed us to save time, budget, energy, paper, and water. In doing so, we gained positive feedback, high visibility, and enormous staff pride in our prospectus once again. We hope this candid case study will offer you inspiration, confidence, and advice to launch your own daring and disruptive ideas.

Once upon a time, in a land full of magic, there lived the wonderful people of Content Land. They were known for creating inspiring stories everywhere they went. Their gift came from their prized possession: the soul stone. It was given to their ancestors after vowing to keep education evolving. Passed by generation after generation, the stone, and its people, transformed. A normal life, goals, and everyday stress started distorting their gifts. Today they only meet deadlines and follow patterns. Will we be able to shift education and the stories being told to restore the legacy of our people?

Delivering excellent customer experience is important in building brand differentiation, appeal and connection - all of which contribute to recruitment performance. But it’s also critical in ensuring student retention, success and advocacy.

This session explores the components of developing and implementing an effective customer experience strategy, focused on developing an institutional culture that can respond to real-time experience issues and improve institutional performance. We'll share how ongoing monitoring delivers effective support and promotes student success.