The study gives detailed data on how 249 university deans, provosts, administrative and academic department heads and other leaders perceive their university’s enrollment marketing efforts. Survey participants grade their university effort, and indicate whether they would support more or less university funding for the marketing effort. In addition, they relate their expectations for the near future on enrollment of international students, distance learning students, non-degree program students, undergraduates, and graduate students. They also give their opinion on the effectiveness and desirability of a range of marketing options such as marketing through Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram, and more traditional outlets such as university open houses, direct mail, newspaper and radio and television advertising, among other options.
Respondents were drawn from major research universities in the USA, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
Data in the report is broken out by a broad range of criteria including: age, gender, academic title, and compensation level of respondent, and university ranking, public/private status and country of origin of the respondents affiliated institution. The sample is comprised of deans, provosts, chancellors, trustees, vice presidents, upper level administration directors, academic department heads, and distinguished professors.
Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:
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Leaders from universities in the lowest tier ranking, lower than 300 worldwide, were the least likely to feel that their universities were doing a good or very good job in their marketing efforts, only about 29% felt this way, and the most likely to feel that the performance was acceptable or ineffective, more than 48% gave one of these two answers.
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A plurality of 39.36% of those sampled expect an increase in distance learning student enrollment and an additional 8.4% expect a significant increase while only 2.81% expect a decline and 1.2%, a significant decline. 14.46% of those sampled did not answer the question and 33.73% expected no real change in enrollment levels of distance learning students.
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Unlike many other marketing options, support for Facebook and other social media marketing options was stronger among public than private universities; more than 35.5% of the former wanted to increase spending on social media marketing to any degree vs 28.85% of the latter.