APAIE pre-conference activities kicked off today and the Koala attended the event “Beyond enrolment: elevating recruitment in a dynamic policy environment, moving the goalpost to retention, diversity and employment outcomes” which was co-hosted by Studyportals, Curtin University the Nous Group.
Going into the event, it would have been safe to assume that with Studyportals and Nous being involved it would be insights-driven and a data rich afternoon.
In short, attendees weren’t disappointed.
Session one started off and set the scene of the global landscape, three main points include:
- Growth post covid has been strong
- Germany has worked its way into desirable English-taught destinations
- Ripples across major markets of Australia. Canada and UK
CEO of Studyportals Edwin van Rest led the session “Beyond enrolment”.
One of Edwins passions is clearly not just recruiting students but improving diversity and success, retaining students and maximising graduation rates and he provided many examples as he explored the methodology behind the approach. “drop-outs cost money in lost tuition fees”.
He explored what he calls the Trade v Talent approach. Trade being recruiting students that pay tuition fees and then leave after v countries who seek students to transition to workers and pay tax. Some countries try both but generally it’s one or the other.
Studyportals’ Rachel Zhao led the Market Data and Trends session.
A highlight was the increase in demand for study within Asia from other Asian countries. Bangladesh’s interest in studying in Asia increased a whopping 57%. This is assumed to be on the back of Australia, UK and Canada all announcing a tightening of their international student intake.
An insight into product development was made by comparing interest from students in country-based AI programs. Some countries have few offerings but demonstrate significant interest through the Studyportals platform. This demonstrates the opportunity for programs in this area. The message being predictive data is important.
A panel discussion was up next and built upon the premise of using predictive data to inform institution strategies around diversity and product development. Barbara Lung-Jones provided the Curtin experience and underscored the point that discussions occur at the highest level with faculties to ensure it is.
Zac Ashkanasy, Principal and Global Leader of Higher Education at the Nous Group led the next session around jobs. Zach walked through skill changes and skill redundancies in the workplace. Fascinating data insights into the market valuing skills and, over time, devaluing skills.
Professor Mark Griffin from the Future of Work Institute at Curtin spoke to trending attributes in the workplace and how in the 1970’s the number one skill attribute was conscientiousness. Fast forward 40-50 years and this has proportionately dropped off and fallen behind the attributes of teamwork, innovation and adaptability which in the 1970’s were not considered anywhere near as important.
A table discussion followed where Phil Honeywood, the CEO of the International Education Association of Australia said from his experience some students from certain cultures find it difficult to follow passions as there is pressure from family in their home countries to study say business, or engineering or another traditional subject area. He pointed to ANU’s future degree as an example of how students of the future can combine passion units (and majors) with traditional subject areas.
A small group discussion and feedback to the group followed. We had UK, Spanish, Canadian, UAE, New Zealand and Singaporean perspectives presented.
The Koala wishes to thank Studyportals, Curtin University and the Nous Group for the invitation and an afternoon of extremely insightful discussion.
Photo: Julian Longbottom of Studyportals opening the afternoon.
