Why the University of London chose QS to strengthen its student recruitment

For the University of London, the decision to work with QS was based on meeting the needs of their students. Prospective students wanted more support and more opportunity to talk through their questions than the university could provide on its own.

As expectations changed, particularly around online learning, the university recognised that it needed both greater capacity and more sophisticated technology to support prospective students effectively.

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The challenge

Student recruitment moves quickly. For Marie Ennis, Director of Strategic Communications, Marketing and Recruitment at the University of London, the pace of change is difficult to appreciate.

“The dynamic nature of recruiting students and responding to their needs is just so much faster than I think anybody would understand if they didn't work in our sector.”

The university was recruiting students to study online at a time when familiarity with digital education had increased considerably. The pandemic had made online learning much more widely understood, but that did not mean prospective students had fewer questions.

Instead, many wanted to have a conversation about what studying online would actually involve. The University of London could provide information, but it recognised that prospective students were looking for a level of personal engagement that was difficult to deliver at the scale required. “We really recognised that our students needed more than we could give them. We really wanted them to engage in a conversation with someone about their online learning.”

Finding a way to provide that additional support became an important part of improving the recruitment experience.

My name is Mari Ennis. I am the Director of Strategic Communications, Marketing and Recruitment at University of London. The dynamic nature of recruiting students and responding to their needs is just so much faster than I think anybody would understand if they didn't work in our sector. What we really recognised is that our students needed more than we could give them. We really wanted them to engage in a conversation with someone about their online learning. We knew that it was online, you know, we'd just come through the pandemic, you know, people understood online learning, but there were a lot of questions and we just couldn't answer them for them in the way that they wanted. And then when we started to talk to QS, the technological opportunity, so machine learning, propensity to convert, these were all things that sophisticated techniques that we wanted to have but we absolutely did not have in house and would take us years to build. And the track record that QS had in doing this work, so we knew that what we would be getting would be insight and experience from decades of working with international students doing exactly what we wanted to be able to achieve.

The solution

The University of London was not simply looking for more people to respond to enquiries. Its conversations with QS highlighted an opportunity to bring more sophisticated technology and insight into the recruitment process.

Machine learning and the ability to understand a prospective student's propensity to convert were among the capabilities the university wanted to develop.

Building that infrastructure internally, however, would have required significant investment and time.

As Ennis explains, “The technological opportunity, so machine learning, propensity to convert, these were all sophisticated techniques that we wanted to have but we absolutely did not have in house and would take us years to build.”

Working with QS offered a way to access those capabilities without having to create them from the ground up.

Why QS?

Technology was only part of the decision. The University of London also wanted a partner that understood international students and the complexities involved in supporting them throughout the recruitment journey.

QS brought experience developed through decades of working with prospective international students, alongside an established track record of delivering the type of recruitment support the university wanted to introduce.

For the University of London, that combination of technology, sector knowledge and practical recruitment experience was important. “The track record that QS had in doing this work… we knew that what we would be getting would be insight and experience from decades of working with international students doing exactly what we wanted to be able to achieve.”

Rather than spending years developing new technology and expertise internally, the partnership gave the University of London access to capabilities that could complement its existing recruitment team and help it respond to changing student expectations.

Building a more responsive recruitment experience

The starting point for the partnership was the prospective student experience. Students considering online study wanted opportunities to ask questions and understand whether the model was right for them. At the same time, the university wanted a more sophisticated way of understanding and supporting those prospective students.

Working with QS brought those requirements together: additional student engagement, recruitment technology and international student expertise. For the University of London, it provided a way to build on its own capabilities while responding more effectively to the pace and complexity of modern student recruitment.

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