How Aston grew undergraduate recruitment by 23% in two years
When I heard that Aston University had grown its undergraduate student recruitment by 23% over 2 years, I had to attend Charlotte Renwick’s talk at Higher Ed Transformation Expo.
Put simply, Aston achieved growth by asking two questions:
Firstly, what do students want and get for their money? (Charlotte had a slide for that.)
Secondly, what are we good at and want to be known for
This led to the institution doubling down on placements and creating three distinct (bold and audacious) value propositions for key audiences:
Undergraduate: Placements are mandatory + all students get “Aston Power Skills” that hardwire skills in demand from employers into every course
Postgraduate: Internships are guaranteed + the careers team has been scaled for the challenge
PhD: All researchers get integrated work experience and fully-funded scholarships
That’s a pretty defined offer, right?
Indeed, it’s led to a 31% increase in content engagement (because people know what the University stands for) and has grown Aston’s total student population by 12% over two years.
Differentiation is often applied retrospectively in marketing - “How can we use words to describe what we do (now) differently?”
Historically, this has resulted in messaging and experiences that look/sound just like everyone else.
For true differentiation, you have to build something - capabilities, initiatives, something tangible - that expresses your new way of seeing the world.
That starts by answering the right questions.
Ask yourself, “What problem can we solve better than anyone else, what would we need to do to make that undeniably true?”
You’ll be on your way to differentiation.
