Newsletter #189: The future of content creation degrees; The benefits of the King’s and Cranfield deal; How not to talk to arts students about AI
📰 HE news
King’s College London will absorb Cranfield University, a specialist postgraduate provider known for its niche in defence education, research and consultancy. A good move for King’s, considering that defence will receive amongst the biggest increases in government spending, currently at 2.5% of GDP, growing to 3% in the next Parliament. KCL also intends to use the merger to expand its engineering and technology offer outside of London and into the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor. I’m not quite sold on Times Higher Education’s (Phil Baty’s) reimagining of Oxbridge as Oxkingsbridge, but it’s a damn sight more interesting than the press release for the merger. This merger is a big deal, but all we get is a vague promise of “enhanced opportunities for students” and a “synergy in disciplinary mix, and distinctive offer for the UK’s future.” Be specific. What problem will this merger solve? What new and different future will it create? Make those on the outside care. Read
📊 Marketing and media news
Last year, YouTube’s Creator Consultation revealed that just 17% of creators agreed they had access to the right training. This year, YouTube has partnered with the BBC and National Film and Television School to design a creator training programme. If you offer degrees in Content Creation, watch this closely, as the business model gives the programme radical differentiation. Firstly, it’s free - funded by YouTube. Secondly, the course is run at six locations across the UK. Thirdly, the training is complete in just 10-weeks. If you’re a young creator who’s terrified of the cost of going to university, that’s appealing. The only real barrier to entry is the 2 years of work experience required to join the programme - but this is good. It tells you who the programme is for, those already creating for a living, while most Content Creation degrees are a broad church. Are you for content entrepreneurs? Creators working for brands? Niche down, or you’ll be outflanked. Read
According to Sprout Social’s latest State of Social Media survey, 40% of consumers want “educational posts” from brands. In second place is community-focused content at 27%. Higher ed is strong on the latter, but I consistently see gaps for the better education of social media audiences. Recently, a university announced that it was the “first to offer” institution-wide AI training for students. It wasn’t. But what shocked me more was that the university gave near-zero time to sharing its understanding of AI, the opportunity for its students, and the problem its initiative solved. Instead, it majored on why it was best positioned to deliver the solution. Little time was given to educating its audience on why the initiative mattered. No time was given to students’ AI anxieties and their hopes for their future. Market your features, how “excited” your executives are, and students will think you’re trying to sell them. Market their problems and they’ll know you’re trying to help them. Read
🏫 What unis are doing
University of Maine doesn’t publish student testimonials, it publishes seasons of its Life in Pines series. Each episode is a 30 to 40-minute-long documentary on the study experience, covering multiple student stories and majors. Highly produced, naturally scripted and distinctive. Good stuff. Read
University of Central Florida had a graduation speaker address a room full of arts students about AI. Obviously, it didn’t end well (in boos), and while I feel sorry for the speaker, it’s a lesson to all institutions: Don’t expect students to get AI until you’ve shown them how it unlocks personal outcomes. Read
University of the People is on a mission to provide the most affordable higher education on the planet. Its degrees are tuition-free (students only pay for assessment) and the rest is subsidised by voluntary faculty and philanthropic funding. This is what true, values-based marketing looks like. Read
🧑🎓 What students are saying
“I had a continuous headache for three days after hearing this discriminatory decision and being denied education, something that the UK has always advocated for. I do not want special treatment, all I want is to be seen as a student who has worked hard to reach this point.” Students respond to the “emergency brake” applied by the UK government to curb student recruitment from Sudan. Read
👾 Culture shock
Anthropic overtakes OpenAI for business adoption. Read
GameStop tried to buy eBay with meme stock. Read
