Are Education Fairs a Good Way to Reach British Students?

In response to regular enquiries from our clients and contacts, I would like to outline our thoughts regarding the usefulness of fairs and exhibitions for attracting British students in to international education.

Fairs are a major part of the international student recruitment marketing mix and they can generate excellent results in many countries. However, in our opinion they are not the right method to attract students from the United Kingdom. I have attended two such events in London this year and while both have been very successful in terms of attracting visitors, this is still a long way from saying that they will generate the desired results.

For most universities the first challenge to be overcome is building some kind of name recognition in the United Kingdom. Many exhibitors at UK events have commented to me that most students have no idea who they are and which strengths their institution possesses. Students are a long way from identifying the "unique selling points" of a university and they are a long way from actually caring; what students are looking for first and foremost is fairly general information about international education. For example, they need to learn about Australian higher education before they can even consider going to university in Australia. Most students attending fairs have not had the chance to learn even the basics. As a result, university staff attending fairs often find they have to offer general advice to visitors and have very little time and opportunity to "sell" their institution itself. While this is not necessarily a bad thing and may to some extent reflect the experience in other countries , it does mean that the results which exhibitors are likely to achieve may be very disappointing in comparison with their expectations.

Having a presence in any market is vitally important, however; particularly in a country such as the United Kingdom where we are likely to learn a lot about price elasticity and maintaining excellence in higher education during the lifetime of the next parliament.

I spent over a decade working in the exhibition industry in many countries around the world. In that time I launched many new events in markets and countries which had never had such events previously with varying degrees of success. One of the key lessons I learned is that it is not enough to have a pool of exhibitors who are looking to enter a market. There absolutely has to be an audience that is interested in the products on display and knows why it wants to buy them. While there is definitely interest at this stage in international higher education and the numbers attending events are growing, we are still some way from having an audience that has all the information it needs to make an informed choice.

When A Star Future was established in 2006 the initial idea was to organise a road show around the United Kingdom. We quickly rejected this approach as we felt it was the wrong marketing method at the wrong time. There is first and foremost a requirement to educate the marketplace before the results will warrant extensive investment in UK outbound recruitment. We took the decision that it is better to go to the potential market and help shape its awareness and interest rather than to organise an exhibition and see what happens. There are signs that the situation is developing but I do not believe that the time is yet right for universities to make a large scale investment in attending exhibitions in the United Kingdom. Our approach allows for universities to reach students and their advisors in around 100 schools in England for roughly the same overall cost as attending one two-day event in London.

But what about general student recruitment fairs in the United Kingdom? UCAS with its effective monopoly on student application data organises a wide range of fairs in this country and most universities participate in some if not all of these. Clearly these are effective ways for British universities to reach British students. It is true that most Year 12 students in the United Kingdom will have the opportunity to attend one of these events. However, it is perhaps worth investigating how students prepare for these events. Most schools careers staff will advise students to come up with a list of questions to ask universities and suggest that students think about universities that offer the courses they are interested in or, increasingly, are located within travelling distance of their homes. Students at these events tend to arrive at A and work their way around to Z asking their prepared questions and collecting prospectuses as they go. These events are very effective for students looking to achieve the outcomes for which they have prepared. However, they are very difficult environments to introduce new concepts or different ideas, such as studying abroad. We have been monitoring these events for some time for signs of change and will continue to do so. However, it is fair to assume that if a large scale international student fair were to take place in the United Kingdom it would generate similar results.

We believe that the place to start a discussion about international education is in the classroom and that is why we invest in building links with schools and being visible to students throughout the school year. We then use online resources such as email newsletters , twitter and facebook to continue the education process. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, we also enable our clients to contact students who have expressed an interest in studying in their country or subjects in which they specialise.

Marketing consultants are not necessarily the right people to promote international universities. We believe that Higher Education Institutions can do that best themselves, although clearly we are in a position to offer guidance and support when necessary. Marketing consultants should however be able to advise and offer the right marketing measures to reach a specific objective. If a university wishes to increase awareness in the United Kingdom with a view to increasing enrollments then we believe that there are currently better ways to achieve this than attending fairs. When this situation changes, as an old hand at organising such events, I will be delighted to help our clients make the most of what can be one of the most effective marketing methods ever invented. Until it does though, we will continue to use alternative ways of marketing international higher education in the UK.