by Andrea Costa

The British daily “The Guardian”, whose Education section is always a source of excellent analysis, came out with a very fine article in December which I would recommend to all EUPRIO members worth their salt. Despite its obvious focus on Britain’s situation (England’s, to be precise), it makes a few interesting points that are, or will become shortly, of universal value.

The main point of the article is that universities are tempted to make promises that they cannot deliver in order to lure prospective students. A worrying sign in this respect is the sharp increase in complaints from students who believe they have been shortchanged.

This is a communication problem, dear friends. At best it’s just poor communication, but I would bet that in many cases there is a wide gap between university decision-makers and communications people (as in “Say this. End of discussion.”). And if that were not bad enough, this may also spring from a delusional attitude over who we really are: the article tells the story of a certain university who had branded itself as “the enterprise university” having supported the new businesses of only two graduates out of 10,000. Ehm.

This is what market research is all about. We need to know how do students perceive us, what do people look for when they choose a university and what deters them from choosing your university: yes, if you only ask your students you miss the most important bit, ie why you lost so many potentially good ones. This is especially true in countries like England (not Scotland, for the time being) where not only tuition fees are going up fast but universities all charge the maximum, creating the idea that they are all top-class. Predictably, students want to know what you are so good at, and will not take you at face value.