INTO NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

RECRUITMENT & MARKETING PLAN 2015 – 2018

JOHN LARKIN, HEAD OF RECRUITMENT

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Contents 1. Statement of Purpose .............................................................................................................................. 3

2. Current student body 2014-15 ................................................................................................................. 3

3. Historical recruitment performance (NSE) ................................................................................................. 3

4. Market intelligence ................................................................................................................................. 5

5. Summary of recruitment goals (next 3 years) ............................................................................................ 6

6. University Ambitions ............................................................................................................................... 8

7. Positioning – USPs & key messages ........................................................................................................... 9

8. Marketing Channels .............................................................................................................................. 11

9. GAP analysis of Content ......................................................................................................................... 15

10. Risks & Mitigation ................................................................................................................................. 15

Appendix A: INTO Newcastle University 3 Year Recruitment Plan: NSE 2012-13 to 2014-15 ................................ 17

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1. Statement of Purpose

The purpose of the INTO Newcastle University Recruitment plan is to provide background and context to the growth ambitions of the Centre in terms of student volumes and nationality diversity for 2015-16 and subsequent recruitment cycles up to and including 2017-18. Newcastle is a large and mature Centre, and the recruitment priorities summarised in section 5 are designed to ensure sustainable and diverse growth, and to ensure INTO Newcastle University remains an increasingly attractive proposition in the pathway education market.

This plan should be read in conjunction with the Centre Strategy document (March 2015) which sets out some of the Centre’s broader ambitions in terms of growth and direction.

2. Current student body 2014-15

The following table sets out the current registered student body in Newcastle as at 1 February 2015 (including NSE, continuers and progressors). Numbers include both September 2014 and January 2015 enrolments.

Overall the Centre numbers continue to be strong but some areas have witnessed a flattening or decline in enrolments. Some key areas of note:

South Asia: India and Pakistan enrolments have dipped slightly. Partly due to political and economic problems in the region, and also because we have not been able to offer a high level of in-country support to the region.

ECA: Russian enrolments are currently flat, but will be challenged further by the on-going financial and political instability. Decline in Bolashak sponsored students.

Middle East: Continues to be strong particularly in Saudi Arabia

Africa: Good progress in West Africa and enhanced collaboration with the University International Office in the region.

The Centre’s ambitions in terms of student diversity are to balance China student numbers with the Rest of the World (ROW) at approximately 40 China and 60 Rest of the World.

3. Historical recruitment performance (NSE)

Data summarising recruitment performance by region from 2012-13 up to and including 2014-15 is available in appendix one. Some key points to note are:

Region Diploma EUS Foundation Graduate Diploma SAWE Grand Total %

Africa 2 22 24 2.78%

Central Asia 2 9 9 20 2.32%

China 51 53 121 151 376 43.62%

Eastern Europe 2 13 1 16 1.86%

Europe 1 2 7 1 11 1.28%

Hong Kong 24 1 63 2 90 10.44%

Indo China 2 2 13 9 26 3.02%

MENA 1 52 84 3 140 16.24%

NCSA 2 2 0.23%

North Asia 5 6 19 10 9 49 5.68%

South Asia 9 14 2 25 2.90%

South East Asia 22 1 56 4 83 9.63%

121 126 423 183 9 862 100.00%

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Overall growth in confirmed and enrolled students: 907 in 2012-13 to 938 in 2014-15 showing steady growth of academic programmes.

Decline in EUS students (competition in China)

Application growth has been strong over the period but not reflected in the number of enrolments hence our strategic focus on conversion activities.

ECA enrolments have been impacted by a difficult currency scenario in Russia in particular.

Overall we have tailored ROCSP activities to support recruitment in our priority markets to support nationality diversity.

3.1 Factors contributing to success or underperformance

Performance/Underperformance Reason Evidence

Introduction of Graduate Diploma with Pre-Sessional English

Strong demand from China Numbers increased in 2014 circa 50 students

Introduction of Diploma in Architecture

Good demand for alternative pathways from certain regions

10 students for first intake in January 2016

Applications and Enrolments

Centre has been successful in increasing applications

Conversion has not been as strong as we would have hoped in relation to the number of applications

Progression Rates

NCL continues to have good progression rates – particularly for UG pathways

Good message to market and reinforces message of strong progression opportunities

International Foundation Pathways

Good diversity of Foundation pathways (5) and wide range of destination degrees

Overall demand for Foundation is strong

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4. Market intelligence

4.1 Table 1: SWOT analysis

Strengths

1. Newcastle is a top 20 ranked university in the UK and top 200 in the world and an established member of the Russell Group.

2. Research intensive with international recognition for research output.

3. Very good 2015 REF outcome. 4. Award winning, state of the art INTO Building. 5. Excellent standard and supply of student

accommodation. 6. High calibre INTO teaching staff and excellent

student support facilities. 7. High levels of student satisfaction. 8. Extensive range of Foundation pathways with

premium niche product in Architecture). 9. Excellent student university

placement/progression record.

Weaknesses

1. New INTO teaching facilities near capacity and still reliant on some sub-standard university teaching facilities.

2. Premium in terms of tuition and accommodation costs (how do we measure price sensitivity of the market).

3. More Diploma routes needed in non-business subject areas.

4. More Graduate Diploma routes needed (e.g. Engineering)

Opportunities

1. New high quality teaching accommodation – (new annex) commencing January 2016.

2. Should be possible to source good quality accommodation in Newcastle in the short term, and potentially add to the current stock on campus in the longer term.

3. New Diploma in Architecture commenced January 2015

4. Still scope to add more Diploma and Graduate Diploma pathways.

5. Enhanced collaboration with the International Office recruitment staff to improve profile and increase resources in market.

6. Working with the University and GILS, should be more scope for institutional links

7. Can we use scholarships more effectively? 8. Lifting of cap on EU students in 2015 – could

help diversity.

Threats

1. Increased global competition from other pathway providers in the UK and internationally. E.g. increased domestic provision in China.

2. UK student visa regime continues to have a negative impact on brand UK

3. What would be the impact on recruitment if Newcastle University lost position in UK league tables?

4. What would be the impact of NU dropping out of top 200 world rankings?

5. How will INTO Newcastle respond to increases in the number of INTO UK Centres. How will this impact on the Regional Office recruitment resources?

6. We need to monitor INTO entry requirements to ensure we are competitive whilst maintaining high quality students.

7. Impact on NCL progression of increased progression grades.

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4.2 Competitor Analysis

The University is a long term founder member (1994) of the Russell Group, and as such is able to benchmark itself against other Russell Group Universities in terms of research income, entry qualifications, ranking, international reach (market penetration and global profile).

In terms of competitive threat to Newcastle there are several key areas of focus:

Similarly ranked Russell Group Universities e.g. Glasgow, Sheffield and Leeds who operate with competitor pathway providers (Kaplan, Study Group):

A critical area of focus for Newcastle is entry requirements to Foundation, Diploma and Graduate Diploma when benchmarked against our closest competitors in the Russell Group sector and indeed in comparison to our closest competitors within INTO UK (Exeter, UEA and Manchester). INTO NCL is currently working with the University to implement a process to review on an annual basis pathway entry requirements and information about competitor entry requirements will be a critical part of this process. It is hoped that we can be more closely aligned with our closest competitors in terms of entry qualifications.

The recent announcement that York University will partner with Kaplan will have an impact. A recent addition to the Russell Group and geographically close to Newcastle.

Prestigious, but not necessarily Russell Group Universities such as Reading who do not collaborate with a pathway provider but offer their own pathway provision could also be a competitive threat.

Premium pathway providers such as Bellerbys (Study Group) will also continue to be a threat at the upper end of the market.

Glasgow and Sheffield. According to feedback from the market and the conversion team (who call applicants that do not confirm for NCL) Newcastle loses many students to both Sheffield and Glasgow (both Kaplan).

International Providers in Australia, USA, Canada and increasingly Europe will increasingly be a threat, particularly in the context of the UK’s challenging Student Visa and PSWV regime.

In terms of Newcastle’s recognised competitors, a key part of the Centre’s Strategic Plan will be to monitor:

Entry Requirements of competitors

Pricing

Breadth of programme provision

Gaps in subject provision

Teaching resources and student support

5. Summary of recruitment goals (next 3 years)

1. To sustain 2014-15 recruitment levels across all programmes, with further agreed growth with Recruitment Directors for 2015-16.

1.1 Overall proposed NSE for 2015-16: 997

1.2 Overall proposed January NSE 2016 student numbers: 202

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In order to meet the Centre diversity and growth targets, we will aim for Regional NSE for 2015-16 as follows:

Proposed 2015-16 New Student Enrolments (NSE)

TOTAL NSE 2013-14 Actual 2015-16 Enrolment Budget

East Asia 179 190

China 348 398

Hong Kong 92 87

ECA 90 101

NCSA 3 12

MEASA 182 221

TOTAL 894 997

2. To increase the diversity of nationalities:

2.1 Aim for an overall proportion of PRC students of circa 40%

2.2 Aim for an overall proportion from the Rest of World (ROW) to circa 60%

2.3 Improve student nationality diversity across all programmes

3. in the context of diversity and volume, to strengthen the spread of students on the Foundation programme offer at INTO Newcastle

3.1 Increase the number of students on Foundation Biological & Biomedical Sciences

3.2 Increase the number of students on Foundation Humanities & Social Sciences

3.3 Increase the number of students on Foundation Architecture

3.4 Maintain the number of students on Foundation Science & Engineering

3.5 Maintain the number of students on Foundation Business

3.6 Introduce a January start Foundation Architecture from January 2017

4. Increase the number of students on the Diploma programmes

4.1 Develop sustainable intakes for the new International Diploma in Architecture – January and September intakes.

4.2 Increase nationality diversity on the International Diploma - Business and Humanities and increase ROW students.

4.3 Explore new Diploma destinations

5. Increase the number of students on Graduate Diploma

5.1 Increase the number of students on the Graduate Diploma in Architecture, and provide viable cohort for new January start Graduate Diploma in Architecture

5.2 Increase the number of ROW students on Graduate Diploma Architecture & Business and Humanities

5.3 Aim to introduce a Graduate Diploma in Engineering by 2017

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5.1 Recruitment Priorities

In addition to the above recruitment goals, the Centre has identified a number of priority areas to help drive increased enrolments:

a) Conversion Activities

Applications for NCL across all regions increased by 11% (Sep 14 v Sep 13) but enrolments for Sep 2014 were relatively flat. Application to offer ratios are good. In order to support the achievement of the 2015-16 Enrolment Budget we would like to focus on increasing the percentage ratio of offers to confirmations. We will explore the role of the Centre in working with the UKCA and the Regional Office to achieve this.

b) Cascading University direct applications

Discussions are underway with the University and Enrolment Services to implement systems to make offers to ‘near miss’ direct applications to Newcastle University. There is a significant pool of potential applicants that could benefit Foundation, Diploma and Graduate Diploma enrolments.

c) Clearing applications

Work is underway with the University admissions teams to collaborate during clearing with near miss direct entrant who might qualify for pathway programmes.

d) Direct Applications

The number of direct applications (i.e. non-agent sourced) are increasing, but we feel there is scope for INTO Newcastle to improve performance. We will seek further discussions with Enrolment Services and look at how we can engage more effectively with the direct application process. Similarly we see institutional linkages as a priority area and will seek greater collaboration with the institutional links team.

6. University Ambitions

Newcastle University continues to invest in developing its international profile in teaching and research collaboration and has an established presence in key international markets. NUmed in Malaysia and NUIS in Singapore have contributed to the profile and brand of the University in the region; and the establishment of a London Campus will bring another dimension to its world profile.

In addition, the ongoing collaboration with Xiamen University, China will make a significant impact on the profile of the University in China. The international work of the University is significant in underpinning the marketing and recruitment activities of INTO Newcastle. Newcastle University has established itself as a Global University and continues to expand its international ambitions.

The University continues to do well in world rankings – top 1% in the QS World University Rankings (2014). In terms of international student recruitment the University has continued to increase its international numbers year on year through a variety of channels including INTO, direct recruitment, a strong agent network and an extensive Government/ Company sponsorship programme.

INTO Newcastle has worked, and continues to work collaboratively with the International Student Recruitment Team at the University and there is continued scope to develop an even stronger partnership, particularly vis-a-vis:

Collaborative in-country marketing activities with International Recruitment team.

Greater collaboration with individual Schools and Faculties.

Sharing market knowledge

An extensive shared agent network

Shared marketing activities and recruitment resources

More collaborative approach with the University’s Central Marketing Directorate

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The University’s strategic agenda: ‘Raising the Bar’ in broad terms sets out its ambitions in terms of growth; including income and student numbers. It also focuses on quality in terms of students, research and teaching. A key part of the ‘Raising the Bar’ agenda is also global reputation and ranking; and this underpins the University’s ambitions in the context of its international agenda.

7. Positioning – USPs & key messages

7.1 Sunday Times Subject Rankings 2015 (overall institutional ranking is 22nd)

Subject Ranking Subject Ranking Subject Ranking

Art & Design 4 Classics & Ancient History 10 Linguistics 8

Anatomy & Physiology 8 Communications & Media 8 Mathematics 22

Accounting and Finance 15 Dentistry 3 Mechanical Engineering 16

Agriculture 1 Economics 29 Music 13

Archaeology 9 Elec. & Electronic Engineering 17 Medicine 9

Architecture 7 English 10 Politics 14

Business 19 Food Science 11 Philosophy 14

Biological Sciences 25 French 10 Pharmacology and Related 17

Chemical Engineering 13 Geography & Environmental Science 20 Psychology 14

Civil Engineering 8 German 5 Sociology 19

Computer Science 17 History 23 Spanish & Portuguese 4

Chemistry 33 Law 14 Town and Country Planning 3

7.2. Institutional Rankings Newcastle University is a Russell Group University

Ranked in the top 1% of universities in the world (127th in the QS World University Rankings 2014)

Ranked 22nd in The Sunday Times 2015 Good University Guide

Ranked 20th in the Complete University Guide (Published 2014)

Newcastle University is ranked 16th (out of 154) in the UK for research power. The REF 2014 showed

that the vast majority of Newcastle University’s research was placed in the top two categories of

4*(world leading) or 3* (internationally excellent)

Newcastle University Business School is one of only 20 Triple Accredited Business Schools in the UK

7.3 Employability Ranking Newcastle has achieved five QS Stars for excellence in Employability from QS, the first international

assessment of its kind (2013).

Newcastle is ranked 5th in the UK for Graduate Employability based on 2011-12 HESA First Destination Data.

No. 9 in the UK for ‘career prospects’ in the Guardian University Guide (Published 2014)

93% of students are in a job or further training within 6 months of graduating

7.4 Student Satisfaction Newcastle University was rated as one of the top institutions in the country in the 2014 National

Student Survey with the results placing us joint 6th for student satisfaction amongst comparator universities in the UK

Our International Students put Newcastle University in the world’s top 50 (ISB 2013) of Global Universities

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Top 20 for Student experience in the UK for the past 4 years (The Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey).

7.5 Other Newcastle Specific Key Messages INTO Newcastle

Award winning, state-of-the-art INTO Centre, centrally located on the University campus in the

heart of the city of Newcastle Upon Tyne

93% overall student satisfaction for INTO students (INTO Student Exit Survey 2014)

Additional building including new teaching facilities opening in January 2016

High quality, modern student accommodation located very close to the INTO Centre and the City.

70% average progression from UG foundation programmes to Newcastle University.

80% progression from Diploma to NCL University

60% progression from Graduate Diploma to NCL University

INTO Students enjoy full University status with full access to a wide range of student facilities.

Progression Choice is very good with a diverse range of destination degrees across all University Faculties.

Newcastle University

Global connections: Campuses in the UK, Malaysia and Singapore and London, a community of students and staff from over 110 countries

Free in-sessional English and other foreign language facilities, preparing students to graduate as global citizens.

Research-informed teaching: benefit from degrees that integrate cutting-edge research, delivered by the best academic staff.

Graduates Demand: high-quality degrees, internships and placements, and an award-winning Careers Service prepare students for the world of work, making it one of the top 20 UK universities targeted by graduate employers.

Student experience: a cosmopolitan, friendly destination, Newcastle consistently ranks as one of the top cities for student social life and experience.

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8. Marketing Channels

8.1 Centre with Agent and student

Current Regional Office Activities

NCL supports the Regional Offices in delivering the student message through several channels all of which are designed for the Regions to deliver the University and Centre’s key messages as outlined in section 7, e.g.: Prestigious Russell Group University, Rankings, student experience, employability, INTO building and teaching facilities, student accommodation and city centre location.

The regions currently use all of the Centre material highlighted in section 8.2 and 8.5 to promote Newcastle, and any other local material they produce e.g. translated into Chinese, Arabic or Russian.

Marketing activities are focussed around: student facing exhibitions, school visits, in-country agent visits and training, student interviews, agent workshops, agent newsletters. The NCL ROCSP as agreed with the Regions is designed to support all of the above activities.

Future Regional Office activities

A key part of the Centre work with the Regional Offices will be to ensure they have high quality appropriate material to support the continued delivery of key NCL messages; including student success stories, facilities, new programmes and new developments generally within the Centre. We will continue to produce appropriate print and digital material to support this. We will also monitor usage through Asset Bank.

Through the annual ROCSP planning the Centre will work with the Regions to agree a schedule of activities that reflect the recruitment ambitions of the centre in terms of priority countries and events that are appropriate to NCL.

A key area of regional focus for Newcastle will be to establish possibilities for non-agent sourced direct students, and collaboration with the ROs and GILS to help us achieve his will be critical.

NCL will work closely with the ROs to identify and promote to new markets where appropriate

We are currently not strong with promotional materials such as merchandise, give-aways, etc. NCL will address this with the ROs

We will continue to support the Regional Offices with inward visits to Centre for agents and staff, this is a critical part of reinforcing the Newcastle brand and key messages.

Training generally will always be available for new and current RO staff, in-country or via webinar.

8.2 Digital

Current Digital Marketing activities

Marketing material is currently taken from the brochure for the static pages of INTO Higher, along with content for iPad, student apps, mobile, etc. Landing pages for any specific campaign would draw on messages for the Centre/University.

The following content is currently used to deliver key messages: video; optimised copy; student profiles; galleries; student testimonials; student quotes; progression statistics; rankings etc.

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Other digital activity includes paid-media campaigns for the UK which drives leads to study in UK for ES to engage with and allocate to one of the brands in the UK network of partners. UGC is created on social media for the centre and is managed by local MC under guidance/direction of central social media.

Further Development of Digital Marketing

The priority for the Centre will be to continue to highlight current and new key messages and USPs across all digital channels, but with a particular emphasis on conversion by targeting offer holders and unconfirmed students.

The Centre will continue monitoring and developing the referral linking strategy in collaboration with the University and implement recommendations to increase traffic from the University web pages to INTO pages.

As the pool of Newcastle graduates increases we would like to produce more student testimonials reflecting good degrees and success stories in relation to employment and careers.

It will be important to monitor the use of asset bank particularly in relation to the needs of regional Offices and ensuring they have relevant and high quality content.

We will need to revisit the marketing calendar to ensure the recruitment objectives of the Centre are appropriately supported by relevant content.

8.3 Email Marketing

Current Email Marketing Activities

In all cases the messaging positions the INTO student message 'Dedicated to your choice, your happiness and your success' plus the promotion of the Early Booking Discount.

Conditional offer holders messaging will focuses on support and information to help students meet conditions.

Centre-specific messaging based on University/Centre USPs, accommodation options, success and progression.

Emails are designed to be clear and concise so that they work well on both mobile and desktop with a click through to main assets and a campaign landing page.

Campaign landing page: http://www.intohigher.com/uk/en-gb/campaign-pages/save-on-your-tuition-fees.aspx Current campaigns focus on Centre USPs:

A modern purpose built INTO Centre based in the heart of the university campus

Quality programmes that guarantee student success,

Top 20 UK University targeted by graduate employers.

Success and progression: Developing Centre specific alumni content through Centres and all brands centrally. Currently produced one alumni video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITqg_R17ccI

Further Development of Email Marketing

The Centre will continue to support all of the above to maximise profile and generate applications, but again will focus on conversion from existing offer holders at key points in the recruitment cycle.

As well as the current portfolio of key messages, the Centre will develop more programme specific message that can be incorporated into new campaigns; as well as more engagement from Centre staff in developing these messages.

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As Salesforce is developed, it will be useful to tailor messages to specific campaigns and leads generated from those campaigns.

8.4 Conversion Calls

Current Conversion Call Activity

INTO’s central Student Support team is tasked with providing telephone support to students holding offers but who have not yet confirmed - with a view to maximising student conversion.

Seven days after an offer is issued for an academic or academic English programme the multi-lingual Student Services team will use the student’s contact details to call the student and learn more about their intentions.

If the student no is longer intending to study with INTO, the team can capture valuable data on where students are ultimately planning on studying, and reasons for declining NCL.

Further Development of Conversion call activity

Conversion is a cornerstone of the Centre’s recruitment ambitions and as such NCL is keen to support and develop this activity in order to improve application to offer and offer to enrolment figures.

The Centre teaching and recruitment teams could play a more extensive role in conversion calling and developing appropriate specialised messaging to offer holders.

NCL would also seek to provide the Central Student Services team with better quality information in an easily accessible format to assist them in helping students committing to NCL. More specific information about the attributes of particular programmes for example, and not just headline USPs and ranking information.

8.5 Brochures

Current Portfolio of NCL Specific Brochures

INTO Newcastle currently has a suite of publications which reinforce the message that Newcastle has a reputation as one of the best universities in the UK. More specifically the following brochures (Also available in PDF format):

JV brochure – this is largely agent-focused and provides a comprehensive overview of the University, the Centre and pathways.

Student brochure (new item for 2015-16) – provides key information covered in the brochure but in a more visual and concise format.

Exhibition flyer – new A5 format for 2015-16 providing students with a snapshot but with clear calls to action for more information.

Destination UK brochure – provides an overview of the UK Centres and includes a profile of the University and pathway course listings.

China Agent Manual – provides all of the information an agent needs about INTO’s products and services in a single, market-focused publication.

Hong Kong Agent Manual (new item for 2015-16) – as above but adapted to the Hong Kong market.

Welcome to INTO NCL Guide (new item for 2015-16) – this is a new item that is currently being produced to support China conversion.

Success brochure – Currently in production, but will showcase the success of INTO NCL students.

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Other materials produced: JV banners, pre-sessional flyers, pre-departure guide and Centre-specific z-card, course flyers (Architecture)

Future Development of Brochure production for NCL

NCL will continue to use the current suite of brochures as a channel to further develop its key messages, focusing particularly on student success stories.

We would like to review content of the exhibition flyer and student short brochure to ensure it meets the needs of students –particularly in an exhibition scenario.

The International Diploma (or International Year One) requires a different approach to selling Foundation programmes, and a Diploma specific brochure for Business and Architecture would be a useful asset in market, enabling us to explain the concept more clearly to students, school counsellors and parents. This could be an INTO UK wide publication as well as a Centre specific publication.

Centre and Country specific information sheers would be useful for student facing events. e.g. including reference to local qualifications.

8.6 Direct

Current Direct enrolment Activity

All the ES/RES and SS staff have visited INTO Newcastle and having spent time in Newcastle they have a good understanding of the INTO Centre, accommodation, the University and the proximity to the city centre and the transportation links.

The main messages we are trying to get across are: highly ranked University and exciting location; wide range of progression options and city centre location.

Future Development of Enrolment Activity

Newcastle is committed as part of its own strategic plan to support direct recruitment channels and supporting conversion by offering the right level of training and support to the Enrolment Services team.

Discussions are currently taking place with the University to use the University clearing period to generate applications from direct applicants to the University.

Discussions are also underway to implement a process to cascade near miss direct applicants to the University, to INTO programmes.

More systematic training for staff would be an ongoing priority and Newcastle would welcome the opportunity to host ES staff in the Centre for short placements throughout the year to enhance their understanding of the Centre and its programmes.

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9. GAP analysis of Content

The current NCL specific content highlighted in Section 8 is focussed on promoting the USPs of the Centre and meeting the needs of Regional Offices and Agents. As indicated above, key areas where we might want to add or develop content would be:

Digital:

Student Success stories will be increasingly important in developing further content and Newcastle will have an increased pool of students available as more students progress and graduate.

More effective and continued development of the referral linking with the Newcastle University home pages

More course and region/country specific material to help focus on priority markets and courses

More extensive video to reflect the Centre facilities and student success stories, and focus on individual programmes.

Email

The Centre is keen to focus on greater conversion from application to enrolment and will support campaigns to reflect this.

Better linking with leads generated through campaigns to email messaging.

Print

Review content and use of current JV publications in the light of use in market and feedback from students, Regional Offices and Agents.

Course specific publication to be considered e.g. Diploma (or International Year One) which requires a different presentation to Foundation.

10. Risks & Mitigation

The SWOT analysis in section 4 captures the main Threats and Weaknesses faced or potentially faced by the Centre in being able to deliver its Recruitment Plan. More specifically, in terms of External and Internal risks:

External Threats:

The increasingly challenging UKVI Student Visa regime will continue to have an impact on our ability to recruit students with particular threats coming from non-UK based competitors with more relaxed visa regimes and better Post Study Work Visa arrangements.

Global financial instability already has impacted on recruitment potential. Currency devaluation in Russia and Central Asia and other parts of Europe is an ongoing problem which is impacting on the affordability of our programmes.

Competition from UK based competitors (see section 4) will continue to be an issue – particularly in relation to entry requirements in certain areas where we may be deemed to be uncompetitive.

Internal Threats:

Student Progression: Student progression to Newcastle overall is strong, but changes (increases) to the required progression grade to Newcastle may have an impact on future progression grades, which would send negative massages to the market.

It is important that Newcastle University continues to perform well in national and international rankings, as well as other student driven rankings (e.g. NSS).

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Entry requirements to INTO pathway programmes will need to remain competitive and broadly in line with our key competitors to ensure we retain and are able to increase our market share of students.

11. Review

Two key areas for review in terms of optimising key messages to the Regions and agents so they are better positioned to recruit students will be activities relating to:

Review Strategy (Channel)

Measure of Effectiveness/ Key activities

Regional Offices Better advanced planning of ROCSP activities for the NCL Centre, with a focus on priority markets for the Centre. The activity should also be undertaken in collaboration with the IO to ensure best impact in key markets and potential to share resources.

There should be a facility for Centre specific training of new RO staff – particularly in Regions with high turnover off staff. This can be delivered by webinar/skype or face-to-face in market if appropriate.

Ongoing training for current RO staff. As above, but need more formal mechanism for updating staff. The Centre always responds to request from new and current staff but on an ad hoc basis

We need to work more closely with RO staff to clarify campaign responsibility, particularly in the context of lead generation and follow up.

The production of Centre marketing collateral should be able to support the needs of RO staff and the Centre needs to monitor how marketing material is used and whether or not it is fit for purpose.

Need to monitor Asset bank against use by Regional Office staff.

NCL offers a high level of commitment to RO staff inward visits on an ongoing basis. These will be monitored annually and recorded as events in Salesforce

Agents As with RO staff we need to ensure agents have access to appropriate training that is Centre specific. This is currently available via webinar and Skype, but a more systematic process should be available to ensure current and new agents are able to access Centre specific material and information.

The implementation of an agent portal would be an ideal platform.

NCL has a comprehensive programme of inward visits from agents which provides good training opportunities and exposure to the Centre. We will monitor the effectiveness on an annual basis. Inward visits are currently recorded as events in Salesforce

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Appendix A: INTO Newcastle University 3 Year Recruitment Plan: NSE 2012-13 to 2014-15

Row LabelsApps 1213

(NSE)

Apps 1314

(NSE)

Apps 1415

(NSE)

Apps Variance

1415 vs 1314

(NSE)

Confirm/Enrol

1213 (NSE)

Confirm/Enrol

1314 (NSE)

Confirm/Enrol

1415 (NSE)

C+E Variance

1415 vs 1314

(NSE)

C+E Variance to

Budget 1415

(NSE)

NCL 3312 3807 4184 377 907 929 938 9 141

Diploma - Architecture 20 20 10 10 10

Diploma - Business Management 420 485 531 46 85 92 73 -19 -39

English for University Study 607 614 553 -61 350 361 286 -75 99

Extended Diploma - Business 66 79 81 2 26 23 28 5 8

Extended Foundation - Architecture 13 3 -10 5 1 -4 1

Extended Foundation - Biological & Biomedical Sciences 17 14 -3 3 5 2 5

Extended Foundation - Business & Management 73 93 20 20 22 2 3

Extended Foundation - Humanities and Social Sciences 23 14 -9 5 2 -3 -1

Extended Foundation - Physical Sciences & Engineering 48 44 -4 4 12 8 7

Extended Foundation - All Pathway 120 42

Extended Graduate Diploma - Architecture 2 2 0 0 0

Extended Graduate Diploma - Business and Humanities 0 78 78 0 56 56 56

Foundation - Architecture 71 107 131 24 29 44 45 1 -4

Foundation - Biological & Biomedical Sciences 152 168 167 -1 27 38 37 -1 -3

Foundation - Business & Management 533 639 764 125 84 101 108 7 -32

Foundation - Humanities 231 244 273 29 51 41 54 13 14

Foundation - Physical Sciences & Engineering 429 470 504 34 118 107 111 4 6

Graduate Diploma - Architecture 37 39 40 1 6 6 4 -2 -5

Graduate Diploma - Business and Social Science 620 760 847 87 72 55 68 13 0

Study Abroad with English 26 28 25 -3 17 24 16 -8 16

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Row Labels Apps 1213 (NSE) Apps 1314 (NSE) Apps 1415 (NSE)

Apps Variance

1415 vs 1314

(NSE)

Confirm/Enrol

1213 (NSE)

Confirm/Enrol

1314 (NSE)

Confirm/Enrol

1415 (NSE)

C+E Variance

1415 vs 1314

(NSE)

C+E Variance to

Budget 1415

(NSE)

NCL 3312 3807 4184 377 907 929 938 9 141

China, HK & Macau 2040 2229 2541 312 502 452 477 25 139

Beijing 550 603 624 21 143 136 104 -32 -128

Central China 253 268 353 85 78 54 82 28 82

HK & Macau 588 537 506 -31 110 93 87 -6 -19

North China 120 123 179 56 39 24 28 4 28

Shanghai 210 305 355 50 58 69 77 8 77

South China 261 305 393 88 58 59 79 20 79

West China 58 88 131 43 16 17 20 3 20

East Asia 361 455 522 67 163 183 181 -2 18

Brunei 1 12 10 -2 0 5 4 -1 1

Indonesia 45 58 44 -14 22 28 17 -11 -9

Japan 51 47 55 8 28 32 30 -2 14

Korea 43 63 60 -3 18 24 18 -6 -3

Malaysia 56 63 88 25 30 26 31 5 11

Oceania 1 3 1 -2 0 0 0 0 0

Other Indo China 2 12 16 4 1 5 5 0 -6

Singapore 70 91 121 30 28 27 34 7 1

Taiwan ROC 16 22 48 26 4 8 16 8 7

Thailand 42 46 58 12 21 18 22 4 12

Vietnam 34 38 21 -17 11 10 4 -6 -10

ECA 216 304 343 39 55 93 93 0 -19

Armenia 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0

Azerbaijan 8 14 17 3 1 4 3 -1 -2

Belarus 1 2 1 -1 0 0 1 1 1

EU 19 15 5 -10 4 3 3 0 2

Georgia 3 2 1 -1 1 0 0 0 -1

Israel 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Kazakhstan 18 52 51 -1 8 28 28 0 3

Kyrgyzstan 2 5 1 -4 0 2 0 -2 -4

Moldova 4 5 6 1 2 4 2 -2 -4

Non EU 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 -1

Other Central Asia 0 1 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0

Russia 24 24 35 11 13 13 13 0 -3

Turkey 16 32 33 1 3 7 8 1 -5

UK 114 146 183 37 21 28 34 6 1

Ukraine 5 6 5 -1 2 4 1 -3 -5

Uzbekistan 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1

P a g e 19 | 19

MEASA 675 800 755 -45 181 197 185 -12 11

Bahrain 32 33 41 8 6 4 7 3 -9

East Africa 6 8 17 9 0 2 1 -1 -7

Ghana 2 10 1 -9 0 1 0 -1 -1

India 46 65 40 -25 15 18 12 -6 -7

Iran 3 2 3 1 1 1 0 -1 -1

Iraq 99 114 83 -31 52 53 36 -17 17

Jordan 26 52 47 -5 6 3 5 2 1

Kuwait 36 64 63 -1 9 18 18 0 3

MENA UK Offices 71 67 56 -11 20 15 9 -6 -4

Nigeria 81 76 70 -6 7 13 12 -1 1

North Africa 39 34 27 -7 6 6 5 -1 -2

Oman 8 8 9 1 1 3 1 -2 -2

Other Africa 10 4 3 -1 1 0 1 1 1

Other MENA 0 21 26 5 0 2 4 2 2

Other South Asia 19 9 9 0 4 6 5 -1 1

Pakistan 54 37 64 27 11 4 8 4 2

Qatar 23 25 27 2 4 2 5 3 4

Saudi Arabia 70 101 81 -20 31 32 39 7 11

Southern Africa 10 23 23 0 1 4 8 4 2

Syrian Ar 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

United Arab Emirates 38 46 64 18 5 10 9 -1 -1

West Africa 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

NCSA 20 19 23 4 6 4 2 -2 -8

Argentina 0 0

Brazil 2 2 4 2 1 0 0 0 -4

Chile 0 0 0 0 0 0

Colombia 4 2 2 0 3 1 1 0 -1

Ecuador 2 4 0 -4 1 1 0 -1 0

Mexico 2 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 0

Other Americas 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Panama 0 0

Peru 0 1 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0

US & Canada - East Coast 6 4 6 2 0 1 1 0 0

US & Canada - West Coast 1 2 4 2 0 0 0 0 0

Venezuela 1 2 3 1 1 1 0 -1 -3