Great Expectations New Partners New Visions

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Great Expectations- New Partners -New Visions
Student Support Network ANNUAL CONFERENCE
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Opening AddressProfessor Michael
ArthurVice-Chancellor
Student Support Network ANNUAL CONFERENCE
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Keynote SpeakerDr Lianne Cretney-BarnesDirecto
r of Marketing DevelopmentEdith Cowan
University, Perth, Australia
Student Support Network ANNUAL CONFERENCE
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Fees and expectations lessons from the
Australian experience

• University of Leeds 2006
• Dr Lianne Cretney-Barnes

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The HE environment in Australia

• Government reforms
• 4 Key Principles Sustainability, Quality,
  Equity, Diversity
• Commonwealth Grant Scheme
• Decrease in national funding
• Reliance on students for revenue/user pays
• Introduction of variable fees and fee-HELP
• Teaching only universities
• Research Quality Framework
• Federal control
• VET sector ramped up

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The HE environment in Australia

• Reliance on students for revenue

Source AVCC The Sources of University Income
The Facts
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The HE environment in Australia

• Competitive environment
• 38 universities
• 944,977 students
• Degree factories
• Deregulation
• Private institutions emerging
• Entry of overseas competition
• Buoyant labour market- fall in demand

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Demand for higher education
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Enter

• The challenges of
• positioning
• marketing and
• managing expectations

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Challenges

• Reduce gaps between expectation and reality
• Create understanding of differentiation (me
  toos will always be average)
• Support the breadth, diversity and priorities of
  future revenue streams
• Ensure relevance and appeal for a diversity of
  audiences
• Ensure delivery

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What is different about you?
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ECU
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ECU positioning
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ECU positioning

• Some key attributes
• enterprising
• contemporary
• accessible
• practical

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Marketing superglue

• Consumers do not seek links actively but they do
  recognise integration and see it logically as
  making it easier for them to build an overall
  brand picture.
  Iddiols,2000

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Marketing superglue
ECU
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ECU target markets

• School leavers
• 20- career changers- career advancers-
  self-developers
• Postgraduate- career changers- career
  advancers

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Choosing a University
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Market research on price school leavers

• More tolerant of paying a higher price
• Open to believing a higher priced course offers a
  better degree.
• 53 of school leavers fall into the value for
  money segment compared to 75 of mature age
  students.

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Attitudes towards fee structures
Status and Prestige segments tend to be private
school students whilst Value For Money and
Quality tend to be Government School Students
Status (8)
Prestige (17)
Agree
Those students in the Prestige segment are more
likely to have parents with a university degree
More inclined to choose higher priced over a
lower priced institution
Value For Money (53)
Quality (21)
Those students in the Value For Money segment are
more likely than those in the Prestige segment to
have parents whose highest qualification is high
school
Who fits in each segment
Disagree
Those in the Status segment are more likely than
those in other groups to have parents in Upper
White Collar professions
Disagree
Agree
Higher price represents a better degree
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Market research - mature-age

• Less open to choosing an institution that charges
  higher fees.
• Less financially able than school leavers to
  afford a higher priced institution regardless of
  their preferences.
• Believe that a higher priced institution would
  not necessarily provide a better degree.

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Attitudes towards fee structures
Status (7)
Prestige (8)
Agree
Status and Quality segments tend to be those in
upper white or white collar professions or those
not working.
More inclined to choose higher priced over a
lower priced institution
Value For Money (75)
Quality (11)
Those in the Value For Money segment are more
likely than those in the Prestige segment to have
studied at a tertiary level before - possibly
reflecting a reluctance to pay more the second
time
Who fits in each segment
Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Higher price represents a better degree
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The WA scene 2005

• Increases in fees
• Curtin University of Technology 0
• Edith Cowan University 25
• Murdoch University 20
• University of Western Australia 25
• Notre Dame FFP

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Deregulated HECS Mix of Government and Student
Contributions
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The Media

• Booming unis squeeze students
• Loans push up full-fee enrolments
• Price of degrees will push students offshore
• Macquarie joins the full-fee fray
• Students fail to avoid fee rises
• Do poor students get too much help?
• Caution advised on fee loans
• Upward trend in fees continues
• Uni leaders give grants warning
• VCs angry at funding stand-off
• Anger at fees increase

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Student response to fees

• Confusion
• Information inconsistent
• 7out of 10 students in paid employment
• Drift to prestige institutions (perceived
  benefit)
• Insecurity about debt

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Key barriers
The Customers Voice Confidential March 2006
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Reversing the trend
The Customers Voice Confidential March 2006
The Customers Voice Confidential March 2006
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Expectations

• Client centredmarketing drivenhigher
  expectationsshaping demand/being shaped by
  demand
• Ratio international/local
• Combined degrees
• Flexibility in course delivery (external/distance/
  online)
• Job at end
• Career flexibility

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Expectations cont

• Parental expectations
• Transition from school to uni
• Staff accessibility
• Email to contact peers and lecturers
• Online course resources
• Better accommodation
• Better qualified staff
• Better student services
• Better ICT
• Career ready

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The Student Journey
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The WA scene 2006

• Increases in fees
• Curtin University of Technology 25
• Edith Cowan University 25
• Murdoch University 25
• University of Western Australia 25
• Notre Dame FFP

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Lessons learnt

• School leaver market is generally not
  price-sensitive
• Price-sensitivity levels for parents and mature
  age students
• Sector needs to think more commercially in a
  deregulating environment
• Need to develop pricing policy for all courses,
  at all levels
• Manage the media better in terms of competing
  with the government for message dissemination eg
  a united approach to media messages at local
  level
• Fluctuating levels of supply/demand and deeper
  market understanding is required
• Increased prices will lead to demands for better
  student services and facilities

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Great Expectations- New Partners -New Visions
Student Support Network ANNUAL CONFERENCE
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WelcomeProfessor Stephen ScottPro-Vice-Chancell
or for Students and Staff
Student Support Network ANNUAL CONFERENCE
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Keynote SpeakerJulian NicholdsNUS Education
Officer
Student Support Network ANNUAL CONFERENCE
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Reflections on the impact of differential fees

• Julian Nicholds
• Vice-President Education

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Introduction

• Context
• Changing Choices
• Students as Consumers?
• The Continuing Funding Crisis
• The Future
• Conclusions

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Context - Where are we now?

• The HE Bill - 3000 variable top-up fees
• - limited grants
• - limited institutional bursaries
• higher (but still low) loan repayment threshold
• Abolition of the up-front fee

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Immediate impact on student

• Complex funding arrangements
• Cross border issues
• Variable fee
• Variable grants
• Variable bursaries

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Making Choices?

• How will students chose their institution post
  2006?
• Location, facilities, league tables, reputation
  etc.
• TQI info, NSS, External examiners reports, QAA
  reports
• Money fees, bursaries, scholarships, rent
  prices
• Full-time or part-time?
• On campus or distance learner?
• Stay at home or move away?

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Students Rights are Consumer Rights?

• Right to be heard and listened to
• Right to representation
• Right to a high quality student experience
• High course quality
• Fees not connected to rights
• Value for money?
• Rights to a good degree

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The Continuing Funding Crisis

• Top-up fees are not going to fill the funding gap
• There is no guarantee that fee income is new
  income
• Some funds dedicated to bursaries
• Students have less money
• Decline in SU block grants/commercial income
• However, expectation of improved services

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Impact on the student

• Increasing fees will put off students from lower
  socio-economic background
• Students will pick course and institution based
  on cost not suitability
• Inadequate support could lead to poor retention
• Increased working hours impacts on coursework
  commitments

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Impact on the staff institution

• Only most successful courses/institutions will
  generate income
• Closures, mergers, possibility of discontinued
  courses
• Numbers will drop as many better off working
• Lack of student representation and influence
  means greater institutional support

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What students need

• Improved pastoral support available
• Increased opportunity to meet with staff for
  academic support
• One-to-one sessions to explore desired outcomes
  and aspirations
• Improved communication with staff other
  students
• Greater financial support, one-off grant etc.
• To be listened to

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What should happen next

• Government should recognise that not all students
  fit in to a one-size-fits-all funding model
• An adequate, full and independent review of the
  06 system including student voice
• Greater funding for institutional student support
• Greater investment from Government into pastoral
  and academic support
• Student should remain at the heart of the system

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Any questions?

• Juliannicholds_at_gmail.com
• Or wes.streeting_at_nus.org.uk
• www.nusonline.co.uk

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Great Expectations- New Partners -New Visions
Student Support Network ANNUAL CONFERENCE