In our previous blog on international student recruitment, we shared some pretty shocking statistics from a mystery-shopping piece of research from UNIQUEST that revealed the volume of student enquiries to UK universities that go unanswered, and the manner in which others are followed up. It’s perhaps unsurprising when we consider that in 2015, just 3% of institutions utilised a CRM to support the full student lifecycle from initial enquiry, and many universities are yet to make the most of their solutions. The key findings that Uniquest uncovered demonstrate the gaps in student expectation versus experience and shows that international students are typically enjoying a better experience than domestic students.

The tremendous expansion of social media and other Web 2.0 technologies is unprecedented. As users create content, post images, select to 'like' or engage in a game, social media technology has become an integral element of daily life. Social media now influences how people communicate, share information, broadcast events, update people, and create community.

"Nowhere is the use of social media more evident than in the practice of higher education. Facebook got its start at Harvard University to connect students and its use has expanded steadily since its inception in 2004. What started at one university for one group of students has now stretched to other platforms and extended to include virtually all communities throughout the world"[i]

The pervasiveness of social media is nowhere more evident than at universities, where the technology is redefining how students connect, collaborate, and study. Our students socialise, learn, work, build professional identities, and participate in professional networks and diverse interest groups in this networked world.  

Two weeks ago we looked at data on overall happiness and satisfaction from the live data from this year’s Student Barometer. This week I want to focus on aspects of the learning and living experience as students have now had a few weeks back on campus and we can review their reflections from data from 18th November which has data from over 10,000 students from institutions across over 10 countries (including the UK, USA, Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, Australia, China and Singapore). The survey is live from September to mid-December each year and we expect more than 50,000 students to have responded by the close.

How ILPs create naturally occurring evidence for Ofsted 

In 2019 Ofsted launched their new Education Inspection Framework(EIF),representing a significant shift in focus from qualification achievement rates as a key indicator of quality to giving learners  "...the knowledge and skills for future learning and employment" and “…the cultural capital they need to succeed in life."
(Source: Intent, Education inspection framework, Updated 23 July 2021)

Over the last few months, we’ve been filled with hope as institutions have begun to open their doors to students from around the world. Inevitably, countries have taken differing approaches with some more cautious than others, but what remains clear is a desire at all levels to get back to some form of normalcy and with a return to our campuses we can begin to re-create those vibrant communities of learning.

If you want to know how students are really feeling we, at Tribal i-graduate, are uniquely positioned to give insights in real time on the global views of international students. Our bi-annual student barometer process is now live (since early October) and we already have responses from over 7,000 students. Each participating institution gets a ‘live’ dashboard of their own key results and we can aggregate the data to give everyone a global view. The data we have highlighted here is from 8th November 2021, so as up to date as you could possibly wish!

We have been working in the Singapore private sector for the last 6 years providing benchmarking of the student experience using the Student Barometer. This has contributed towards enhancing quality and providing key benchmarking data which institutions have used for their external audits from CPE as well as contributing to EduTrust status.

For all of us, the last 18 months have been some of the most challenging of our professional and personal lives. We maintained at Tribal i-graduate that it was vital that institutions continued to listen to students to ensure they were still meeting their needs.
 

What does ILP mean in education?

ILP stands for individual learning plan or individualised learning plan. ILPs define a learner’s academic, personal, and employment goals. They separate these goals into individual targets, accompanied by reviews – the educational equivalent of professional appraisals.

What should an ILP include?

Individual learning plans (ILPs) can guide your learners to success, as long as you understand how to structure them. In this blog, we’ll help you understand what should an ILP include, habit-layering, and how to use coaching conversations to develop your learners’ independence.

When coronavirus first began to spread in the UK back in March 2020, Student Minds made the decision to pause and listen. We wanted to truly understand what students were experiencing, how the pandemic was affecting them and what we could do to help. We gathered insights from thousands of sources and conducted our own primary research to build as accurate a picture as possible. Almost 18 months later, following continued listening, the launch of Student Space and a shift to online delivery of our peer support and training, in August 2021, we collated and published our findings, reflections and recommendations in ‘University Mental Health: Life in a Pandemic’. The report explores the wide-reaching impacts of Covid-19 on higher education communities, focusing on four themes from Student Minds’ University Mental Health Charter: Live, Learn, Work and Support. By exploring the disruption to each of these themes and taking a holistic approach to student mental health, we were able to develop policy recommendations for universities, students’ unions, and the Government, which we believe will support students as we move beyond the initial impacts of the pandemic. 

COVID-19 has enormously impacted the international education sector. Results from the 2020/21 edition of the International Student Barometer (ISB) show a marked negative impact on student satisfaction. However, as demonstrated in i-graduate’s recent global report The global student experience; 2021 insights and analysis from the world’s largest student survey, satisfaction amongst international students studying in New Zealand has remained relatively high.