What Now: Higher Education Market Research & Student Experience Insights
As strategists and market researchers, the Campos team is always looking to discuss how consumer insights can be leveraged to grow brands and businesses. Welcome to the second blog in our "What Now?" series, in which our team delves into what we do, why we approach our work the way we do, and how research can help build better brands, products, and customer experiences.
In higher education today, there's a lot of discussion of the impending "enrollment cliff." As Kevin Carey at Vox recently reported, the number of students graduating from high schools in the US is expected to begin suddenly—and precipitously—declining.
Carey predicts the biggest effect of the enrollment cliff will be "how students experience higher learning." Colleges and universities across the country will be stepping up their game to prove that the experiences offered by their institution ultimately deliver more value than the experiences offered by competitors.
In this context, many higher education institutions are analyzing and optimizing their student experience with renewed vigor. Campos has long deployed various higher education market research methodologies to better understand student experiences within institutions. Often this research is quite focused in nature—we're analyzing the current state of affairs to answer questions like: How do we make our application process more seamless? How do we improve academic advising for students within a given department or school? What does "supportive" career counseling look like? The idea is to optimize these experiences to improve satisfaction and outcomes among students. In the context of the enrollment cliff, institutions may have more foundational research questions. What are our prospective students' greatest needs that we can authentically meet? How can we craft student experiences that meet those needs?
Depending on the objectives, student experience research can involve current students, prospective students, or both. For example, Campos recently partnered with a prominent business school that wanted to enhance its national ranking through direct student feedback. We engaged their graduating seniors in student experience research to better understand their perspectives and student journey and how it could be improved. This kind of higher education market research uncovers data-driven insights that can significantly contribute to a school's strategic planning, curriculum development, and marketing efforts.
Our higher education market research uncovers rich, layered data on what students perceive as a given program or university's strengths and weaknesses. This includes how students view various things—the admissions process, extracurricular activities, quality of teaching and curriculum, facilities, student amenities, and more—why they feel the way they do, and what matters most. This process enables Campos to provide detailed, actionable recommendations in areas like academics and learning, culture, career assistance, curriculum, and partnership development to create the most appealing environment for prospective students and their parents.
Importantly, higher education market research isn't solely about improving student satisfaction—it's a tool to improve actual student outcomes. For instance, Campos worked with a hospitality school in New York that was facing declining retention rates despite high student satisfaction scores. They wanted to understand the situation and implement a plan to increase graduation rates. Campos conducted a comprehensive qualitative and ethnographic research study with current students to assess their experience. We identified several steps the school could take to turn things around, including fostering closer ties with industry partners, creating a more adaptable curriculum, providing more academic opportunities and job support, and clarifying the school's unique identity and brand.
As the demands of the higher education space continue to evolve, Campos remains steadfast in its commitment to providing tailored higher education market research that produces actionable insights. We look beyond the surface, understanding that student experiences are multifaceted and deeply interwoven with an institution's unique identity and brand. Our holistic approach allows us to suggest targeted improvements to resonate more deeply with current and prospective students, improving satisfaction, academic outcomes, and career outcomes. Through the strategic application of higher education market research, institutions can foster an environment that attracts and retains students, even in a competitive environment.
Ready to dig into your students' experiences? Let's talk.