...this is the mantra for UK Universities in 2024/5.

The strategic decisions made by leaders in the Higher Education sector need to deliver meaningful, positive change. It’s important we create the right culture for success and provide the best and most valuable experience for everyone, whether they are studying or working at our great universities 

Over the last 12 months SMRS has been developing our work in culture, brand and communications. We’re now excited to share that new focus externally and in the coming months you’ll be seeing more communications from us explaining just how we’ve been helping organisations change for the better through an integrated approach to these 3 areas. 

We are passionate about the value that Higher Education delivers for people and its capacity to transform lives. We work with more than 50 universities and business schools, along with the Department for Education, and are deeply embedded in the UK HE sector. And right now it’s a very difficult time for many of our world class universities and business schools. We are committed to helping these great institutions overcome the many challenges they currently face.  

The new Government has quickly changed the tone of the discussions about the sector but so far they have not produced any details of policy changes they will implement.  UUK’s new proposals set out plans around funding and support, international students but also the importance of creating more opportunities for further study options (of all types) for young people. We should get more clarity on what happens next in the next couple of months. Perhaps we will get more clarity on that in the Autumn. Meeting present challenges requires our universities to take an integrated, institution wide approach. In these difficult circumstances success will only be achieved if organisations create environments that allow their teams to thrive and develop impactful strategies that are specific to that organisation’s particular situation. Since Covid it has been interesting to observe many universities adopting very similar strategies to their competitors in areas like portfolio or student number growth and thereby making success even harder to achieve. Between now and the end of 2025 institutions need to be bolder about the product they decide to offer and create organisational clarity about the way they will deliver that portfolio and identify the people they want to study with them.  

Our focus on improving organisational culture came from our experience working with organisations in the public and private sectors on their employer brand and EVP. We came to realise that communicating a powerful employer brand message wasn’t enough to deliver success. It’s an organisation’s culture that enables people to collaborate most effectively, improve collective performance and deliver success. In the last 18 months there does seem to have been an acknowledgement across UKHE that the cultures at our universities can inhibit institutional success and that understanding where your organisation’s culture is at is increasingly important. Our initial diagnosis of the strengths, and areas for improvement of an institution’s culture, and the clear plans we create around positive change, will make it easier for universities to engage their teams in collective objectives and to retain and recruit great people in the toughest of times. 

In terms of the brand work that we do for universities we have been helping institutions to achieve differentiation in a busy market for many years. The boldness I mentioned earlier is also important when focusing on an institution’s brand and reputation. Differentiation is achieved when an institution develops a detailed understanding of the reality of their brand and reputation as well as that of their rivals. That understanding helps create communications that are both engaging and authentic and that will allow potential students and staff to see themselves as part of that community. As universities navigate the next period, achieving distinction in relation to their brand, or even more specifically, their employer brand, will play a huge part in delivering sustained success. 

The third part of our integrated approach to working with universities and business schools relates to communications. Having worked hard to create the right organisational culture and then made that part of a compelling brand narrative it is crucial to communicate those characteristics in an impactful and engaging way. Those communications and campaigns, whether internal or external, will be fundamental to achieving success whether recruiting students or staff or delivering the best experience for important stakeholders. Universities need to get to know their prospective student audiences better than ever before to ensure they don’t lose them to other pathways. The right communications, right across the applicant journey, are more important than ever.  

Lastly, as the UK Higher Education market continues to face a serious funding challenge, universities are focused on delivering more with less resources. That objective to help organisations deliver more for less is at the heart of the work we do at SMRS. Institutions must remain focused on growing student numbers but the 2024 cycle has shown that success in this area will not be dictated by the size of advertising budgets alone. It will need institutions to develop product and pricing offers that meet market demands whilst building a much more detailed understanding of who are the right potential audiences for them. There is more nuance to the applicant decision making process in 2024/5 than in previous years and delivering truly effective campaigns and high value audience and market insights will help institutions make good strategic decisions that can deliver student number growth.

Please take a look at our new website at www.smrs.co.uk where you can read more about our focus on culture brand and communications.