Overview

Anglia Ruskin University is in its fourth year of partnering with CampusConnect to provide a bespoke, digital applicant community to its international offer holders. All offer holders in both the January and September cohort are invited into the ARU community, where they are guided into multiple community groups to receive the support and information they need to begin their journey at ARU.

Since the launch of ARU CampusConnect in 2020, the way in which the University and its applicants use the ARU community platform has evolved. This has led to developments such as enhanced integration with the University’s other communication channels, expanded themes covered in the community, introduction of wider university units/areas, and an updated criteria for adding verified ARU applicants to the community. The ARU International team’s commitment to innovation, collaboration and community has seen ARU CampusConnect achieve record levels of engagement from international students.

International conversion challenges

Year upon year, the UK universities have seen a growing trend in the number of international student applicants. ARU is a global university that welcomes students from over 130 countries and places utmost importance on the student experience.

Starting university in a new country poses a whole new challenge for international students, who are less familiar with UK culture, rarely have in-country connections and are more vulnerable to misinformation from outdated or inaccurate sources. Penelope Harrall, International Marketing and Communications Officer at ARU, explains:

“We wanted to support international students with the pre-arrival journey, since they often face barriers such as not having English as a first language and struggling to find accommodation in a country they aren’t familiar with.”

This made predicting international student conversion rates difficult for the University. Alison Hartshorn, International Marketing and Communications Manager, adds:

“Without knowing which were the candidates who were more likely to accept their offers it was difficult for us to predict cohort size and make up, and make the right number of offers to meet our targets. This made it difficult for us to stay in control of our international student profile and inhibited our growth.”

Alison Hartshorn continues:

“We needed to know earlier in the cycle whether an applicant was more or less likely to accept their offer.”

The University had introduced applicant nurturing through other comms. channels, but needed additional measures of engagement as a way to predict conversion. The CampusConnect platform houses a robust analytics dashboard, allowing the team to closely monitor user engagement.

A bespoke community for international students

ARU focuses on building and nurturing vibrant and diverse university communities. The International team were looking for an organisation that clearly understood the international applicant journey and how to maximise cross community building to benefit their future students and the student experience. When they saw a presentation by CampusConnect at a conference back in 2019, they reached out to explore the potential.

Simon Wood, Assistant Director International, recalls:

“We hadn’t seen a product that promoted applicant community building and we thought this would be an innovative way to enhance international applicant experience. As the product was relatively new, we could be ahead of our competitors and influence its development.”

The University invites all international offer holders into the online peer community, running two separate cycles to place individual focus on the January and September cohorts. The International team works closely with CampusConnect’s Community Manager, Adele Davey, to onboard students into the ARU community and help them to find relevant groups and form connections as soon as they join.

Penelope Harrall comments:

“Adele has been a massive help; she’s key to our success. She’s deeply involved with the community and can give us crucial updates about hot topics that are being discussed.”

This means the team can be quick off the mark with the information that they share with students. Penelope Harrall continues:

“We use the documents and guides feature a lot to ensure students get the information they need to accept their offer, which increases conversion from offer to enrolment.”

The pre-arrival team also maintains a strong presence on the app and engages daily with students to provide accurate and up to date information on important queries such as CAS deadlines, VISA applications and travel arrangements.

Six successful cycles

Since it launched in 2020, ARU CampusConnect has gone from strength to strength. The September 2022 and January 2023 enrolment periods saw the University recruit record numbers of international students, with the online community being pivotal in enhancing conversion rates. Offering a personalised, safe and supportive space for new entrants led to a minimum 72% conversion rate from offer to enrolment for the January 2023 cohort.

ARU leverages the applicant community in a way which enables it to meet its strategic goal of diversifying the international student market. The team ensures every student on the platform feels welcome and valued as part of the university community.

CampusConnect has also been a tool for Penelope Harrall to streamline communication and focus on innovative, student-led content brought to life by ARU’s Digital Student Ambassadors (DSAs). This has dramatically driven up engagement with CampusConnect, contributing to the success of the last two intakes where international student intake has exceeded targets. Ambassadors are upskilled during training delivered by the CampusConnect team, where they are empowered to provide authentic opinions, signposting and tips on student life.

Rathul, a former Ambassador on ARU CampusConnect, highlights the value:

“As an international student, I faced many hurdles before coming to this country and becoming a student of ARU, but it was much easier when I downloaded ARU CampusConnect. I decided that, once I start at ARU as a student, I will try to become a CampusConnect ambassador. Getting to know details about a university and a course in a different country is very important because it’s a place that is anonymous for us. The more information you get, the more it will become familiar and easier for you.”

Following 6 successful cycles, ARU is equipped with a wealth of knowledge about what works well in international applicant communities. Penelope Harrall shares how the International team plans to utilise new CampusConnect features to further enhance its engagement:

“We’re making sure to include CampusConnect in our comms strategy, especially the live chat function. We also want to create more video content that we can intertwine with our other social channels. We’ve got lots planned!”