Peer-to-peer for Postgraduate Students
In our recruitment activity, we can sometimes neglect the concerns of postgraduate students. They’ve ‘been there, done that’ when it comes to higher education, so surely have fewer concerns or questions about getting into university? Nothing could be further from the truth.
Postgraduate study is a completely new endeavor for students – and they will be worried about the new style of learning, the workload, the course. Many students go to a different university – sometimes abroad – for their studies. They want to know what the campus is like, what culture they can expect, what facilities there are for postgraduate students.
Plus, they want to speak to someone in the same circumstances as them. Postgraduate students may be making a career change, or want to continue working while studying, or be raising a family. They want to connect with someone else who has experience of these things, and can provide reassurance.
Your students are talking – you know that. Prospective students are messaging current students through LinkedIn, your current students are creating vlogs about their experience on YouTube, your alumni are giving recommendations to their network.
So why not take control of those student connections? Gather the data that can inform your strategy and collect the leads of students who are engaging. Using Unibuddy lets you do all this – and more.
Networking and mentoring
Our mission is to connect peers to make better decisions. Each choice we make throughout our lives shapes our future profoundly. Students thinking about uprooting their lives and attending your graduate program should do so with the confidence that it is the right program for them.
“Unibuddy is particularly helpful for postgraduates,” said Grace Ryder, Campaigns Manager at the University of Exeter, “because it’s a short course, it’s an intense course – and it’s also leading straight on to their careers. So they want to know 100% it’s the right course for them.”
The data reflects that. In our 2019 research report into the conversations students were having on Unibuddy, we found that postgraduate students were 62% more likely to ask about careers compared to undergraduate students.
Are you embedding networking and mentoring opportunities in your postgraduate courses? Be certain to build this in for PG programmes, as well as ensuring that the admissions process is clear to future students regardless of their previous qualifications.
International postgraduate students
It’s also important for international students. In a report by Intead, researchers found that students were influenced by peer-to-peer interactions in all territories. In Asia, 51% of students said chatting online with a student ambassador influenced their decision about whether to apply to a university. And in Africa and Europe, that number rose to 69% and 62%, respectively.
Peer-to-peer was also influential at both undergraduate and graduate level. The latter found it significantly impactful: 56% said it affected their decision about whether to apply to university.
As the report summarises: “Student ambassadors instill confidence in prospective students and provide encouragement along the way. This provides a unique and honest perspective about academics, student life and local culture.”
Grace Ryder added: “I think it works really well for international postgraduate students as well – because they haven’t had the experience at the campus – so they ask what it’s like studying in the UK and on the campus. It works really well for us!”
One way to ensure postgraduate students have access to mentorship, the right information, and the reassurance they need is through Unibuddy. Over 350 universities worldwide are using Unibuddy to connect their current students with prospective students. Book a demo now and see if we can help you.
