“Peer to peer is the most authentic recruitment method. Digital platforms like Unibuddy have proven to be a really effective recruitment tool for UWA. Our Unibuddies get to share their personal experiences and give advice. And we’ve found that the conversion rates are significantly higher for students that have communicated with a Unibuddy ambassador.”
Trish Rechichi, Director of Future Students
The University of Western Australia launched Unibuddy in August 2018 for their international prospects and applicants.
They recruited student ambassadors from a diverse range of courses and regions to connect with their future students online.
After the coronavirus hit, they extended the platform to domestic students – anticipating the huge impact of the virus and subsequent travel restrictions.
In that time, over 2000 students from 133 different countries have signed up to chat.
After using Unibuddy for 15 months, UWA has seen a 30% increase in international applications compared to last year.
Applicants who chat on Unibuddy are also significantly more likely to accept their offer and enrol at the institution.
The University of Western Australia used Unibuddy’s range of tools to attract students at different stages of their journey.
Chat to staff: Prospective students can connect directly with academics and advisors to get an authoritative source of information.
User Generated Content: Student ambassadors upload blogs and vlogs directly to Unibuddy, which is then fed into UWA’s marketing.
Conversation Insights: UWA has used the Machine Learning powered conversation insights to drive their marketing and inform their messaging
from 2019 to 2020
