Student Recruitment Strategies for Higher Education

Key takeaways

Student recruitment in higher education is shifting toward both personalized, digital marketing strategies and traditional recruitment efforts. 

• Until the 4.7 percent increase in undergraduate student enrollment in Fall 2024, higher education institutions had not seen an over 1 percent increase since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic [1]. 

• Student recruitment strategies include defining your brand, using your alumni network, hosting in-person and online events, and utilizing personalized communication. 

• You can begin creating your strategies by defining the cohorts you want to target, utilizing student recruitment software, and defining your metrics of success. 

Learn more about creating effective student recruitment strategies and some digital channels that you can target. Afterward, explore how your institution can partner with Coursera for Campus and provide personalized learning paths from over 10,000 courses. 

What is student recruitment for higher education, and why is it important?

Student recruitment involves attracting and retaining learners to attend post-secondary education institutions. It's important for higher education because of the rising costs, equity concerns, and new difficulties in engaging potential students. Since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, student enrollment in all higher education institutions has been in flux, with undergraduate enrollment not having a significant increase of over 1 percent since the Fall 2024 increase of 4.7 percent from the previous year [1]. 

With student recruitment becoming increasingly competitive due to rising student data privacy regulations, creating a strategy that reaches Gen Z and Gen Alpha students is more important than ever. 

Crafting effective student recruitment strategies

Contemporary recruitment strategies should meet student needs through personalization, social media outreach, video, and mobile-first materials. You can also explore tools such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems for education to collect student lifecycle data and to define key enrollment indicators (KEIs) for your institution. Learn more about some effective strategies for student recruitment.

Identifying target students and creating cohorts

Much like a company would define its target audience, as a higher education institution, you need to define your learner audience by grouping prospective students as cohorts that you can target. You can start creating your enrollment targets by examining your currently enrolled students, as they are likely your target audience. For example, if your institution has a large number of international students, you could identify that audience as a distinct cohort. 

Creating as few cohorts as possible allows you to narrow your focus and bring the best prospects to the top of your recruitment funnel.

Using student recruitment software

Utilizing student recruitment software helps you collect student lifecycle data and put it all in one place that you can utilize to target your cohorts through personalized communications. This technology helps you analyze your data, create marketing strategies, customize email campaigns, and automate prospective student management pipelines. 

Defining enrollment success metrics and creating your model

Once you have the data necessary to create student cohorts, you can define your success metrics and use them to begin creating your enrollment model. Measurable goals let you see how effective your campaign strategies are at attracting students. These metrics could be reaching out to a specific number of potential students or the conversion rate of outreach to applicants. 

By building a model based on past cohort data, for example, international students, transfer students, or first-year students, you can see how much outreach you needed and how many students you actually converted. This helps your institution identify cohort success, potential barriers to access within the institution, and which campaigns could be effective for your cohorts. 

Student recruitment campaign ideas

To implement a successful student campaign, you must develop appropriate recruitment materials, host or access valuable events, and have a communication strategy in place.

Brand definition

Creating and defining your brand as a higher education institution is one of the first ways that prospective students will interact with your institution. By defining your brand, you are speaking to the kinds of students you want to recruit.

For example, Western Governors University (WGU) is an online competency-based institution that reduces barriers to entry in higher education. On its website homepage, it immediately defines itself as "The University of You," which aligns with its mission as a learner-centric institution. It quickly aligns itself as an online university by showing various learners connecting on laptops and mobile devices. Also, it shows a diverse range of people from younger to older, multiple ethnicities, and caretakers. It is looking to recruit those who need flexible online learning that meets the needs of those already in the workforce. Using an alumni network

Leveraging alumni events, such as Q&A sessions or meet-ups, can demonstrate your institution's effectiveness and help you target niche cohorts. If you want to increase the number of first-generation college students, you could host a Q&A session led by a first-generation alumnus to guide prospective students, answer their questions, and build relationships. 

Alumni also serve as success stories for your institution by showing prospective students tangible examples of where studying at your institution can lead them. Highlighting these on your website or via requested information is a solid way to demonstrate the effectiveness of the program they might be interested in. 

Hosting recruitment events and webinars

Both students and parents want to learn more about institutions they're interested in, and having an accessible way to meet them, both online and in person, is a great way to set yourself apart. Some types of events you could host include the following:

• Host events at high schools near your university, especially if local prospective students are a targeted cohort in your recruitment strategy. You can use these as the first point of contact in building a relationship with local students. 

• Make student campus tours more accessible by offering a digital option with a livestream of a current student tour guide walking prospective students and parents through campus. 

Personalizing communication and follow-up strategies

You can personalize your communication with prospective students by researching their backgrounds before making initial contact. Doing this lets the student know that you value their time, and when you mention a specific reason why they would want to attend your institution, you improve your chances of gaining their attention. 

Read more: Mastering the Art of Student Retention

How to recruit college students: Meet them where they are

With many prospective students spending time on social media, having a student recruitment campaign via these digital channels is just as important as traditional student recruitment practices. Student recruitment, much like other forms of digital marketing, must move where large cohorts like high schoolers, as well as professionals looking for online degree options, spend their time. Some digital marketing channels to utilize may include:

• YouTube: With YouTube, you get a chance to produce extended content that could detail more about student life, how to apply, or some highlights in the local area surrounding campus. 

• TikTok and Instagram: Create viral content in trends like a "Day in the Life," showcasing various students in multiple majors across campus and what their daily lives look like. 

• Website: Keep your website updated with active student events, portraits of campus life, and photos and videos of student life. While an in-person university may focus on diverse populations and engaging events, an online school could showcase the program's flexibility through learner testimonials. 

• Paid ads: Utilizing paid ads allows you to target your cohorts directly. For example, you can target a subset of majors or users who have viewed certain major-related pages on your website. 

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