College admission and marketing personnel spend countless hours strategizing about how best to reach and engage prospective and current students.  Not only does content need to be on-point, but the message delivery and experience are equally as important.  We’re in a digital age of marketing, which is still relatively new to higher education.   It’s an industry that continues to rely heavily on face-to-face contact, direct communication, and print materials – and often rather hefty print materials at that.  Most other industries and professions have done away with some or all print materials in favor of online, mobile, and social media communications. 

This is not to say that some colleges and universities have failed to make the digital transition remarkably well.  We see excellent uses of interactive mapping, social media, and video at a number of institutions, but we certainly don’t see enough.  For an industry targeting the most prominent users of new technology and online innovation, higher education seems to resist completely embracing the digital transition.  At the 2012 Future M Conference held in Boston, MA, a panel of college freshman – the class of 2016 – shared their thoughts and insights on marketing efforts that resonate, as well as those that do not, and what generally matters to them as they try to traverse their first ever college semester.

The session began with a video.  It was a short segment from the Today Show in 1994 – the year the featured panelists were born.  It showed three hosts discussing “this Internet thing”, from what it was to how it worked, and even how to read a web address with the “little ‘a’ with a ring around it.”  Throughout the following decade digital and online became universally integrated into everyday life, though their becoming commonplace required a shift in behaviors that were learned, adapted, and acquired over a period of many years.  Upcoming generations have never known a world without this Internet thing or where their skills needed to be adapted to a whole new domain.  Their aptitudes in this space seem less learned and more innate. Those in higher education marketing do not need to have these same competencies, but they need to understand and deploy popular media strategically throughout their efforts.   

This point was only affirmed when the students unanimously responded to a question asking what single item they could not live without – “their iPhones.”  As they described their phones, it became evident that this device has become something with which younger generations have a deep, pervasive connection.  It is a security blanket, a friend, and an endless resource.  Let’s face it, we are in relationships with our phones.  Take them away and these students describe feeling “lost and awkward.”  They even went so far as to say that the iPhone and how a person uses and accessorizes it say a lot about personality.   “You can instantly make a judgment call on who you might hang out with based on their iPhone accessories, such as a case,” one student said.  “We can make little judgment calls here and there.”

So how can college and university marketing professionals connect with this highly connected group?  For starters, Facebook ads aren’t cutting it.  As one student said, “They are simply ineffective, and I don’t pay attention to them.”  Pandora and Spotify, however, are two vehicles that students regularly use and, as a result, listen to their advertising.  Music is integrated throughout their lives.  They described being constantly connected to music – in their dorms, on their walk to class, while working out, or at a party.  And given that you can’t skip advertising in either Pandora or Spotify, students are captive, attentive audiences who don’t mind the advertising because it’s a part of the informal deal that comes with free access to music streaming.  But what’s more, the students said, is that they like the tone of the ads that are played through Spotify and Pandora because they don’t seem like advertising; “They offer useful information and they don’t try too hard.”

Surprisingly, this group claimed to watch very little TV, though the lack of time spent watching TV does not correlate with the time spent watching shows, movies, and video – they’re just doing so online.  “I don’t watch TV; I use Hulu”, said one student.  “I don’t watch TV.  All information I need comes through the internet”, said another.   And it’s goodbye to group movie nights and hello to YouTube soirées; “I never watch TV.  My friends and I watch YouTube together.  I have a TV, but it’s not setup.” 

But what do they think of the value of their education?   For this crew, it’s as much about the experience and the intangibles as anything else.  “An education is only half of the experience these days”, one student said.  “You grow as a person, build relationships, see new cities, and get opportunities to meet new people.  It’s the intangibles that college offers that make it worth it. We like to take advantage of colleges that provide financial incentives, but that are in places that allow us to discover ourselves.”  But wait a minute, here, what about the academics?  They are undoubtedly important, as is financial aid, but when students were asked to speak about college, these weren’t top of mind considerations.  It’s more about offering an experience – and shareable experiences, at that, that get students interested, excited, and talking.

Today’s rising students and tomorrow’s professionals are setting a new stage for higher education marketing and inviting our inner-most creative selves to embrace the challenges they have unassumingly laid before us.  “Don’t be too cool, too funny, or try too hard.”  A daunting challenge, indeed!  It’s about having just the right marketing mix, message, and tone so as to seem simultaneously authentic to who you are and to who they are.  As simply put by one student, “Just be normal.”  When navigating this complicated and changing landscape, we recommend keeping in mind these four considerations:

1. The new media students are using;
2. Their strong preference (demand) for authenticity;
3. Their desire to be constantly connected (as 21 year old entrepreneur and founder of mobile app company, Kiip, Brian Wong noted, “It’s not online or offline. It’s online or asleep.”); and,
4. Perhaps most of all, consider your iPhone accessory decisions – you never know when a student may be watching.       

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One  area not making headlines nearly enough, especially given its incredible media presence and societal obsession, is food.  More specifically, college cafeteria food.  Ah yes, we’re talking about those hormone-infused, child-menu-like, card-swipe meal plan cafeterias responsible for many a “freshman fifteen.”  With students shuffling off to college, it would seem they would expect and demand food of a similar caliber to what they grew up with.  Indeed, in a recent panel comprised of four digitally-connected college freshman, when asked if they’d rather have their parents’ home-cooking or data plans, they unanimously voted for home-cooking.  “You just want what’s familiar”, said one freshman who was just six-weeks into his four-year college journey.  

As part of a typical campus tour, students are often invited to have lunch or dinner at the campus dining hall.  We see this as an opportunity for a college or university to stand out in this realm and show students how much they won’t need to miss that home cooking while living on campus.  Instead, too many campus tours are quickly soured by a grungy cafeteria with a few bland choices (especially with limited summer menus).  Would you like sautéed romaine lettuce in a chicken Caesar salad, or pizza that’s been sitting under a heating lamp for what looks like an eternity or two? We’ve all seen our fair share of ‘am I really about to eat this?’ food.  It’s not usually an experience we want to relive, let alone relive it three times a day for the duration of the school year.   

With the cafeteria being a focal point of most campuses, it would seem in the best interest of colleges and universities to put a best foot forward in this area. The Daily Meal recently put out their 52 Best Colleges for Food in America list, which incorporated visits to more than 2,000 four-year institutions.  High scorers on this list incorporated ideas such as on-site gardens for fresh produce (Virginia Tech), food trucks selling tacos (UMass Amherst), or a farmers’ market on campus every week (University of San Diego).  Meat and potatoes and fast-food may always be acceptable options for some, but more colleges must realize that students today are growing up in households with different eating habits than yesteryear.  One study pointing at this trend tried offering secondary school students organic and whole grain options alongside its typical cafeteria food and found that students were flocking to these healthier options.  Click here to read more about the study.  

It’s also important for colleges and universities to think through their potential food offerings.  Does the food service coincide with the greater mission of the University or help to nurture young minds and bodies?  While a campus may strive for a diverse, multicultural image, serving certain foods from the ‘international’ station only helps to reinforce those differences.  This can further drive home the point to a potential student that they will be made to feel different and distant from the place they call home.  As much as the Internet has revolutionized the instantaneous nature of today’s society, the ease at which we can go to a grocery store and purchase fruits imported from Thailand has expanded the expectations we place on our food and diets. This change in expectations only helps to reinforce the potential role that cafeteria offerings play in student enrollment decisions.

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In the world of higher education, big data is coming (if it isn’t here already!).  The leading financial, health care and government agencies are already leveraging big data to their advantages; now it is time for higher education to join in on the fun.  For example, from the dawn of time through 2003, the amount of digitized data available was 5 Exabytes (5 billion Gigabytes).  In 2010, society digitized 5 Exabytes of data every two days or so.  In 2013, it is expected that society will digitize 5 Exabytes of data every 10 minutes.  We are living through a data explosion.  The amount of data available is increasing about 59% a year and of that, 70-85% is unstructured data (text, social media, video, etc…) with large amounts of it being created by potential students.  The amount of information that is or will be available about prospective students, current students and/or alumni is staggering.  Leveraging the power of this enormous amount of data, schools can gain a competitive advantage on their way to enrollment and fiscal success. 

How can schools take advantage of their data?  Most importantly, they should keep it!  All too often critical data is not available resulting in lost insights and advantages. In a highly competitive, information-based economy, knowledge is power.  As the price of data storage continues to fall, there is no reason to purge the knowledge of institutional data.  Additionally, capture as much information as possible. The more data that is available, the more powerful that data becomes, allowing schools to better understand who to recruit and enroll, what leads to increased persistence and graduation, and who is likely to donate to a new capital campaign.     

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“It’s all about choices,” says Don Heller, dean of education at Michigan State University.  Countering rising media coverage of the so-called “student loan bubble” Heller argues that facts, not anecdotes, need to frame our conversation about how this generation is coping with rising college costs.  And, he says it’s coping pretty well.  Comparing student loan debt to the housing bubble is like comparing “apples and artichokes.”

Heller acknowledges that, in constant dollars, the sticker price of a college education has increased at a faster pace than even some of the most expensive necessities such as health care and energy.  But, even with all the ballyhoo about levels exceeding $1 trillion in total student debt, very few undergraduate students actually borrow more than they can comfortably pay back within the terms of their loans. 

Heller cited a growing number of national media stories, including some from the NY Times, that feature undergrads with more than $100k in debt.  Yet, in reality, fewer than 0.4% (yes, that’s 0.4 percent) of U.S. students with a bachelor’s degree have debt in excess of $100k.  The vast majority of debt holders in this category hold graduate degrees, mostly from medical and law schools where starting salaries can support paying back such loans in a timely manner.

Presenting the keynote at a luncheon for the American Marketing Association’s Symposium on Higher Education, Heller gave some specific advice to communicators on how we can help set the record straight on the realities rather than the myths of student debt:

1. Encourage our institutions to publish average net cost whenever talking about price and explain net cost in simple terms – that’s the number that most matters;
2. Reinforce that “reasonable borrowing” for college is still a great investment; and,
3. Explore and explain the full range of choices that students have, including attending less-expensive public institutions.

Heller also believes we need to communicate in smarter ways about compensation of our faculty, coaches, and executives as the pay scale in higher ed is out of sync with the median U.S. income.  There is hope, since the public still views higher education leaders as having higher credibility than government and business leaders.

Only by standing up with actual facts about student loan debt, Heller says, will families have the information they need to make smart choices.  Dean Heller’s full presentation is available on his blog, www.education.msu.edu/dean.

*The reporting in our blog sometimes contains opinions from leaders in education, business, government and the media.  Maguire Associates does not endorse or necessarily agree with these opinions. 

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Our old friend Jon McGee, Vice President of Planning and Public Affairs at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, did a nice job at the recent College Board Forum 2012 in Miami explaining the market changes confronting higher education today.  You may have heard some of these points before, but Jon puts his arguments and data together in an accessible and effective manner.  In his presentation, Jon addressed matters of accessibility, affordability, accountability, and sustainability through the prism of four specific “forces of disruption.”

First, there’s the demography of high school graduation.  With the release of the most recent WICHE numbers, Jon echoed the emerging view that we are “nearing the end of the shallow demographic trough in play for several years now.” The data suggest that we will slowly turn to more robust growth of high school graduates and return to 2010 levels in the next decade.  Encouraging, but very slow indeed!

Not surprisingly, the strongest growth in this pool are Hispanics at a projected 35% between 2012-2020 and Asians at a 33% clip.  White and black high school graduates are projected to decrease seven and six percent, respectively.  Jon said reaching the historically underserved populations, whether they are growing or not, is an “imperative” and no longer merely an “opportunity” for colleges and universities.

Second, unemployment.  Yes, unemployment rates are slowly, agonizingly decreasing, but the mood on jobs remains pessimistic and even downright sour.  Jon added that our jobs recovery is also based on expected growth in many low-paying job categories, too.  “Outside Financial Aid, institutions really don’t get this point,” he said.

Third, family income.  This is arguably the biggest and most interesting of Jon’s four points.  He reported a 14% drop in real median family income for the 25-34 age demographic between 2000-2011.  “Their kids will be going to college soon,” with seemingly less income available to pay ever-rising prices.

Fourth, family net worth.  While the S&P Composite Index has recovered nicely from the depths of the Great Recession and boosted family net worth accordingly, housing values remain stubbornly depressed.  Jon cited “a sharp drop in home prices from 2006 to 2012 of 35%,” which continues to undermine family net worth though trends are now starting to improve here.

In considering these last two issues, Jon said  “the implications are huge.” Yet, we wonder how often productive, analytically insightful conversations on these subjects are happening on campus with the right people in the room.  Who’s examining these data and the complex trade-offs they create?  What contingencies are being put in place to handle growing, more diverse prospective student populations whose families will be less able to afford a college education?

How will your institution compete on what Jon calls an “adaptive landscape”?  Indeed, how will you manage, integrate and measure key variables such as pricing, marketing, diversification, technology, curricular, enrollment and expense issues to adjust to such powerful new realities?

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In a large, lively morning session, seasoned institutional leaders from The Blake School, Pomona College, University of Michigan, University of Pittsburg, and Case Western Reserve University shared their observations about recent trends in college admission.

Through this diverse representation of institutions, there was a markedly consistent set of trends identified by the speakers, including the following:

• Application numbers continue to rise, with the greatest increases being seen in the international pool (now constituting as much as a third of an overall pool for many private, selective institutions).

• Changes in technology are changing the way the work of admission is “done.”  I.e., nearly 100% of students are applying online, stealth applications continue to rise, and electronic submission and review of admission materials is now standard operational practice in admission offices.

• Many institutions now engage brand management consultants, particularly with regard to brand management within the social and new media space.

• There are widespread and sharp increases in wait list activity:  wait lists are no longer the exclusive domain of the most selective tier.

• Tremendous national attention on the cost of higher education and student indebtedness is influencing family decisions about the value of college.

When considered together, these trends signal a subtle but impactful change in the way we, as enrollment professionals, must think about the role of relationships throughout the admission process.  Admission has always been about relationship building:  between admission officers and college counselors; between prospective students and their families; and between information sources and their readers.  Recent changes in technology have combined with changes at the macro-cultural level to produce a kind of “perform storm” of new admission uncertainty.   Both colleges and prospective students are trying to “stand out” to one another.  We are in the midst of a great experiment in cultural change, and these trends send a loud signal to us all that we have to rethink how we imagine the nature of relationships:  that is, we have arrived in the era of digital – even “virtual” – relationships, and these relationships will drive the dynamics of admission behaviors and patterns for decades to come.

And on the subject of uncertainty in college admission… the College Board governance meetings of the Academic Assembly, College Scholarship Service, and Guidance and Admission Assembly Council welcomed new President David Coleman, and invited his observations and vision for how the College Board can help influence and improve access to college.  In each Assembly, President Coleman called on participants to think carefully about what kind of information is most meaningful for them in their work with students.  He encouraged college admission professionals to continually define, refine, and communicate what kind of data and information is essential to help render confident admission decisions, so that guidance counselors and teachers can best advise students.  Likewise, he challenged educators to learn as much as possible about changes in admission practice.  In each instance, the message was clear:  each side assumes too much, yet knows for certain too little.  President Coleman positioned the College Board as the ideal arbiter for helping to bridge that communication gap.

We can all take a lead on this theme by taking a step back from our own daily work with internal and external stakeholders:  what do we assume they know and understand?  What do you wish they knew about you and your work?  How has the way you work change, and how do those changes impact those whom you serve?

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Eduardo Padrón, President of Miami Dade College (MDC), is something of a rock star in education circles. The Cuban émigré and self-described “American by choice” assumed his presidency in 1995 and has taken MDC to a position of national prominence.

He opened the College Board Forum 2012 here in Miami last night with an unmistakable clarion call. “Most of us in education are stuck in the 20th Century,” he told a packed audience of educators and administrators at Miami Beach’s fabled Fontainebleau Hotel. “We’re still working in the past and must ask how do we bring ourselves into the 21st Century?” There were some nodding heads in the audience agreeing with Padrón. One got the sense, however, there were just as many people questioning, doubting or even resisting his premise that education is behind the times. Thus, the tricky crossroads that American education finds itself these days.

He urged audience members to stop blaming one another for the troubles in education. “The colleges blame the high schools who blame the middle schools who blame the elementary schools.” Indeed, so few organizations exist (like the College Board) that could possibly address the problem systematically and holistically with all players around the table. Padrón was optimistic about the College Board’s future in this regard.

Padrón, once named among The Ten Best College Presidents by Time Magazine, said “Every human being should have an opportunity to get an education.” He added, “This wasn’t always so when education served the elites, but that’s not the case anymore.” He sent a good-natured barb toward “politicians who say that college education today is not for everyone; except they’re not talking about their own kids.”

Interestingly, he labeled education “the most important civil rights issue of our time.” Who’s to question that assertion, since education is the gateway to most everything else in life?

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Most colleges and universities aspire to be global, or already claim to be – so why are there such significant gaps in the marketing of higher education to global audiences?  

In a recent session at the NACAC conference in Denver titled: The Impact of Social Media in Shaping a University’s Global Identity, a panelist asked the audience comprised of mostly college practitioners how many had a non-U.S. social media platform implemented at their institutions.  In a rather large room, roughly 5% of attendees raised their hands.  Surely more than 5% of those representing their colleges and universities in the room must desire – and claim – to market to a global audience.  So why are there so few efforts being made to meet international students where they are, on the most popular digital and social media platforms in their respective countries?

It cannot be assumed that students from non-U.S. countries can access an institution’s online efforts and, even more important, relate to them in the same ways that students from the U.S. do.  Do you know in which countries students cannot access Facebook, or use Google?  Do you understand which of your channels are most popular by country?  Do you have a student ambassador program with international representatives to help your institution communicate effectively and authentically?

A panelist heading admissions at the Massachusetts’s Institute of Technology said that MIT receives 4,500 applications from international students, from which they enroll a mere 150 students.  A 3% acceptance rate – and yet, they are actively pursuing digital and social media channels to attract international talent and build the MIT brand globally.  MIT is not looking to increase its international applicant pool, but instead understand how best to engage students from outside of the U.S and share the MIT mission and vision.  

Don’t be deterred by assumed costs of marketing on a global scale; most online platforms are free.   The most significant commitment is time.  International students are among the most active, and growing, users of social media when it comes to college search.  Whether your institution has a large international applicant pool or one that is quite small, increasing your awareness of their online behaviors can help you build your brand globally, recruit an international class, and build diversity on your campus.

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Maguire Associates participated in a conference call this morning with Joel Klein, former Chancellor of the NYC school system, and Condoleezza Rice.  They’re co-chairs of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Task Force on “U.S. Education Reform and National Security.” In addition to the usual and yet essential laments about the American school year and school day remaining hostage to a centuries-old agrarian calendar and the continued supremacy of teacher seniority over teacher excellence, Rice and Klein offer three useful insights for framing the issue.

First, they are right to examine U.S. education – especially public education – through the lens of national security. Not accepting that the system is broken in some ways and that exceptional strategy, talent and resources are needed to repair it is, indeed, a clear and present danger. Next, and this one’s sensitive, Rice and Klein remind us that we are not attracting the best of our college graduates into the teaching ranks, unlike our competitors in Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, Finland and elsewhere. Yes, thankfully, there are many gifted, talented and committed teachers on these shores. There just aren’t enough of them! Of course, it’s not all about compensation. However, realizing pay scales that are at least a meaningful rounding error on what hedge-fund managers make would help. Finally, Rice and Klein speak to the essential role of education in restoring national purpose and cohesion. Is there any doubt that the decline in U.S. K-12 education is contributing to the deterioration of our public discourse?

We wanted to hear more from the Task Force today on solutions. However, their compelling framing of the issue could help bring us closer to tangible, productive outcomes.

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In late August 2011, Linda Cox Maguire and Tara Scholder presented at the 33rd Annual EAIR Forum (www.eair.nl) in Warsaw, Poland.  The theme for this year’s conference was “Bridging cultures, promoting diversity: higher education in search of an equilibrium.”  Many sessions focused on new trends and challenges faced by institutions in an increasingly competitive and global higher education market, and Linda and Tara’s session, titled “Does Your University Want to Enroll American Students?”, offered insights and strategies to attract more American students for study abroad experiences.

One of the highlights of the EAIR Forum is an introduction to local culture that is woven into the conference program.  On the first day of the conference, Tara and Linda enjoyed watching and participating in Polish folk dances during the evening social dinner at the Club Park at 196 Al. Niepodleglosci Street in Warsaw.

The venue for the 2011 EAIR Forum was Warsaw School of Economics, which is the oldest university of economics and management in Poland.  Pictured are Dr. Juergen Deeg of Fernuniversitat in Hagen, Germany and Linda Cox Maguire.

Tara and Linda enjoyed the revue show, dinner and company with colleagues and new friends at the Banquet social dinner on Tuesday (9/29) night at the Sabat Theatre on Foksal street in Warsaw (http://www.teatr-sabat.pl).

Warsaw has a fascinating and tragic history. Frederick Chopin, for example was born in a village near Warsaw in 1810 and studied at the Warsaw Conservatory. Pictured is the Statue of Chopin in Warsaw’s Royal Lazienki Gardens, sculpted by Waclaw Szymanowski.

The Old Town in Warsaw is the oldest historic district in Warsaw.  It was utterly destroyed, along with much of the rest of Warsaw, in the closing phases of the Second World War.  After the war, however, a reconstruction campaign resulted in today’s meticulous restoration of the Old Town. In recognition of these efforts, Warsaw’s Old Town has been placed on the UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites.  The following pictures are from Old Town:

An example of the continued rebirth of Warsaw is the new National Stadium under construction in Warsaw, which is due to be a venue for matches at the UEFA Euro 2012 (European Football Championship).

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Kathy Dawley and Tara Scholder are in Chicago at the 26th Annual ACT Enrollment Planners Conference.  It has been a busy two days. Kathy joined several other distinguished panelists on Wednesday for an interactive daylong forum, “Examining sustainable strategies for institutional excellence and success,”  and Tara and Rosalind Barnes Fowler from the University System of Georgia shared research results and outreach materials in their session titled, “Back to College:  Designing a Public Awareness Campaign.”  After an evening of good food and friends at Osteria Via Stato on N. State Street, we set off early this morning for the final day of the conference.   Here are a few pictures from our time in Chicago thus far:

 Rosalind Barnes Fowler, Michael Hovland, Kelly Walter, Tim Sturgeon, Kathy Dawley, Jay Goff, and Tara Scholder enjoying dinner while at the conference.

While in Chicago, we couldn’t resist going to see the newly unveiled 26-foot statue by Seward Johnson of Marilyn Monroe in Pioneer Court that replicates her famous subway scene from the 1955 movie ”The Seven Year Itch.”

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We didn’t get to see much of Cork, but from what we saw from the car it looks like it would be a nice city to visit.  We had meetings at Cork IT in the morning.  Again, the presentation there was excellent.  The school has diverse offerings, but we were particularly intrigued by the CIT Crawford College of Art and Design and the National Maritime College of Ireland.  We enjoyed a three-course lunch served and prepared by students at CIT’s training restaurant at the school of tourism and hospitality studies building.  Both of us passed on the smoked eel appetizer, but it looked good.

A picture from the car window of Cork IT

We drove the M8 motorway back to Dublin which took nearly three hours.  Along the way it rained several times, and we saw several rainbows.  I tried to catch a photo of one, but with no “luck.”  Miriam gave us a quick tour of the IOTI offices, which are quite nice and large.  We had dinner with Miriam, IOTI Chief Executive Gerry Murray and Dr. Richard Thorn, Director of Flexible Learning and Research at the Cliff Townhouse, which was truly exceptional. 

Dinner with IOTI Chief Executive Gerry Murray and Dr. Richard Thorn, Director of Flexible Learning and Research

After walking back to our hotel (Brooks Hotel again), we said goodbye to Miriam.  Over the last five days we’ve gotten to know each other well.  It has been invaluable visiting six of the IOTI’s campuses, and now we feel we will return to the states with a firmer idea of the variety and offerings that exist across its 13 member schools.  It’s been a terrific kickoff to our work together.

Still no email at the office, so we decided to head to a pub in the Temple Bar area for a final drink (an email from Sarah Madey motivated us!).  Pat enjoyed a beer, while I (Tara) enjoyed a Bulmers hard cider.  The band was good, playing traditional Irish and folk music.  It seemed the perfect way to end our four days here.

The Irish countryside 

Day 4 – March 9, 2011

We can’t believe how lucky we are…. another sunny morning in Ireland.  Miriam met us at the hotel at 9 a.m., and we headed to Carlow which is located 80 km from Dublin in southeastern Ireland.  Carlow was home to the Irish Sugar Company at one time, and now to Carlow Institute of Technology, which is one of the major employers in town.  Two of the more interesting and unique courses of study offered by the Institute are a Bachelor of Science in Computer Games Development (which was developed in conjunction with Microsoft) and a Bachelor of Engineering in Aircraft Systems.

Pat, Tara, and Donal McAlister, International Coordinator at
Carlow Institute of Technology

Pat at the Carlow Institute of Technology

We drove from Carlow to Waterford, which took us about an hour and a half.  As we entered Waterford we drove over the new N25 Bypass Bridge which we understand is the largest cable stay bridge in the Republic of Ireland and looks a lot like the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in Boston.  The facilities at Waterford IT are impressive and include student housing and extensive-looking sports facilities.

Pat, Miriam and Sinead Day, Head of International Affairs at Waterford IT

Our final drive of the day is from Waterford to Cork and takes about an hour.  This is a much slower road.  While higher speed motorways have improved access across Ireland, we much prefer driving these older, slower roads which offer more interesting scenery and sights.  The Clarion Hotel in Cork is right on the River Less and very nice.  The wireless is very fast, but we soon found that the Internet is down back in the office so we are unable to check email which is frustrating.   Dinner at a restaurant located right at the hotel called Augustine’s Restaurant was a notch or two above your typical hotel food offering.  Funny, we’ve realized that we haven’t eaten a meal at a traditional pub yet, and it looks like we may not.

Day 3 – March 8, 2011

After a quick breakfast, we headed to IT Blanchardstown located in a growing suburb of Dublin for a 10 AM meeting.  Given that today is International Women’s Day, it seemed appropriate that our first meeting of today was with two impressive femal leaders at ITB, President Mary Meaney and International Officer Mairead Murphy.

 
On our third day in Ireland, we visited IT Blanchardstown

In the afternoon, we took the M4 highway to Athlone, which is located close to the geographical centre of Ireland. The River Shannon runs through Athlone, and Athlone’s major employers include Elan (pharmaceuticals) and Ericsson(telecommunications).  Athlone is also home to AIT (Athlone Institute of Technology), where we had an afternoon meeting. 

An outside shot of the Athlone Institute of Technology

On the car ride back to Dublin we listened to their equivalent of NPR in Ireland and much of the news was about the new government as the parliment is convening tomorrow for the first time since the recent election.  We ended our day with dinner at The Church.  Formerly St. Mary’s Church, it is now a restaurant and bar. We ate up in the gallery next to the organ and enjoyed the live Irish music and suprisingly good food.

 
A look inside The Church Restaurant and Bar

Day 2 – March 7, 2011

Gorgeous morning – blue sky and warm.  Breakfast at our hotel was terrific.  Our day started with a meeting in the lobby with Miriam Ryan from Institute of Technology Ireland and Terry McParland from Enterprise Ireland.  This was followed by a two hour train ride from Dublin to Limerick located in southwestern Ireland.  The trip was scenic as we passed through endless green fields dotted with sheep, cows and a horse or two.  Our destination was the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) where we were given a brief tour of campus and met with several senior administrators. Back in Dublin, we enjoyed dinner at Salamanca (voted the best tapas bar and restaurant in Dublin) on St. Andrew’s Street.

Miriam and Pat at the Limerick Institute of Technology

Day 1 – March 6, 2011

Pat Casey and I (Tara Scholder) arrived in Dublin, Ireland at 5:20 a.m. on Sunday, March 6th, and checked into the Brooks Hotel, a boutique hotel in Dublin’s city centre, which is a short stroll from Grafton Street and Trinity College. After taking a short nap, we headed to the Shelborne Hotel for lunch and then walked around Grafton Street, the Temple Bar area, and thru the Trinity College campus soaking in Dublin and doing a little shopping. The weather was springlike – sunny and warm. The evening started with drinks at The Hairy Lemon Irish Pub (unforgettable name) and then dinner with old friends at Pichet on Trinity Street, where the ambiance and risotto were fabulous. Our first day in Ireland ended with fantastic Irish music at an atmospheric pub.

Stay tuned, we’ll be updating you on our travels and work here in Ireland throughout the week!

Pat Casey and friends enjoying drinks at The Hairy Lemon Pub

We closed the day with some Irish music at an atmospheric pub

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Maguire Associates EVP Jessica McWade and her husband, Dr. Walt Kuklinski of the Mitre Corporation, served as guest crew members aboard the SSV Robert C. Seamans in January.  The 134-foot brigantine is operated by the Sea Education Association (SEA), based in Woods Hole, MA, which is the nation’s premier college semester-at-sea program.  Our own Vice Chair Linda Maguire serves as SEA’s Board Chair.

Jessica and Walt worked the sails and lines for one week in French Polynesian waters, departing Tahiti for Mo’orea, Huahine, and Raiatea, and returning to Tahiti.  They shared this extraordinary experience with some amazing students from Oberlin College, University of Vermont, University of Virginia, and Vassar College.  Jessica said, “Working closely with these terrific young people validates that the best days of our nation are, in fact, ahead of us.  Full speed ahead of us!  This is the joy of working in higher education.”

Oh, and Jessica and Walt got married (again) on the quarterdeck of the Seamans anchored off Fare, Huahine.  As dolphins cavorted in the turquoise waters adjacent to a vast coral reef, Seamans’ Captain Bill Curry presided, ship’s company and guests dressed in “aloha wear,” and all hands went ashore to  a beach club for dinner.  “Hey, it’s not often that you travel to your wedding reception in a motorized rubber life raft,” Jessica added.

For more information about SEA’s Semester-at-Sea program, contact Jessica McWade or Linda Maguire at 978-371-1775 or write to jmcwade@maguireassoc.com or lmaguire@maguireassoc.com.

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Linda and I are back in London now (still no rain!), and today spoke with the Times Higher Education (THE) at their offices in Red Lion Square. Reporter John Morgan and Deputy Editor Phil Baty were quite interested in how Maguire Associates deals with issues of university pricing, access and globalization. We had a fascinating conversation and will keep THE apprised of the latest thought leadership in the US that will be particularly useful to universities in the UK as they navigate new pricing models and a more competitive market.

Linda being interviewed by Times Higher Education (picture order, John, Linda, and Phil. Sarah was behind the camera again.)

Day 3 – January 26, 2011

So far there hasn’t been a drop of rain in London this week! Yesterday Linda and I journeyed to Liverpool to meet with our longtime friend John McCarthy, Director of Marketing, Recruitment and External Relations at Liverpool Hope University. It was graduation day at “Hope,” and the national and international press was on hand to report on the first graduate to earn an MA in The Beatles.  We saw Mary-Lu whiz away from the University on her way to the airport after graduation ceremonies.

Linda with John McCarthy at Liverpool Hope University

Sarah and John McCarthy on the opposite side of the Liverpool Hope University Coat of Arms

John treated us to a tour of the campus, and we came away quite impressed with their facilities, particularly the stunning new Education building.

The beautiful new Education building at Liverpool Hope University

Liverpool Hope has done a tremendous job of blending “old with new” architecture in a seamless way for the benefit of students and staff alike. Later, we had the privilege of presenting some of our pricing and financial aid findings and case studies to a group of Hope’s administrators, including Vice-Chancellor and Rector Gerald Pillay. The day was topped off with a lovely dinner near Penny Lane (remember the Beatles song?) with Penny Haughan, Dean of Students, Ian Vandewalle, Pro Vice-chancellor of Resource Management & Planning, and Graham Donelan, University Secretary.

Our friends from Liverpool Hope University (picture order is Linda, Ian, John, Penny, and Graham—Sarah took the photo!)

Sarah and Linda did their “tourist bit” and learned that there really is a Sgt. Pepper’s nightclub! It’s a rather dilapidated, unoccupied building at a major intersection near Penny Lane.  We always thought Sgt. Pepper’s was just an album. The next day, as we left Liverpool, we drove by “Paddy’s Wigwam” which looked to us like a giant spaceship, and we also got to see the Liverpool Cathedral, which is so large it could fit Saint Paul’s London inside of it.

 The real Sgt. Pepper’s 

Day 1 & 2 – January 24-25, 2011

Linda and I arrived in London to 45 degree temperatures—balmy by Boston standards this week! We are renting a beautifully restored flat that was originally a Mews. In the 17^th and 18^th centuries Mews were essentially stables and carriage houses with living quarters for grooms and servants above. Now they are fashionable residences. 

Linda Maguire, Vice Chair of Maguire Associates, busy working in our lovely flat!

A peek from our window.

Yesterday evening we had a lovely dinner at Tuttons, Covent Garden with Paul Ashby, Head of Market Research and his colleague Roderick Smith, Director of Admissions, both from the University of Birmingham (see picture below).  The University of Birmingham is on the leading edge of enrollment management in the U.K, and Paul and Roderick recently attended the AACRAO-SEM conference in Nashville.

Today we presented at the UCAS Data Matters Conference held at the Hotel Russell in London. This was the second such conference for marketing and planning professionals hosted by UCAS, and over 200 people were in attendance. Our presentation “Preparing for 2012: Using Data to Determine Value and Inform Pricing” was delivered to a packed room. Pricing is a hot-button issue among British universities at the moment because the tuition fees will triple from about £3000 per year  to £9000 per year (about $14,500) in 2012. Students in London have been rioting about the tuition increases in recent weeks, and we learned that there have been short-term building takeovers in universities. This move by Parliament will introduce market competition among Universities that has not existed before and highlights the importance of using bursaries and scholarships to defray the top-line price and promote access.

Parliament has not yet decided on a scholarship scheme, leaving admission and planning professionals wondering what they are going to tell families in print and in person. Planners have been advised against talking with one another about their university’s pricing plans to prevent the appearance of collusion. Maguire Associates approached the “institutional value and price” issue head-on and advised that university planners and market researchers begin collecting data from students and parents now, so they can back up important pricing decisions in the next year with solid information instead of guesswork.

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The video is pretty famous by now, with over 60,000 hits on YouTube.  It features Macalester College President Brian Rosenburg in an occasionally hilarious “day in a life”, but what a life!”  In this President’s Day video, he arises from bed at 5:00 a.m. fully clothed and ready, well, to do just about everything on campus.  He conducts a student choral group, plays table tennis, serves as the school’s mascot, plows snow, works out, leads a campus tour, delivers helium to a science lab and takes a squeaky-voiced hit on it, and so much more.

Rosenburg spoke to a Day Two audience here at the AMA Symposium on Higher Education about the risks and rewards of undertaking something so devilish.  He acknowledged the risks of having one person – even a president – too closely associated with an institution’s brand.  “It cannot become a cult of personality,” he said, adding that this “has to be about the place first.”  He worried about whether people would “get” the video or find the humor off-putting.  He nonetheless advised, and we agree, that “without risk you’re not going to do something interesting.  Without risk, you limit both the downside and upside.”

Most important, Rosenburg said a video or any form of communication needs to reflect the true nature of the institution; call it authenticity.  “We have a reputation for not taking ourselves too seriously and being a little edgy,” he said.  In his words, the “video is true to our nature.”  He underscored the importance of humor in breaking through today’s cluttered communications environment, and here we really agree.  In his words, “Being ‘effectively funny’ works amid so much negativity these days.”  Sure, as long as the humor doesn’t cross the line and become, as we have cautioned in the past, tragically hip.  That didn’t happen in the Macalester case.

The results?  Pretty amazing.  The video cost just $3,500 for students and the campus community to produce.  Just do the math when considering the cost-per-hit on YouTube as well as the continued aftermarket publicity in e-mail blasts, media coverage, and the kind of praise Rosenburg and Macalester are generating for daring to be human.  Also consider the very large spike in alumni giving after the video debuted.  Lesson learned all around, we’d say.

We wonder whether there’ll be a sequel.  “Sequels are tough,” Rosenburg cautioned.  “Just think of Grease II.”

Check out the intriguing, occasionally silly and yet thoroughly successful video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpEcCjpbm5w

The Maguire Crew at the booth!  From left to right we have Tara Scholder, Linda Heineman, Jessica McWade, and Jonathan Copp.

Day 1: November 8, 2010 - Afternoon Session 2 - San Diego, CA

Google on College Websites

Spencer Frasher is Google’s Vertical Lead, though we’re not sure what that means.  He delivered a useful presentation today at the AMA Symposium entitled, “Marketing 2.0 and Its Implications for Higher Education.”  Frasher told the large audience gathered in a tent by the gorgeous Harbor Island Marina that:

• 48% of high school juniors and seniors report visiting three or more college websites a week. 
• One in four prospective college students say they will not consider a college based on their experience with that institution’s website.
• And a whopping 92% of these respondents said they’d either remove a college from consideration or merely be “disappointed” with that institution based on website quality. 

If there had been any doubt about the central importance of websites, let there be none after digesting those numbers.

Frasher also discussed mobile applications with one particular paradox.  That is, while most college and university websites are Flash-based, in part or in whole, most smart phones can’t even read Flash.  His thesis was pretty clear.  With the astonishing growth of smart phones in recent years, college and university websites may be failing to keep up with the usage needs and expectations of their most important audience – students. 

An audience member concluded the event with the observation that while most college and university homepages are filled with too much information and design – some of it junk – the Google homepage remains simple, efficient, and elegant. 

Spencer Frasher of Google speaking on Monday in San Diego

Day 1: November 8, 2010 - Afternoon Session – San Diego, CA

David Brond, Vice President for Communications & Marketing at the University of Delaware, co-presented “Dude, I Can’t, I’m Tweeting!” at the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education on Monday, 11/8.  During the session, he shared some of the successes that the University has enjoyed in incorporating social media as a part of its branding strategy.  Some best practices that David shared include being consistent and strong on topic, varying your wording, and addressing negative comments.  This is just one of many social media-focused sessions at the Symposium, which continues to be a topic that attracts large audiences of educational leaders as we all seek to figure out how to best harness social media for our strategic purposes.

Day 1: November 8, 2010 - Morning Session  – San Diego, CA

We are in sunny San Diego, California, at this year’s American Marketing Association’s Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. After an evening exploring some fine regional dining (In n’ Out Burger), we prepared for a technologically focused morning.

Institutions are beginning to explore the possibilities for mobile technology on campus settings.  It seems that every time we turn around, there are new applications, social networking sites, and programs to enrich the student’s college experience.  But, in a sea of technology, how can an institution – or parent or student – distinguish the good from the bad?  As we approach a time where e-mail, traditional phone calls, and connecting wirelessly from a laptop computer are no longer considered fast enough, these institutions are hoping to speak a language that their students truly understand: mobile.      

In this early morning session, we learned about how universities such as Duke and Stanford are using mobile applications.  The focuses of their apps seem to be immediate service delivery and all access.  A few of the features include a student directory, athletic schedules, campus maps, tours (using “Go Tourit,” a popular vendor app), and bus routes, dining and food account balances, events, videos, radio, news, and images from their classmates studying abroad.  While it may all seem like fun and games, they are also instituting services that are more academically based such as the ability to search for and enroll in courses, use Blackboard, access iTunes University, search the library for materials and their specific locations within the library, and use the campus “Emergency Safe Rides” System.

Mobile technology certainly does seem like the next big campus trend.  And as mobile phone companies push for large data plans to match the latest, must-have smart and fun phones, these options will not only become more popular with, but more integral to the daily operations of, students – and perhaps even school officials. 

 Linda Heineman, Tara Scholder, and Jessica McWade of Maguire Associates outside of In n’ Out Burger in San Diego

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