Plugging the Gaps: Fixing the ‘Leaky Hosepipe’ in Postgraduate Recruitment

Postgraduate marketing budgets are always under pressure, and universities need to prove that every pound spent delivers real impact. But what if your recruitment pipeline is leaking prospective students at multiple points along the journey?

Imagine a garden hosepipe that has punctures along the way—no matter how much you turn up the tap, most of the water never reaches its destination. The same happens in postgraduate recruitment: universities invest heavily in attracting leads, yet many slip away, leaving only a trickle of enrolments at the end.

In this session, we’ll explore the most common ‘leaks’ universities experience, based on real-world insights from Marketing Partnership’s work with HE marketing teams. You’ll gain practical tips to:

• Identify where your leads are disappearing
• Improve conversion at key stages of the student journey
• Maximise your marketing budget by fixing those annoying leaks

Building The Ideal Human: AI Ratio

If you scroll through LinkedIn, it feels like AI is everywhere, but what does it actually change in how university teams work, recruit and deliver? 

This session looks at tools, frameworks and beyond to explore how real university teams are building effective Human: AI ratios. Where automation delivers results and people are chosen not just for skills, but for mindset.

Drawing on live partnerships and views from inside and outside the sector, we’ll explore what makes someone effective in an AI-enabled team and how to design for long-term success. 

Expect practical examples, honest reflections, and a few ideas to take straight into planning.

Time matters: Let’s help prospective students make smarter choices

Prospective students need clear, transparent information to make informed decisions about what, where, when and how they study. This session will explore how universities can provide better transparency around time commitments, empowering students to make smarter choices. We’ll explore practical steps we can all take to support students in balancing their academic, personal, and professional lives.

Demystifying PhDs: Engaging the Next Generation of Researchers

Pursuing a PhD is often seen as an intimidating and uncertain path, filled with misconceptions about funding, career prospects, and accessibility. How can universities break down these barriers and inspire more students to consider postgraduate research?

This session will explore strategies for PhD recruitment, with a focus on effective communication, social media engagement, and student-led storytelling. Discover how marketing techniques can transform perceptions of PhDs and empower prospective students to see research as an exciting and attainable opportunity.

Bringing students on a hybrid journey to Postgraduate

In this session we will explore how to adapt a hybrid approach to the postgraduate recruitment journey, ensuring students have multiple touch points that work for them.

On-Demand Academic Talks: Enhancing PGT (Postgraduate Taught) Recruitment

This session explores the development of pre-recorded, programme-specific short academic talks designed to increase postgraduate taught (PGT) leads in response to the significant post-pandemic decline, while ensuring students from diverse backgrounds have access to essential course information and FAQs. The presentation will highlight strategies for successful internal stakeholder engagement, discuss challenges encountered along the way, share practical tips, and explore future plans to further develop and expand the initiative.

Storytelling: Your Reputation's Secret Weapon 

Storytelling isn't just a "nice-to-have" marketing tactic - it's the backbone of your university's reputation, which has a direct impact on student recruitment. In a noisy world, trust is your most valuable asset. This session will show you how to build trust by translating your university's values into colourful, surprising, and memorable human stories that connect. 

Beyond Enrolment Numbers: Leveraging Market Insights for Smarter Postgraduate Marketing

Postgraduate marketing strategies often rely on traditional enrolment data, but deeper market insights can unlock new opportunities. This session explores how institutions can use competitive benchmarking, demographic analysis, student sentiment tracking, and labour market data to refine targeting, messaging, and recruitment strategies. Attendees will learn how to move beyond surface-level data to develop a data-driven approach to PG marketing.