Notes on postgraduate students groupings and drivers

Owned by Nick Butler (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Apr 12, 2016
2 min read

Notes from a meeting Nick Butler had with Shelley Tyson, a former Liaison Officer for Wellington Polytechnic/Massey University.

Aim: To get more information on PG audience types, the drivers that lead PG students to study at that level, and how these are different to undergraduates' drivers.

Caveat: Shelley's experience is from 15+ years ago, and not at Victoria.

Summary

What Shelley said reinforced what came out of the discussions with Charlotte.

It suggested a couple of hooks we could use to attract students (which we may be using already):

  • the social element (of programmes where that's a feature)
  • study as a way of increasing your influence (for those idealistic students who want to make a difference)

It also suggests we should think about ways to reassure people that they're up to the challenge of PG study, or at least of giving people a realistic understanding of how challenging each programme is.

Some PG audience types Shelley identified

Not comprehensive, in no particular order.

Mature students returning to study

  • Often after having kids
  • Usually study part time ("ticking away, paper by paper")
  • Drivers:
    • Mental stimulation
    • Career

Graduates who prefer study to work

  • "Scared to join real world"
  • Drivers:
    • Social connections
    • Student lifestyle
    • Mental stimulation

This audience are likely to identify with and respond to the same appeals as those doing PG study for intellectual advancement or knowledge acquisition.

We could promote the social element of programmes where that's a feature to target this group.

Public servants

  • Some join the public service because they want to serve the public. Idealistic.
  • Career advancement in the public service often requires PG qualification
  • Drivers:
    • Making a difference
    • Career

For this audience we could pitch study as a way of increasing your influence, your ability to make a difference.

Mature students with no tertiary qualification

  • Left school and went straight into work
  • Generally UG but may be able to do post-experience PG
  • Little knowledge of how universities work
  • Driver:
    • Decide they need qualification to advance their careers

Differences between postgraduates and undergraduates

Postgrads are more practical, more likely to be focusing on career.

Undergraduates more idealistic.

Criteria for making decisions about what to study and why

  • Cost
  • What's in it for me?
  • Reputation/professional accreditation

Common concern - am I up to postgrad study?

PG is perceived as being more challenging than UG.

Could address this concern with:

  • people stories from graduates who had similar doubts which proved unfounded
  • information about the support (as is done already)
  • information about the amount of time the programme requires (as a proxy for difficulty)

Marketing opportunity

Shelley reckoned there's an untapped market of people who have stopped study part way along the line to a qualification, who might pick it up again given a bit of a nudge. I understand that Vic actually ran a campaign along these lines last year.