Both the Australian and New Zealand education sectors have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, with travel restrictions and financial hardship resulting in a reduction in the number of international students in the country.

Here’s what this impact means for Australian and New Zealand education providers, and what could possibly be on the horizon for the sector.

The higher education sector in Australia has seen a large drop in international student numbers. From students returning to their home countries, being unable to re-enter Australia to resume their studies, or otherwise being unwilling or unable to continue their studies here, COVID-19 has hit the sector hard. With the virus first emerging in China (also the nation from which Australia sources the majority of its international students), thousands of students who had been home for the Lunar New Year found themselves unable to return to Australia for the start of the new school year. All in all, the Mitchell Institute estimates that the Australian economy will take a $60 billion dollar hit over the next three years due to this reduction of international students.

International students have been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is in turn impacting the Australian economy and our higher education sector.

6 in 10 international students have reported losing their jobs due to the pandemic, while only 15% have been able to find a new job. With international students being overrepresented in hard-hit industries like hospitality and being ineligible for federal wage subsidies like JobKeeper and JobSeeker, the economic consequences have been devastating.

44% of international students fear they will be unable to pay their tuition fees, and 58% note that this financial stress has impaired their studies. Worryingly, over a third have said they may have to leave Australia before they can complete their studies.

The lack of support extended to international students has created a negative impression of Australia as a whole.

To “ensure Australia remains a priority destination for international students”,
acting immigration minister Alan Tudge recently announced a handful of visa changes.

Under these changes:

A pilot will also launch in September to let 300 students from China, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore back into the country, most likely to universities in NSW or the ACT. This scheme is intended to restore the higher education sector and preserve next year’s planned student intake, if the Victorian lockdown goes well.

It will likely take some time before Australia is able to attract the same numbers of international students as it used to. Many students have lost faith in the government’s ability or willingness to provide international student support, and fears of international travel will continue to hold many people back. Finally, the financial pressures of studying overseas may also discourage prospective students from considering Australia.

If the Australian education sector is able to pivot, we can expect international student numbers to slowly rise again. Some experts have even suggested merging universities for the sake of survival and sustainability, indicating that some massive changes could soon take place.

The Australian higher education sector is also faced with immediate challenges that are affecting staff and students today. 5,000 staff have lost their jobs at just two Melbourne institutions alone. Staff losses are typically associated with larger class sizes and lower quality teaching, meaning student dissatisfaction could become a pressing concern in the immediate future.

Australian education providers should work to keep prospective students updated on relevant issues such as start dates, entry requirements, and accommodation options. This information should also be relayed to education agents, and be specific to their individual clients.

As online study will likely remain the norm for some time, education providers also need to be clear on the benefits of studying and living in Australia, despite the lack of face-to-face class time. One way to offer support could be to waive the Student Services and Amenities Fee or provide tuition fee discounts if the school year commences entirely online.

Education providers should consider diversifying the countries from which they source students to improve the sustainability and resilience of the sector. It is also worth considering how to best respond to the concerns of students from key countries like China, India, Malaysia and Singapore.

Finally, some education providers are looking beyond academic and financial support, offering other forms of aid to struggling international students such as free meals.

The Australian education sector must rethink its sourcing of international students and how best to support prospective students during the decision-making process to rebuild the international student population in the country.

Demonstrating a commitment to international students and offering support will help to restore Australia’s reputation as a desirable study destination for students from around the world.

The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC)’s Statement of Performance Expectations sets performance expectations for the tertiary education sector for 2020/21, taking into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We look at some of the expectations that are set in this annual report, the performance indicators that are detailed, and how these performance measures are to be evaluated.

There is a clear commitment by the New Zealand government towards investing in education and training to provide positive outcomes to all New Zealanders. At the same time, the report acknowledges the impact of COVID-19, and the ways in which this disruption may affect the measures set by the TEC.

Some of the non-financial measures detailed in the report may no longer be relevant, be unable to be met or measured, or may otherwise need to be rethought. The financial measures that are included are done so with the New Zealand government’s COVID-19: Response and Recovery Fund Foundation Package in mind, meaning they should remain relevant and useful.

The TEC also reiterates its commitment to helping learners thrive in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic through short-term, medium-term and long-term responses. This will be done by creating a COVID-19 hub page to assist those who have been laid off in the retail, tourism or hospitality sectors; providing easier access to career planning information; and offering advice on writing CVs, setting up LinkedIn profiles and performing well in remote interviews.

The three principles underpinning the TEC’s commitments are:

1. Growing the economy and sharing the nation’s prosperity through collaborating with industry

2. Improving the wellbeing of citizens by ensuring all able individuals are earning, learning, caring or volunteering

3. Building a nation that all New Zealanders can be proud of, including building relationships with Māori and responding to Māori issues

The TEC is the government’s primary agency for implementing these objectives through creating an equitable funding system. The TEC’s strategic intentions can therefore be summed up as:

The Statement of Performance Expectations report also identifies seven areas of reform within the vocational education sector. These are:

1. Furthering the Workforce Development Council, which will take the initiative for future-proofing New Zealand’s workforce. All of the WDCs are expected to be fully functional by June 30 2021.

2. Enhancing Transitional Industry Training Organisations to support workplace-based training and delivering training in off-the-job settings. There will be further collaboration between TEC and the Transitional Industry Training Organisations to support learners and employers in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. Increasing the role of Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs), which will be responsible for driving innovation in the vocational education sector. The first two pilot CoVEs are expected to be established in July 2020.

4. Developing a unified funding system, which will be responsive to the needs of learners and employers. The funding system will likely be rolled out from 1 January 2023, with some components being implemented earlier to assist with COVID-19 recovery.

5. Greater collaboration with Te Taumata Aronui Engagement to ensure the programme meets the needs of iwi and Māori.

6. Better alignment of transformation initiatives and work plans to achieve reform outcomes, which is being done by establishing cross-agency governance forums.

7. Evaluating operational readiness of TEC and other government departments, which should be completed by September 2020.

The predicted outcome of these seven key changes is the creation of a stronger and more unified vocational education system, one which will be able to meet the needs of the future labour market and deliver the skills that learners, employers and communities require to thrive.

In total, $2.5 billion will be invested into the tertiary sector, and 140,000 apprentices and trainees are expected to transition to new training and education providers.

The TEC notes that there is still some way to go before there is parity between Māori and Pacific learners, and non-Māori and non-Pacific learners. In order to close these gaps, a systemic, comprehensive shift needs to occur.

The TEC will require tertiary education organisations to submit a learner success plan, and will also set minimum performance improvement targets in order to achieve equity.

In line with this, the TEC is also developing a diagnostic tool that tertiary education institutions can use to assess the efficacy of their learner success measures. This will allow organisations to ensure they are offering a high-quality, world-class education that improves the participation and achievement of all learners. Guided pathways, student-centric systems and data and technology are just some of the areas that will be assessed by this tool.

Some of the areas in which the TEC’s $2.5 billion investment will be distributed include:

For a more detailed look into resourcing and funding arrangements, or any other element of the report, view the full Statement of Performance Expectations here.

Quality teaching has never been more important than when recovering from such an event as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The TEC’s annual report clearly outlines areas for reform and investment strategies geared towards bettering New Zealand’s economy and society in light of recent challenges.

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) released a report in late 2019 entitled “Online delivery of VET qualifications: current use and outcomes”, which discusses the state of online learning in the Australian VET sector.

These findings are particularly illuminating in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the implementation of VET activity has largely moved online.

So how are these findings relevant to the evolving educational landscape, what will online learning look like in the future, and why should VET providers consider switching to delivering their courses online?

With the online delivery of vocational education and training (VET) courses gaining momentum due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCVER report on the online delivery of VET qualifications becomes important to revisit. The report presents some surprising findings on the current state of online delivery of VET qualifications, addressing student outcomes, completion rates, student satisfaction and more.

At the time of the report, VET courses that were delivered entirely online were found to have higher non-completion rates than other modes of training. At the same time, however, students who did complete their course enjoyed similar employment outcomes to those who took subjects delivered via other delivery modes, demonstrating how online learning can enrich the student learning experience if implemented correctly.

The findings presented in the NCVER report provide a roadmap to registered training organisations (RTOs) and TAFEs currently attempting to implement online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

One challenge the VET sector faces is that VET teaching typically requires a concrete skill set to be developed, using a competency-based training system. Online skills development can be difficult, and online courses will have to be designed extremely well to generate the same outcomes as face-to-face classes.

As mentioned above, online VET learning was also found to have lower completion rates than other modes of delivery. This presents a challenge to educators who have now been forced to move all teaching online due to COVID-19. If online training and teaching is carried out appropriately, however, students can expect to enjoy similar outcomes to those who have completed face-to-face studies.

The report goes on to identify five key factors that contribute to good practice in online course delivery, which will help to inform successful learning experiences during and post-COVID.

These include:

To improve the outcomes for online learning, NCVER suggests greater involvement by the Australian Qualifications Framework to create guidelines on when a qualification is unsuited to a completely online delivery, and to create consistency in qualification specifications of delivery aspects like work placements.

There are plenty of challenges and benefits offered by online learning that must be worked through, given the education sector’s current reliance on it.

Some challenges include:

Finally, if an online course is designed poorly, this could also impact withdrawals and course completion rates.

Some positives identified in the report include:

With most forms of education being forced online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, educators and assessors can look to the NCVER report for guidance, guidelines and best practice recommendations.

The report draws light to some factors that have been shown to positively influence student satisfaction with online learning, which include:

With a great deal of learning now being offered online, educators and VET providers have an opportunity to elevate the quality of their online delivery.

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research’s “Online delivery of VET qualifications: current use and outcomes” report provides some excellent stepping stones for the education sector as it grapples with the online delivery of training and further education.

When it comes to delivering a speedy message to your students, SMS is the number one tool for your list.

Almost every business uses Email Marketing in one way or another, however, not as many have incorporated SMS into their marketing strategy to help drive revenue to their business.

While SMS and Email Marketing both achieve similar outcomes, it’s important to understand that they can and should be used together.

Compared to Email, SMS reaches more people, which ultimately results in higher conversion rates.

While this is the most obvious benefit of the tool, it’s important to adopt a testing approach and exercise caution with your campaigns.

SMS can sometimes be costly due to the variations in cost per send and also character limits when compared with Email Marketing.

However, when used correctly, SMS can generate some amazing results for businesses in the Education Industry.

SMS and Email work together to create seamless customer experiences.

While both channels can be used in the same way, this shouldn’t be your only approach.

Use both tools in a way that complements the other.

For example, in the scenario of a student not opening a particular email that contains important enrolment information, try sending them an SMS to prompt them to check their inbox.

They may be more receptive to that mode of communication and just needed that extra reminder to engage with your content.

While there is significant overlap between these two modes, they should adopt vastly different messaging approaches.

Emails should be more creative, emotive, and influential, whereas SMS should be more direct and to-the-point.

The other main difference between the two channels is ‘level of invasiveness’.

SMS is a much more invasive approach, which naturally results in a significantly higher open rate and conversion rate.

Close to 100% of people that you send the SMS to will at the very least see your message, whereas with Email the number is much closer to 20%.

As mentioned above, the most obvious benefit of utilising SMS is the extremely high open rate and conversion rate you’ll achieve.

However, there are many other benefits that you’ll enjoy when utilising this tool.

Some other benefits include:

To get the most out of SMS, a high level of testing is necessary to understand what works with your target audience. Having a testing framework in place will help you gain an understanding of what types of messaging work best.

For example, if you want to understand if SMS is a good tool to capture data from your subscribers, try sending one to a small portion of your database and then look at:

All this data is highly valuable to discover whether these types of messages resonate with your audience.

Some other tests you can run could be around the type of language you use in your messages.

Does a more personal message work better than a general, automated-sounding message?

Some other tests include:

Through a series of small tests that focus on exploring one thing, you’ll naturally begin to gain a well-rounded view on the types of messages you should and shouldn’t send to your students and prospective students.

While we’ve uncovered the benefits of SMS Marketing, it is also important to discuss some of the drawbacks. Compared to Email Marketing, the opt-out rates of SMS are significantly higher, and this is to be expected due to its invasive nature.

SMS is also a more costly method of communication.

Depending on the service you use, the cost can range anywhere from 2.5 cents per send to as much as 8 cents per send or more. While this doesn’t sound like much, it adds up and highlights the importance of getting your cost per send as low as possible.

For example, sending to 10,000 people at 2.5 cents will cost $250, whereas sending to the same number of people at 7 cents will cost $700, which is a substantial difference.

This reiterates that restraint must be used when sending out SMS campaigns.

If you send SMS communication to your entire database and hope for the best, you’re likely to cost the business thousands of dollars and could potentially impact your brand image and credibility.

This can lead to your audience becoming less receptive to your future messages.
Furthermore, character limits must also be taken into consideration.

In Australia, you can typically use a maximum of 160 characters per SMS send.

If you go over that, you’ll be charged double or even triple, depending on the length of your message.

It’s also important to note that you legally must include Opt-out instructions which take up valuable characters.

Tip: Be careful when using personalisation strings in your SMS, as this element could make you go over the character limit. For example, if you want to include ‘First Name’ in your message, you should expect a portion of your audience to have long first names.

Overall, SMS is an extremely valuable tool for businesses in the Education Industry to engage with prospective student audiences and communicate effectively through the student journey.

Like any marketing tool, you should pursue a continuous testing and optimisation approach towards your SMS communications.

When used in isolation or in conjunction with email marketing, SMS is incredibly powerful.

You will start to gain a better understanding of your students and the positive results will follow.

With digital disruption becoming the norm, new skills are necessary to meet the evolving business needs of the workforce. As a result of this, the learning needs of the workforce are constantly changing.

A recent report by Deloitte and RMIT Online entitled ‘Learn. Work. Repeat’ explores the concept of lifelong learning, and its growing importance in the ever-changing world of work.

From embracing self-directed learning to putting learning programs in action at workplaces, here’s how Australians can keep continuing education throughout their lives.

The traditional model of completing your higher education in your 20s, working for decades and retiring is quickly becoming outdated.

Australian jobs are changing, with new technologies and industry transformations meaning new knowledge is needed.

Australians are also living and working longer, meaning the formal education gained in their youth will likely need a refresh.

The recent shockwaves created by the COVID-19 outbreak further supports the importance of continuous learning, illustrating how quickly the needs of the economy can change.

Millions of people are suddenly having to deal with the challenges of working from home, or even finding themselves completely out of work.

A lifelong learning approach is needed to equip employees with the skills to excel throughout their careers, even in times of trouble.

Interestingly, continuous learning is beneficial for both employers and employees.

Offering more than just personal growth for the employee, lifelong learning also improves an individual’s performance, job security and job satisfaction.

From increased earnings and a greater chance of promotion to receiving more diverse work opportunities, a commitment to ongoing learning proves to be highly rewarding for employees.

Employers also benefit from their employees learning skills on a consistent basis, allowing for greater innovation within the company.

95% of employers surveyed stated that they believed they would receive some benefits from their employees engaging in continuous learning, with two-thirds believing that these benefits are shared equally between the business and the individual employee.

Using informal learning as an example (such as an individual’s own learning efforts through listening to podcasts or watching YouTube videos), businesses are found to experience a 1% increase in productivity while employee wages rise by 0.5% after just one hour of learning.

So what skills should employees and employers be looking at cultivating, and how can this be done?

As the world of work becomes increasingly automated, soft skills are becoming more important than ever.

In fact, it is estimated that two-thirds of Australian jobs will be soft-skill intensive by 2030.

According to the Deloitte report’s findings, 62% of employers identify leadership and problem-solving skills as being difficult to find.

53% of employers are also seeking creativity skills, while the latest industry knowledge is difficult for 53% of employers to find. Critical thinking, customer service and digital literacy are other vital skills lifelong learners should be looking at seriously.

Understandably, it is not realistic for everyone to re-enter the education system just to pick up new skills. Many employers are instead offering professional development opportunities in the workforce, with 85% of surveyed businesses providing internal and external training opportunities to address skill shortages.

Employers should foster a collective understanding of lifelong learning across the organisation, which can be done by:

There are also plenty of opportunities outside of the workplace for employees to pursue further training and education.

Lifelong learning can be informal or formal, with informal learning being self-organised and unstructured, and formal learning involving recognition from an educational institution or organisation.

Most lifelong learners prefer short courses to postgraduate degrees or professional accreditations, due to the shorter time frame and reduced cost.

The availability, diversity and quality of online learning make ongoing learning easier than ever, with Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) providing open access to qualification and non-qualification based learning.

Lifelong learning is needed to create a resilient and responsive workforce, with both employees and employers benefiting from an investment in education and training.

Since the novel coronavirus outbreak (or COVID-19), schools and universities around the world have had to adapt to the new world order.

From school closures to online learning, we explore how the global and Australian education sectors are responding to and reshaping as a result of COVID-19.

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has affected all tiers of the education sector in a matter of a few short weeks, from early childhood education all the way up to higher education.

IBIS World summarises the Australian education sector’s response to COVID-19 thus far:

As the situation progresses, we may start to see longer-lasting changes relating to innovations in the delivery of education and partnerships between private and public schools.

COVID-19 has acted as a catalyst for education service providers around the world to look for innovative teaching solutions in a short period of time.

In Australia, we’ve seen high schools and universities try to transition to an online learning model, while school students in Hong Kong and China have been leading the way in online teaching solutions, with mandatory virtual classrooms and the like.

At the same time, however, the transition to online learning has been difficult for students and teachers around the world.

In Australia, there have been calls that our NBN speeds are not equipped for mass online learning.

In other countries, however, there is a significant lack of personal digital devices for students to use.

With advanced technology becoming more readily available in countries like Australia, the United States, and several places throughout Asia, we are likely to see learners and education providers implement digital education in a variety of formats.

This will likely remain in place long after the COVID-19 crisis has passed, with traditional classroom-based learning being complemented with live broadcasts, online learning modules and even virtual reality experiences.

At the same time, the shift from online classes back to face-to-face learning will likely also be disruptive, with students having to adjust back to a relative lack of flexibility, handing in hard copies of assignments, and having to attend tutorials in person.

Ideally, our education system will become more digitally ready and able to provide a flexible, dynamic responsive learning environment, available at the click of a button when we need it.

The events of the past few weeks have seen various stakeholders collaborate on creating digital platform solutions in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

In places where education has largely been provided by the federal government, the landscape of learning could change drastically.

For example, China’s Ministry of Education has worked alongside various parties to develop a cloud-based online learning and broadcasting platform, as well as upgrade various education infrastructures.

Hong Kong also established a consortium of over 60 different publishers, educational organisations, media and entertainment industry professionals to create hundreds of educational assets which are available to students for free.

The consortium intends to continue using these assets even after the current crisis is over.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, educational innovation now means a lot more than just government or non-profit funded social projects.

There is now also greater interest and investment from tech giants around the world, with the pandemic potentially opening the door for large-scale, cross-industry collaborations aimed towards a common educational goal.

From this public health crisis, our education system is likely to emerge as more resilient, responsive and dynamic.

The pandemic also highlights the digital and creative skills students will need for the world of the future.

For online learning to be carried through successfully in the future, the diversity of student needs must be recognised, a strong teacher presence must be provided, and an interactive and engaging course design must be offered.

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) has recently released its annual report on TEQSA registered Higher Education providers.

The organisation is Australia’s independent national quality assurance and regulatory agency for higher education, with the report providing an insight into the current state of the higher education sector in Australia.

Key Takeaways:

The report points to the size and diversity of the Australian Higher Education sector, with 172 registered providers enrolling 1,537,081 students for all or part of 2017.

There has also been a moderate increase in student participation, with there being a 4% rise in the number of students between 2016 and 2017:

The number of international students is of particular note, with there being a 10% increase in the international student population from 2016 to 2017.

As of 2018, China remains the main international source market for universities and not-for-profit provider categories, while India is the main source market for the for-profit provider category.

The Higher Education courses of study with the highest growth were Health and Education, rising by 4% each from 2016 to 2017. This points towards a greater awareness among students of the skills gaps set to emerge as Australia’s education and healthcare needs continue to grow.

Overall student numbers are still highest in the Management and Commerce fields of study, which have both the highest number of undergraduate and post-graduate students.

69% of Australia’s student population are domestic students, while 31% are international students. 75% of students are undertaking an undergraduate degree, while 25% are pursuing postgraduate qualifications.

92.2% of TEQSA providers are universities, while 5.2% are for-profit institutions, 2.1% are not-for-profit institutions, and 0.5% are TAFEs. 42% of providers are registered in NSW, while 26% are in Victoria.

11 non-university providers had partial or full self-accrediting authority in 2017 (including one for-profit provider that was granted partial self-accrediting authority), hinting at the growing legitimacy of non-university education pathways.

New course accreditation has dropped compared to previous years, decreasing in every broad field of education (BFoE) and all of the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) levels except AQF level 7. The decline can be attributed to the introduction of the new standards, which came into effect on 1 January 2017.

Management and Commerce BFoE continue to have the largest number of course accreditations, followed by the Society and Culture BFoE (together accounting for 60% of new course accreditations in 2017).

Australia’s student body continues to increase alongside its population, and as Australian educational institutions continue to draw the attention of international students. With the rise of education services for overseas students, these numbers can be expected to grow.

The popularity of Management and Commerce may be explained by the fields’ global relevance and appeal in the eyes of international students.

While universities still have the highest proportion of students, there has also been a gradual increase in student enrolments at other provider types, such as for-profit, not-for-profit and TAFE, for the past four years. The overseas sector experienced the largest growth out of all provider types, with not-for-profit providers seeing a 23% increase in overseas students from 2015.

A flexible student experience also seems to be a top priority for today’s learner, with there being a 39% increase in the number of commencing students attending via a flexible delivery mode since 2015. At the same time, however, the number of commencing students attending via a flexible delivery mode at TAFE and not-for-profit institutions declined by 30% and 19% respectively in 2016.

The Australian Higher Education sector continues to grow, drawing in more international students than ever. Provider categories are also diversifying further, catering to more types of students than ever before.

LinkedIn holds the power to boost your Education Marketing value. Here’s why.

Many education providers and marketers are reliant on prospective students searching for their institutions and programs, but in reality, many of these students are not always ready to take that first step or have not even sparked their research interest.

Knowing this, education marketers are notorious for pumping resources into campaigns and turning up the volume on subjects and courses as a quick fix.

However, the key factor often overlooked is that prospective students are more likely to be attracted to what value you can add to their personal or career growth, rather than what you are simply offering. Here’s where LinkedIn trumps other social platforms when amplifying the value of an education provider’s course offerings.

Compared to other social channels like Facebook or Instagram, LinkedIn boasts a platform of over 546 million professionals across all types of seniorities, industries, companies and businesses. From an education marketer’s perspective, this opens a plethora of valuable prospective students.

Why? – Aside from the large multinationals and high-level seniors, there is an even larger pool of graduates, students and employees looking to take the next step, whether that be at the upskilling stage, career change or simply looking to move forward in their education journey.

As such, LinkedIn makes it easier than ever to connect with like-minded and highly engaged audiences; enabling education providers to really zone in and tap into a prospective student’s aspirational mindset.

Below, we break down more of LinkedIn’s best qualities and demonstrate exactly how education providers can incorporate these features into their education marketing strategy.

There is no denying that social giants such as Facebook, Instagram and the like have the power to zone in on specific interests and target areas. However, it is usually more of a challenge for education providers to gain rapid traction and have their institutional value resonate within a more consumer-focused audience.

Candidates on LinkedIn often view the platform as a trustworthy source and as mentioned, are generally looking for a value-added experience. LinkedIn’s unique, professional-focused niche makes it an effective option for education providers to market their courses, as there is naturally an aura of wanting to ‘better’ oneself. As such, being able to connect directly with a more motivated and goal-oriented audience is a highly desired characteristic that education providers look for in prospective students.

From a paid perspective, LinkedIn boasts a unique interest targeting strategy where users are not only able to target specific subjects but can also tailor to education levels, seniority, job functions and more. This, along with LinkedIn’s aspirational, goal-oriented audience ultimately translates into an increase in lead quality.

This is especially the case for courses specialising in professional development, online and part-time courses. The rise in the discussion of micro-credentials creates even more opportunity for education providers to expand their offering as these short, compact courses are naturally a great fit for the platform.

Maximising traction and connectivity on social platforms like Facebook and Instagram is highly reliant on a numbers game to feed the short attention spans commonly found in a consumer-focused audience. And while larger following and social engagement still count towards social value on LinkedIn, because users are focused primarily on work purposes and not play, it still creates an equal ground for education providers of all sizes to promote or voice out their expertise on specific topics.

Compared to the snappy, high-energy content we usually find on fast-paced social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn audiences thrive off long-form content pieces such as industry insights and tips, which adds value towards their individual goals and also works as a means of increasing traffic to your websites. Similarly, captions should be two to three times longer than the average social update and are ideally insightful summaries of the content you are sharing. This provides prospective students with the ability to gauge how your qualifications or courses will benefit them in the future.

With so much to offer in the education space, consider looking into sharing reactive content pieces on high-traction topics such as the AQF 2019 Review.

Also note, If you have a following that exceeds 300, the content suggestion tool is great for collecting thought leadership article ideas or for sharing content by other users to spark insightful discussions.

Two major aspects of the LinkedIn community for education providers to keep in mind are that:

With that, a great tool offered on LinkedIn is the ability to form close-knit, specific community groups where like-minded thinkers can share and gain insights from trustworthy sources and from individuals of all seniority levels.

Education providers can consider creating their own groups to answer frequently asked questions or an insight hub to attract prospective students to learn, contribute or share their own experiences as alumni. In addition, LinkedIn groups can also be used as targeting criteria in campaigns to really hone in on specific topics of interest to prospective students.

Aside from groups and communities, another place where prospective students are able to find valuable insights and expand on information is none other than your own provider or brand page. In addition to sending out high-quality content pieces, it is also crucial to have all your contact details front and centre, along with a detailed ‘About’ page to connect with prospective students as an engaging and high-quality source of education.

Showcase pages are also an amazing tool to highlight the different schools, locations or subject areas which your institution offers.

Like many other social platforms, LinkedIn has its own campaign manager where education providers can incorporate paid initiatives behind their messaging or content. As we’ve already mentioned, the nature of the platform adds a touch of professionalism to the way campaigns are built, branching out of the basic characteristics like age and location and allowing users to focus on industry, experience or qualifications, which is extremely useful for reaching out to specific candidates.

While LinkedIn is amazing at helping education providers narrow down on specific targeting areas, it’s important to remember to keep your audience size at a minimum of 50,000+ for niche audiences or at least 100,000+ for consistent results. In addition, while you should never pay for the bid you set – it is important to set a realistic goal so that it provides the platform with a range of freedom to find high-quality audiences for you.

The LinkedIn campaign manager also offers a wide range of ad placement options, depending on what your goals are. Some of our tried and tested favourites include:

LinkedIn also offers amazing analytics tools to track how successful your organic and paid activities are at attracting the right audiences. Aside from basic follower demographics are insights on competing providers, update or content performance, industry and more.

With the power to tap into specific student areas and access high-quality and motivated individuals, the LinkedIn platform is certainly a valuable resource and a must-have in any education providers marketing strategy for providing traction and visibility.

Are young Australian struggling to find work? Half of Australians under 25 are unemployed, finding the transition from studying to stable work to be a difficult one.

So what are the factors that are making it difficult for young Australians to find work, and what can we do about it?

If you’d like to read an updated version of this article, you can catch up on it here.

Simply put, the world is not what it used to be. Being married and owning a house by 25 is just not attainable for young people today as it was for previous generations. The issue, of course, is that while the landscape of work has changed, our approach to it hasn’t, which is part of the reason for soaring youth unemployment rates.

Source: www.fya.org.au/

The situation is even more dire for younger people, with the Brotherhood of St Laurence reporting that one-in-nine people aged 15-to-24 are unemployed altogether. Even those who are employed may find that they are in a highly precarious position, with 1 in 5 juggling multiple jobs or working long hours in an unpredictable casual position.

Contrary to mainstream media representation, this isn’t due to a lack of work ethic among millennials: in fact, 17% of 15-24 year olds wish to work more hours but cannot secure them (the highest figure on record), or otherwise cannot find jobs in their field even after obtaining an education.

Many of these issues are due to the fact that young people tend to bear the brunt of economic downturn, with Australia’s rising unemployment rates and scarcity of jobs hitting young people the hardest.

While the lack of full-time employment among young Australians is a cause for concern, 9-5 work does not have to be the only option in today’s hyperconnected, digital world.

According to the Foundation for Young Australians’ The New Work Order Report, 70% of under-34-year-olds will use a digital talent platform to find work, such as Airtasker, Fiverr and the like. This could create an additional 270,000 jobs by 2025, drawing attention to the fact that full-time jobs don’t have to be the only option for young people today.

Policymakers and educators must support young people in reaching their employment goals, whether that’s full-time work or a successful freelance career.

Young Australians have the odds pitted against them, with there now being fewer entry-level positions available than there were in the recent past.

“Reality Bites: Australia’s youth unemployment in a millennial era”, a report published by the Brotherhood of St Laurence, found that there has been a 50% reduction in the number of entry-level jobs since 2006. There are simply too many job seekers for the number of positions available, making entering the workforce and developing experience even more difficult for young people.

There is now an urgent need for greater investment in job creation, as well as a need for better career advice to be offered to young people to guide them towards industries with a skills shortage.

It’s almost become a cynical joke among young people that employers will ask for 10 years of experience when you’ve just graduated at the age of 21. While this is hyperbole, the reality is unfortunately not much better for young Australians. In fact, over 40% of unemployed young Australians attributed their struggle to a lack of work experience.

The higher education system can help to address this lack of experience by promoting work-integrated learning in courses. This can include work placements, internships and apprenticeships to equip young people with real-world experience before they enter the workforce. This will then make them a more desirable candidate in the eyes of employers, increasing their likelihood of securing stable work upon graduation. Such programs should address any deficiencies in job readiness and skills, and should involve collaboration between local service providers and employers.

Certain fields of study are currently oversaturated in Australia, meaning that there aren’t enough jobs for all young people upon graduating.

The situation will only get more dire for young Australians if we don’t change our approach now, with the FYA saying that 58% of university students and 71% of TAFE students are currently studying for an occupation that will cease to exist or transform dramatically in the next decade or so.

The education system needs to have greater transparency regarding the true nature of the job market, with attention being drawn to fields that are currently seeing a skills shortage such as STEM and healthcare. By making students aware of their job prospects and alternative career paths, they can make a more informed decision when it comes to their study choices.

Steven Joyce’s Expert Review of Australia’s Vocational Education and Training System has recommended introducing an industry-owned, government-registered ‘Skills Organisation’ system, that is expected to take charge of qualification development and training. By establishing a structured initiative to tackle the alignment of work-based skills with the changing workforce, we are one step closer to working towards a better equipped workforce, by placing industry experts at the forefront to combat these skills gaps.

Almost 30% of young Australians attributed their unemployment to a difficulty in accessing transportation. Young people in a difficult financial situation are less likely to own a car, and may also live in areas that are poorly connected to public transportation. In cases such as these, remote work opportunities and equipping young people with the skills to freelance in their industry could reduce the need to commute.

According to the Australian Council of Social Service, it is estimated that the average minimum cost of basic essentials in Australia for a single unemployed person was $433 per week. From this research, it is not feasible for the unemployed to manage necessary living expenses, along with the extra costs that come with job search (such as transport, phone calls, interview-appropriate clothing, and internet subscriptions) when living on unemployment benefits.

The odds are stacked against young Australians, with stable work being more elusive than ever.

Educational institutions are well-positioned to address youth unemployment by prioritising work-integrated learning and providing career advice that mirrors the true state of today’s workforce.

The below chart shows the level of sensitivity each state experiences to funding options, which forms part of the Student Sentiment Index. One interesting insight of this article is how Victoria and Western Australia have the lowest score on the index, which indicates that prospective students in these states are less reliant on funding when they decide to study. On the other hand, the two states which experience the highest sensitivity to funding when it comes to studying are South Australia and Queensland.

What we can see in the Index, is that respondents in South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland are the most sensitive to funding changes; whereas Victoria and Western Australia are less influenced by this. When we break down the state funding on a per person basis; we see a strong correlation between funding per person (by population) and our Sensitivity to Funding Index.

For example, the Government expenditure for education is the highest proportionally for Victoria and Western Australia, where there’s approximately $185 and $178 of funding available per person, respectively. When we compare this with respondent’s sensitivity to funding, we can see that these states also score the lowest, indicating that, the more accessible funding is to prospective students; the less impact funding has on their decision to pursue a course.

Another interesting finding that arose in the past two months, was the impact of the ‘Free TAFE Scheme’ announced by the Victorian Government in early June. This initiative provides 50 TAFE courses and apprenticeships free for Victorians and has been widely publicised. One of the advantages of the Student Sentiment Index is that it acts as a leading indicator of overall perception in the sector, whereas other data relevant to the sector is typically released on a yearly basis. So when a change comes about such as the ‘Free TAFE Scheme’, we can see the impact this has on prospective students as it happens.

When analysing the responses following this widely-publicised announcement, what can be seen in the Sensitivity to Funding Index is a 10% drop in the underlying trend for Victoria. This illustrates how changes to the funding landscape can immediately impact the perceived dependence on financial assistance of prospective students. As funding becomes more accessible, which is the case for Victorian TAFE students, we can see this sudden drop in sensitivity.