What is peer recruitment | The Access Platform

What is peer recruitment?

Put simply, peer recruitment is the concept of working with your current students to help recruit new ones. A lot of this is done online and can be incredibly powerful as a discrete strategy within a wider recruitment and marketing piece.

Why is peer recruitment so powerful for universities?

Well, it really helps a prospective student make the best decision for their future; peer recruitment can help them decide if they can see themselves studying at your university, and it helps them gather as much information as they need.

They feel empowered and confident.

11. Collage (What is peer recruitment section)

Academic research has consistently demonstrated that the influence of peers is one of the most significant factors affecting the decision making of prospective students.

Young people have been, and continue to be, mistrustful of institutional messaging. They want to find out from people like them what something is really like. That’s where peer recruitment becomes so powerful.

72% of students say 'they are more likely to apply' after using TAP

Better Experience

Prospective students get a better and more honest experience and understanding of your university
Benefits

Prospective students are more informed and more confident when deciding on where to study
Ongoing Communication

Communication between prospective students and your Student Ambassadors can be ongoing - allowing you to build relationships all the way from first interaction through application and onto enrolment.
Diverse Recruitment

It allows for more diverse recruitment - geographical, cultural and language barriers are smashed.
Higher Conversation Rates

When done well, peer recruitment can truly lead to higher conversion rates and higher retention from offer holders. Using our platform, customers have seen a 200% increase in applicant to enrolment conversion (20% > 60%). They’ve also enjoyed a 100% increase in prospect to applicant to conversion (20% > 40%).

How is peer recruitment being used in higher education?

Plenty of institutions work in the broad principle of what we preach - featuring student-created content in their marketing, running social media takeovers etc - and they do it because student-led content gets cut through.

But, that sort of activity only goes so far.

At The Access Platform, we take the principle of peer recruitment and turn it into tangible, impactful results based on genuine engagements, done via an online platform that offers the ability to recruit and engage at scale, regardless of timezones or language barriers.

Peer recruitment; student recruitment, redefined

24% of university website visitors using the platform go on to apply to that institution

Drawing on the power of peer-to-peer, student-to-student conversations, user-generated content, and friendly, no-nonsense answers, peer recruitment offers universities the opportunity to engage with prospective students in a genuinely new way; one which is not limited by traditional boundaries of language, culture, and geography.

Thinking of peer recruitment as student recruitment redefines the way in which universities engage with young people, regardless of where they are in the world. This brings with it huge opportunities across the student recruitment cycle, from awareness to conversion and beyond.