User Guide and Marketing Strategy

Transcription

1 PROMOTING ERASMUS MUNDUS JOINT MASTER DEGREES TO EUROPEAN STUDENTS Erasmus Mundus Marketing Toolkit User Guide and Marketing Strategy With the support of the EM Programme of the European Union

2 Prepared by: The EM-ACE project team under the coordination of Louise Simpson (The Knowledge Partnership) December 2014 Disclaimer This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 2

3 Contents 1 Introduction The EM-ACE project Contact and website From Erasmus Mundus to Erasmus Names and Abbreviations Who is the toolkit for? Why use the strategy and toolkit? Components of the EM-ACE Marketing Toolkit An overview of the seven toolkit elements Staff Survey What is the staff survey? How the staff survey works How to access the staff survey How to use the findings All-Student Survey What is the survey? How to access the survey How to use the findings EM Student Survey What is the survey? Student scores How to access the survey How to use the findings Staff and Student Mapping Tool How we converted staff questions into student relevant questions Converting the answers into mapped scores Analysing the mapped results How to access the mapping tools International Marketing Strategy for Universities Management Targets

4 Key messages Timing and applications: Brand and reputation Marketing processes Marketing materials Benchmarking Appendix 1: EM-ACE Staff Indicators for Effective Marketing A) EM Marketing strategy B) EM Communications and brand C) EM Online and digital marketing D) EM Internal recruitment and employer engagement Appendix 2: Staff and EM Student Survey showing mapped questions Appendix 3: All Student Survey Further Information

5 1 Introduction 1.1 THE EM-ACE PROJECT The EM-ACE toolkit has been created to support higher education institutions (HEIs) in attracting more, high quality students to joint programmes, particularly European students. It should also help amplify the Erasmus Mundus (EM) brand, with special focus on Joint Master Degrees (JMD), so that employers, students and other organizations appreciate the benefits and the enhancements of studying a joint programme delivered by different universities, in a variety of countries. The toolkit has been created by a consortium of universities and agencies specializing in higher education, with particular experience of promoting EM joint programmes. Funded by the EM Programme (Action 3), the EM-ACE project began in September 2012 in order to improve the marketing and the promotion of EM (a problem identified by the EM Impact Assessment 2011). The overall aim of the EM-ACE project is to enhance the visibility, awareness and attractiveness of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees (EMJMD) across Europe, with the final goal to raise both the quantity and quality of applications received from European candidates. EM-ACE Project Team Sapienza University of Rome (Coordinator), Italy Campus France, France ICUnet.AG on behalf of EMA, Germany The Knowledge Partnership, UK UNICA network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe, Belgium Ghent University, Belgium University of Belgrade, Serbia University of Melbourne, Australia 5

6 1.2 CONTACT AND WEBSITE The project website is available at where there are many resources for marketing Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees, and any comments or questions can be sent to or 1.3 FROM ERASMUS MUNDUS TO ERASMUS+ The project team consulted with the EC and EACEA during the roll out of the new phase of EC programmes for Higher Education ( ). EMJMD are now under Erasmus+. This includes the three streamlined actions initially elaborated by the Commission (learning mobility, cooperation for innovation and good practices and support for policy reform). The new programme has however discontinued doctoral degrees under Erasmus+ which are now covered by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions - Research Fellowship Programme NAMES AND ABBREVIATIONS This tool-kit uses both Erasmus Mundus (EM) and Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees (EMJMD) brands to reflect the actual brand terminology adopted by the EC in the new Erasmus+ programme. Much of the content is equally applicable to other international joint master s programmes run between partner universities in different countries. Toolkit and survey abbreviations E+ Erasmus+ EM Erasmus Mundus EMJMD Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees 1.5 WHO IS THE TOOLKIT FOR? The toolkit is designed for those who manage aspects of Erasmus+ and more specifically EMJMD, from institutional leaders, to programme coordinators, academic, marketing and international staff. It should also be useful for anyone with an organizational, marketing, or study abroad promotional role in a national structures, agencies or European Commission (EC) offices. Many of the indicators are applicable to other study abroad schemes and international recruitment and should support international programme development as a whole. Whereas in the past the EM programme focused clearly on the role of programme-level coordinators in 1 6

7 joint programme promotion, it is now recognised that marketing must be co-ordinated across both departmental and institutional level if it is to be impactful in E WHY USE THE STRATEGY AND TOOLKIT? Most HEIs are becoming increasingly keen to attract the best students, and compete with international markets. They also know that programmes must be genuinely international if they are to attract and retain international students. There is also a need to encourage own students to study abroad in order for Europe to be competitive in the international market place. Our findings show that many universities are targeting international students, but not their own students when it comes to recruiting to joint master s programmes. The toolkit gives your HEI some clear steps to assess whether your marketing of EM is of high quality, in line with the best universities in Europe in terms of marketing, and helping achieve the objectives of EM recruitment. It provides you (i.e. anyone in your organization with strategic responsibility for running, organizing, or promoting EM) with clear evidence of where you are doing well and not so well. It should also be useful for national structures and offices reporting to the EC with a responsibility for EM marketing. It gives you data to enable you to argue for more resources, if necessary. It provides you with a way of tracking your marketing efforts annually, in order to show accountability, and to improve weak areas. It allows you to compare your efforts anonymously with other universities and consortia delivering joint programmes. It allows you to compare staff, student and alumni perceptions of EM marketing, reputation and branding. 7

8 1.7 COMPONENTS OF THE EM-ACE MARKETING TOOLKIT There are three surveys as part of the toolkit, a staff one, an all student one, and an EM student/graduate one. The results of each allow you to create a combined picture of how robust your EM marketing is at an institutional level. Each survey is explained in detail, and included in the appendix. They are all available as PDFs online too, and they can be sent to you as an electronic survey for easy circulation (info@em-ace.eu). To enable a grade to be assigned for each indicator of good practice, we have created a template of typical evidence that allows a university to demonstrate its effectiveness and commitment from these three perspectives: a) Staff who are involved in the marketing or promotion of EM including academic and professional staff b) Students who may or may not be aware of EM, and are thus in a position to comment on the efficacy of marketing (some of the questions below would be reframed to make sense to students) c) EM students and alumni who are aware of EM and will have views on its promotion and its satisfaction (some of the questions below would be reframed to make sense to alumni) This creates invaluable diagnostic data that can inform future plans and development action. Once you have evaluated your institution s marketing with the toolkit, refine your marketing strategy, using both the good practice elements of the toolkit, and the recommendations in the EM-ACE marketing strategy. 8

9 1.8 AN OVERVIEW OF THE SEVEN TOOLKIT ELEMENTS Altogether the following seven items making up the EM-ACE Erasmus Mundus Marketing Toolkit: 1 User Guide and Marketing Strategy. This is the User Guide and Marketing Strategy. It explains how to use the surveys, benchmark and map results, and offers a marketing strategy for EM. 2 Staff Survey: review your marketing success with the EM-ACE online university survey (survey ACE-STAFF). This allows you to self-score your efforts as a baseline before you change your existing strategy 3 All-Student Survey: invite students at your university to take the survey, to evaluate awareness of EM, their perceptions of its value and reputation, and potential additionality to their careers. 4 EM Student Survey. Encourage all your EM students (including applicants, current and graduating) to complete the online survey in the same year you score your university. 5 Staff and Student Mapping Tool (Excel). Compare staff and EM student perceptions of marketing using the prepared Excel tool. Blank version for your own data, and dummy version showing sample data. 6 Sample Report. An anonymous report showing how to report findings and draw conclusions and recommendations from all three surveys, and the mapping between staff and students. It also shows some benchmarking with other universities. 7 Case Studies. Tips and advice to enhance the strategy and tools, based on universities with strengths in EM marketing. 9

10 2 Staff Survey 2.1 WHAT IS THE STAFF SURVEY? The staff survey (tool 2) is designed to measure the effectiveness of your master s marketing in your institution, so that you could see how you perform in relative terms, or against your partners, or competitors, and also compare marketing effort with student awareness of EMJMD. The person undertaking the survey will be asked to tick all the practice points they agree are evident. Once they have done that, they self-score the indicator. 2.2 HOW THE STAFF SURVEY WORKS There are 13 indicators of good practice, each supported with good practice/evidence points. See appendix 1. The indicators are arranged in four broad categories: The strategic management of EM; Staff training and development for effective EM marketing; Online and digital marketing and promotion of EM; Internal marketing and PR. Here s an example: Q Look at all the evidence factors that support this indicator, checking if they are present in your institution 1 Indicator 1: The institution has a robust marketing strategy and process in place for Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees (EMJMD) at a corporate level 1.1 There is an institutional international marketing strategy that establishes the targets and plan for EM across the whole HEI, as well as other study abroad programmes and international student recruitment. Staff have contributed to this, and can access the strategy. 1.2 EM joint programme co-ordinators use the institutional EM marketing strategy and take note of other faculty marketing when making their own marketing plans so that they support and enhance one another and make the best use of resources and opportunities. The EM institutional marketing strategy has been circulated to all staff who are involved in EMJMD so that they are aware of the strategy and can access copies. 1.3 Any faculty-specific EM marketing plans are approved at a corporate level to ensure they support the institutional EM marketing strategy. 1.4 The EM marketing strategy integrates and supports the university s wider international and marketing strategies and vice-versa i.e. there is no disconnect. 1.5 The strategy is properly resourced, with a clear budget allocated to support its objectives and ensure they are met. Staff are asked to tick only evidence points, for each numbered section that they agree they do (there are 13 sections in all). After each section, they are asked, how did you score? The options are shown below: 10

11 4 Outstanding. All the essential and some of the desirable indicators are observed 3 Good. Some of the essential and desirable indicators are observed. 2 Developing. Just a few of the best practice indicators are observed. 1 None of the good practice indicators are observed. 2.3 HOW TO ACCESS THE STAFF SURVEY The staff survey is available in these forms for free, apart from the consultant-managed analysis: 1 Fast online for single user. A quick form designed for one representative member of staff to check its institutional marketing. The online marketing tool has been combined with the existing quality assurance tool for EM provided by Ecorys. See 2 Online: For use by multiple staff to benchmark staff marketing across the university. You will be sent a link to the ready-prepared survey, and results for free. em-ace@uniroma1.it 3 PDF. This is available from the project website here: 4 User Guide and Marketing Strategy. You can find a copy in appendix 1, or download from the project website: 5 Consultant Managed Analysis. If you would like the surveys managed for you, and a detailed report of your findings, the project consultants will discuss your needs. emace@uniroma1.it 2.4 HOW TO USE THE FINDINGS Our recommendation is that you take the staff survey to benchmark your own institutional successes, and then you use it together with the strategy to refine your processes. We suggest you share the survey with a group of colleagues with management and marketing responsibilities for EM in both the centre, and in faculties and departments. Very similar questions will be put to students and alumni so that the three viewpoints can be compared. If you want to map your answers against the student responses, you need a few people to do this, as the mapping works on the basis of how many people score a certain indicator. The scoring for staff and EM students is on a 4 point scale, which makes the answers comparable. Alternatively, the survey can be taken by just one person who has a strategic role in managing their institution s EMJMD marketing or programmes, but this then makes mapping impossible (because we need a number of staff responses to compare with a number of student responses). We also recommend that you send the tool to your partner universities to see how they score. The survey will give you a score, but if you want to benchmark yourself against other universities, contact em-ace@uniroma1.it, for a short commentary on your performance. Staff scores can then be mapped against the student scores, which are explained in section 5, Marketing and Communications Benchmarking Tool. 11

12 3 All-Student Survey Our All-Student Survey (tool 3) allows you to measure the awareness of EM across your whole student community. Invite students at your university to take the survey, to evaluate awareness of EM, their perceptions of its value and reputation, and potential additionality to their careers. It is a good idea to do this before you make any changes to your marketing! 3.1 WHAT IS THE SURVEY? The survey comprises 12 questions designed to measure student awareness of EM (see appendix for the full survey). NB: Make sure the survey doesn t mention EM or EMJMD in your heading or any s inviting students to participate, as it s critical that students are completely unprejudiced before they take the questions. You can t measure awareness of brand awareness if you introduce the survey as being about EM! 3.2 HOW TO ACCESS THE SURVEY The All-Student Survey is available in these forms for free, apart from the consultant-managed analysis: 1. PDF. This is included on the EM-ACE website (). 2. Customised online. This online survey can be sent easily to your students, and we will send you the results. Please contact em-ace@uniroma1.it to discuss this option. 3. Print version. The survey is also printed in full in the appendix below, so you could easily reproduce it in your own desired survey tool. 4. An example anonymous survey report is included on the EM-ACE website to show you how the survey can be used to audit student awareness of EM. 5. Managed analysis. If you would like the survey managed for you, and a more detailed report of your findings, the project consultants will discuss your needs. For information, em-ace@uniroma1.it 3.3 HOW TO USE THE FINDINGS See the anonymous survey report (item 4 above) for ways of using the findings to analyse marketing effort. Compare your results from year to year, to see if you are raising awareness of EM, and combine this with analyse of student data trends (applications and conversions). 12

13 4 EM Student Survey 4.1 WHAT IS THE SURVEY? Our EM Student Survey (tool 4) allows you to gather feedback about EM marketing and the brand offer amongst EM applicants, enrolled EM students, or EM alumni i.e. it is designed for students who already know of EM and are probably doing it, about to do it, or have done it. The questions are very similar to the staff questions, allowing you to map responses and measure your marketing efforts (see chapter 5). 4.2 STUDENT SCORES Students are asked to score the same factors that staff scored, where possible. Whilst staff just tick whether the indicators of good marketing are applied, students are simply asked whether they are evident (agree, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat or disagree for each proposition). 4.3 HOW TO ACCESS THE SURVEY The EM student survey is available in these forms for free, apart from the consultant-managed analysis: 1. Online survey. Receive the ready-prepared survey, distribute it as a link to your students, and receive the results data for free. For this version, em-ace@uniroma1.it 2. PDF. This is available from the project website here: 3. Staff and Student Mapping Tool (Excel). In the appendix 2, you can see how staff indicators are mapped against the EM student indicators. You can also request a copy of a mapping excel tool, so that you can do your own mapping. This is available on the project website: 4. An example anonymous survey report is included on the EM-ACE website to show you how the survey can be used to audit student awareness of Erasmus+ EM. 5. Consultant-managed analysis. If you would like the surveys managed for you, and a more detailed report of your findings, the project consultants will discuss your needs. For information, em-ace@uniroma1.it 4.4 HOW TO USE THE FINDINGS Use the findings to measure the effectiveness of regular or one-off marketing efforts to hone your strategy and ensure marketing spend is useful. Compare student views of EM with staff efforts in marketing them. 13

14 5 Staff and Student Mapping Tool If your staff and your EM students have done the relevant surveys, you can map their scores (tool 5, Staff and Student Mapping Tool) against one another for some of the evidence points. The mapped evidence points for the EM students compared to staff are all shown in Appendix 2 so that you can see how the wording differs for each audience, and where occasionally it is not possible to map each indicator. You can download the mapping excel spreadsheet (tool 5) from our website. You will need to input the scores from your students and staff onto this. This will then give you a good overview of how staff and student scores relate, and where there are disconnects. 5.1 HOW WE CONVERTED STAFF QUESTIONS INTO STUDENT RELEVANT QUESTIONS For each staff evidence point, we tried to turn it into a relevant student question. It is not possible to map the evidence points where students would not have any idea about what staff do - e.g. For evidence point 1.5 The strategy is properly resourced, with a clear budget allocated to support its objectives and ensure they are met. Staff will have a view of this, but not students. Sometimes the question is the same, but often it required changing a little, as students don t share the same concerns or perspectives as staff. So for indicator 2.6, for example: Staff are asked: Effort is made to encourage 20% of internal students to study abroad in accordance with the Bologna goals. Whereas EM Students are asked: Many of my student friends are being encouraged by our university to do study abroad (whether for Erasmus Mundus or other shorter exchange schemes). Responses can then be mapped to see whether staff commitment to Bologna s goal to recruit students internally for study abroad is observed by students, who probably don t know about Bologna, but will know whether their friends are thinking of study abroad. 14

15 5.2 CONVERTING THE ANSWERS INTO MAPPED SCORES Whilst staff score the 13 indicators on a 1-4 scale in the self-scoring staff survey, a mapping exercise can also be done, using the same data entries to compare staff marketing practice with student awareness of such marketing practice. This uses Excel worksheets in the EM- ACE Market Benchmarking Tool (tool 5). The mapping looks at the volume of staff scoring the presence or absence of the 71 evidence points underpinning the indicators, allowing comparison with student agreement scores. A member of staff, such as a market researcher, will need to input into an Excel worksheet (prepared in the Market Benchmarking Tool 5), staff observation scores from the staff survey and EM student survey agreement scores. All the formulas are included in the tool 5 to make this easy for you. So how does this mapping work? Student agreement scores look at the average agreement level, where disagree = 1; 2= somewhat disagree; 3= somewhat agree and agree = 4 (those who said unsure were coded as 0 and excluded from the calculation). The percentage of students agreeing with the evidence point is compared with the percentage of staff observing the evidence point. In this way, the two points of view (ie perceptions of EM marketing) can be compared. This is explained in the table below: Staff observations score (absent/present) Key colour descriptor Student agreement score on 1-4 scale (disagree (1) - agree(4)) If all staff say the evidence point is present, the score is outstanding. Outstanding If the average student rating is greater than or equal to 3.5, the score is outstanding. If between 50-90% of staff score the evidence point as present, the score is good. Good If the average student rating is between 2.5 and 3.4, the score is good. If between 1-50% of staff score the evidence point as present, the score is developing. Developing If the average student rating is between 1.5 and 2.4, the score is developing If zero staff score the evidence point as present, the score is absent. Absent If the average student rating is between 0 and 1.4, the score is absent 15

16 To take a specific evidence point, eg, Effort is made to encourage 20% of internal students to study abroad in accordance with the Bologna goals. If all staff tick this as being true, then the score is excellent. If the majority of students also tick the student friendly indicator ( Many of my student friends are considering study abroad (whether for EM or other international study schemes). as being evident, then this would also be scored, excellent. If the colours in the two columns match, there is agreement; if there is a great discrepancy there is a different perception between staff and students. Red scores are the lowest band (poor) - it means that staff did not observe the good practice, and students disagreed that it was in place. Yellow scores are next to lowest (developing) - it means that less than half the staff observed the good practice, and students disagreed somewhat that it was in place. Blue is next to the best score (good) it means that half or more of staff observed the good practice, and students agreed somewhat that it was in place. Green is the best score (very good) it means all staff observed the good practice, and students agreed that it was in place. 5.3 ANALYSING THE MAPPED RESULTS It is easiest to explain this by looking at a mapped real example. Here are a few of the real results of a university that audited its staff and EM students in our pilot phase. For 13.2 we can see that staff think they do not promote internships for EM students (they score this red), and EM students think there is little evidence for them being promoted (they score this yellow). In 9.2 Staff have a more critical view (red) of EMJMD web pages than students (blue). In 1.1 both staff and students agreed that there is some co-ordinated activity of EM (blue). In 5.2 and 9.1 staff score their efforts highly (green) on management and search engine capability for EM students agree this is pretty good, but opt for the second level score of blue rather than the top score of green. Tool six provides a sample report to show how the surveys and mapping can be written up to improve marketing (download from ). Staff results 13.2 Special internships for EM students are promoted to connect them with global employers. 9.2 EMJMD web pages on the university site are linked from relevant postgraduate taught degrees/masters pages 1.1 There is an institutional international marketing strategy that establishes the targets and plan for EMJMD across the whole HEI, as well as other study abroad programmes and international student recruitment. Staff have contributed to this, and can access the strategy. EM student results 13.2 Special internships for EM students are advertised at this university to work with companies who recruit students with international experience. 9.2 EMJMD web pages on the university site are linked from relevant postgraduate taught degrees/masters pages 1.1 My university/college values EM as a scheme and makes a coordinated effort to market it effectively to students in the institution. 16

17 5.2 There is a director/staff member of outbound and inbound EM students available to all potential applicants to answer queries and to support them at institutional level (or faculty level if only one faculty is involved). 9.1 You can find EM by putting it in a search engine on the home page. 5.2 There is a university-wide staff member who supports all EM applicants, and can answer their queries 9.1 You can find EM by putting it in a search engine on the institution s home page. 5.4 HOW TO ACCESS THE MAPPING TOOLS The Staff and Student Mapping Tools are available in these forms for free, apart from the consultant-managed analysis: 1. PDF (tool 1) or Excel (tool 5). You can find a copy of how the indicators map against one another in the User Guide appendix 2. You can also request a copy of a mapping excel tool, which contains instructions and all the necessary formulas. The dummy version is useful to see how it works, and the blank version is useful for inputting your own data. This is available on the project website: 2. An example anonymous survey report (tool 6) is included on the EM-ACE website to show you how the mapping works. 3. Institutional benchmarking. Send your scores to EM-ACE to compare your results with other organizations. Once you have undertaken the three surveys above you can share your results with EM-ACE, and we can tell you how you scored against other universities. Please contact em-ace@uniroma1.it for benchmarking support 5. Consultant-managed analysis. If you would like the surveys managed for you, and a more detailed report of your findings, the project consultants will discuss your needs. For information, em-ace@uniroma1.it 17

18 6 International Marketing Strategy for Universities Once you have benchmarked your performance, you can use the tips and advice for creating your own strategy (or improving an existing one), with further reading and templates for monitoring student numbers and marketing successes. This should help you determine resources and activities for the following year. This strategy explores the following areas: 1. Management 2. Targets 3. Key messages 4. Timing and applications 5. Brand and reputation 6. Marketing processes 7. Marketing materials 8. Benchmarking The actual marketing benchmarking tool then makes very specific suggestions which are also invaluable reading for being clear on what constitutes good marketing for EM. MANAGEMENT 1. Designated marketing staff. Be clear who is in charge of marketing EM at your institution. Ensure professional staff have been trained in marketing and international recruitment. Students should be able to identify staff who are in charge of the processes for EM and can help them discuss how to apply. 2. Budgets need to be appropriate to support marketing endeavours and proportionate to the number of EMJMD at your university and the volume of EM students at your university. The EC does not earmark any specific marketing budget but it expects universities to use some of the funds specified for EMJMD administration for marketing. Many universities will also regard it as essential to have dedicated institutional international marketing staff if they expect to attract the highest quality international students (it is impossible to specify a budget for marketing as each university will be involved in a different number of joint programmes, and engaging in different levels of international marketing, and international masters.) As staff become more expert at what does and does not work for EM recruitment and reputation management, marketing budgets can be refined based on need (what is called zero budgeting ). 3. Academic staff are some of the best brand champions for EM programmes. Ensure that academics know about the scheme, whether or not their own department is participating. Be clear about the key EM message and ensure your academics encourage home students to apply. 18

19 TARGETS 1. Decide who to target: The EC is clear that the target students for EM are bright students from around the world. Students who are likely to be interested are ones who want to travel, and who are considering a master s degree. However, many students will need encouraging doing both, and therefore all students should be regarded as potential targets. It is realistic, however, that you will align your marketing with your institutional marketing strategy, which may then focus on particular partners or geographies. 2. Why bother with targeting European students? Since European businesses and universities are concerned that for Europe to stay competitive, students should be familiar with other cultures and languages, there is a responsibility on the part of all universities to encourage their students to apply for study abroad schemes. This means that own students should be encouraged as well as those students external to your university. 3. Increasing numbers and higher quality. The EC would like to increase high quality EU and non-eu students applying to EM. Universities should determine what scholarships are available to them and seek to attract at least five times as many applicants for each scholarship to ensure a high level of entry. 4. EU to Non-EU ratio: The EC would like to see more high quality EU students apply and in far larger numbers. This requires active marketing to EU students, both within and external to your university. According to the EC, an ideal ratio of Non-EU to EU students in EMJMD is 3:1, which would reflect the population of Non-EU to EU countries. Universities should therefore be putting in efforts to attract three times as many non-eu to EU students, and to be accepting a similar ratio. 5. Geographical targets: Universities should seek to attract students who will contribute to the international character of their institutions but clearly there may also be preferred regional partners according to a wider institutional strategy. KEY MESSAGES 1. Suggested key messages and benefits for EM are set out below and should be communicated to potential students, and to staff: General messages about EMJMD * EMJMD are sponsored by the EC. * EMJMD provide EU scholarships for the best students from around the world to cover all of the costs of study (participation fees, travel and a monthly allowance). * EMJMD are prestigious international programmes at excellent universities in Europe and around the world. * EMJMD allows students to experience different cultures, learn, and improve languages which will demonstrate to employers that they can operate in an international market place. 19

20 * There are currently 120 EMJMD of outstanding academic quality in diverse fields. * As part of the EMJMD, students will take courses at two or more European universities/countries and sometimes at non-european universities. EMJMD last between 1 and 2 years ( ECTS). * EMJMD result in the award of a prestigious double, multiple or joint degree from the participating universities. The degrees awarded comply with European and international recognition standards and are officially recognized in the countries where the degreeawarding institutions are located. 2. Messages should be communicated to employers to enhance the prestige of the scheme, as well as the media. The career enhancement of the scheme should be explained through employer talks and alumni referrals. TIMING AND APPLICATIONS: 1. Students consider applying for master s programmes in years 2, 3 and 4 (where applicable) of an undergraduate degree, as well as after graduation. This means that universities should be marketing to their own students within all these years, not just the final year of their undergraduate degree. 2. If funds are limited, the best year to promote EM is the third year when students are most actively considering taught master s options. 3. Erasmus students are some of the most likely to convert to EM. Ensure there is a clear progression of marketing materials to these students. BRAND AND REPUTATION 1. In 2014 the EC introduced the umbrella brand Erasmus+ across all its study abroad programmes for the next funding phase running from It would therefore seem prudent to promote all EMJMD under both the EM and the Erasmus+ brand. For search engine optimization, it would be sensible to have both terms embedded in copy. We suggest, until the EC creates a new programme brand for EMJMD, you continue to use the Erasmus Mundus logo, making it clear that this is part of Erasmus+. The logo is as follows and can be found here: _erasmusmu.jpg 2. Universities and other marketers should adopt the EC approved consistent house style for Erasmus+. The new EC brand guidelines recommend the use of a simple logo 20

21 with the EC flag, and a graphic element that can be placed on templates. 3. Brand guidelines for Erasmus+ are available at: _en.pdf 4. Scholarships are an enormously important motivator for students applying for EMJMD and must be salient in any marketing outputs. 5. EM alumni are agreed that the unique selling point of the scheme is the association with the EC, thus this should be kept prominent in any marketing. MARKETING PROCESSES 1. We know that students use the internet as the main vehicle for finding out about EM. Universities and other agencies should ensure that courses are described well and enticingly on the internet. 2. Students are heavily influenced by academics. Ensure that academics responsible for EM set time aside to properly explain them. Other academics who are not involved in EM should, nonetheless, be able to understand and explain the programme s objectives and the opportunities it offers. 3. Students take notice of students who have been on EM. Ensure that EM alumni are available to discuss the advantages of EM several times through the year, and all the time as mentors. 4. Ensure that you make full use of social media to recommend EM (Facebook, Twitter etc.) and that they are appropriate to the audience 5. Ensure your university has a clearly identified area of the website dedicated to EMJMD and ensure that there are click-throughs from all other relevant pages to these areas of the website. 6. Ensure that you hold an open day for EM at least once a year. This should include academic supporters as well current EM students, and it would be sensible to invite alumni who have been on EMJMD as speakers. 7. Ensure that you work with your local national structure and/or national promotion agency; they should help you with Erasmus+ and EM materials, and also promote the scheme to external students. MARKETING MATERIALS The following marketing sources will help you market EM: 2014 brand guidelines for Erasmus+ 21