We have a long history of working with clients involved in the education sector. From universities to examination boards / awarding bodies, to Further Education colleges, to professional membership bodies, to those supplying the industry with resources. It has long remained an area that we are genuinely interested in, so when ampersand research was approached by a client involved in the Higher Education sector to carry out research to inform and develop their 5-year strategy we were over the moon!
Our client’s objective was to:
get to the heart of what their future students’ needs and requirements were of the university experience.
The 4 key areas to research were:
Learning & the role of digital
Spare time & potential enrichment opportunities
Fears and worries & how they could be alleviated
Advice and support & how best to access these
The research framework included focus groups with Future Students aged 15 – 18, depth interviews with alumni and teaching professionals, online interviews, extensive homework tasks as well as follow up interviews. Not only did we conduct the research in the UK but also in India, China, Malaysia and Germany. ampersand research went international!
This was not a project for the faint hearted and was a test not only of our research skills but of our project management and organisation. Our precision planning and experience paid off and the research provided our client with the insight required to inform and develop their strategy. We presented not only to the internal team but also to the board of trustees and the research continues to be used at conferences and events.
To quote their feedback…
"It's always so easy to work with Sarah & Mark. They are always willing to accommodate ideas and changes to project needs, and always explain the value of choosing a particular research approach. Their expertise is highly valued which makes my role so much easier. Sarah & Mark are highly versatile, adapting their support and terminology to meet the needs of their audience."
If you are interested in finding out more, whilst we can’t share the findings of this particular study, ampersand research does have a considerable library of proprietary research in the education sector, including studies about prospective students’ decision-making process of going to university, that we would love to share with you.
For further details please feel free to drop us an email: enquiries@ampersandresearch.com , or give us a call on 0115 993 2343
ampersand research: always & in all ways researching.