How the ‘Parents as influencers during Covid-19’ report will help you:
- Update your knowledge and understanding of how parents influence young people’s university decision-making and what information drives their thinking
- Assist your marketing, recruitment and outreach teams to approach engagement of parents in a smarter and more effective way using independently generated national insight which is available to them right now
- Attract students to your institution by using this insight to inform your strategies for this and future academic years
We ran this project originally in 2018, so you may also be interested in the details about that original project.
More about the parents as influencers project
This research project was based on an online quantitative survey with 601 parents of 16–18-year-olds from the UK, who were considering applying/had applied to university in 2021/22 or 2022/23 and an online qualitative community of 35 parents of young people aged 16 to 18 in the UK. The report was completed in June 2o21.
The full report explores parental influence on their children’s decision-making around higher education and includes a review of the existing literature, an executive summary and practical recommendations.
Report contents include:
- What role are parents playing in decision making journeys during the pandemic? How do they view this role? When and where are
they most/ least influential? Has this changed during the pandemic - Explore how parents formulate their opinions. Where are they seeking their information? Have these behaviours changed during
the pandemic? - Assess parents’ perceptions of the current information and support offered to them and their children by schools/colleges/universities. How does this affects their actions and thinking?
- Understand parents’ priorities when helping their child make decisions about university during COVID 19. Do these views reflect/differ from those of their children? How have these priorities changed due to COVID 19?
- What specific concerns/ worries do parents have about the university offer/experience as a result of COVID 19 and what reassurances are they seeking?
Project partners
This project was developed in partnership with a number of clients who helped to shape the research design through our collaborative University Futures model. With thanks to:
- Greater Manchester Higher
- London Southbank University
- Manchester Metropolitan University
- Next Steps South West
- Nottingham Trent University
- Royal Northern College of Music
- University of Bedfordshire
- University of Bolton
- University of Bristol
- University of Kent
- University of Liverpool
- University of Manchester
- University of Portsmouth
- University of Salford
- University of Sheffield
- University of Southampton
- University of Suffolk
- University of Surrey
- University of Warwick