Pressure Selling and Scholarships – a call for ethical practice

22.07.24

Times are tough right now for UK HE recruitment – but that doesn't permit or excuse bad behaviour.

With marketing budgets under pressure, long-neglected Financial Awards (Scholarships, Bursaries, et al), are being reshaped to help secure recruitment goals. So far so good. At S Squared we’ve long argued that more could be achieved in this area. The objective, though, should be to improve the outcome and output for recipients and providers alike; to find the win-win.

While undertaking Financial Awards Audits, we read more T&Cs for Financial Awards than is probably healthy for us. It’s here that we’ve uncovered a concerning trend. Clauses along the line of, “you must make us your firm choice on your UCAS form”, or “you must have selected us as your firm choice by (insert date)” are becoming increasingly common. To be clear, Universities are making it a condition of being considered for a reduction in fees or a direct payment, that prospective students make them their firm choice. We have examples from Russell Group, Post-92 and Pre-92 institutions.

The CMA and OfS don’t specifically address scholarships. What is made abundantly clear though is the expectation and requirement that Universities acknowledge the disproportionate power they wield relative to prospective students. It requires explicit care to be taken in how Universities communicate with students and inform their decision making. This includes not engaging in pressure selling techniques.

Designing and delivering financial awards should be one of the best jobs in HE. It absolutely can benefit recipients and providers. They can help you achieve your recruitment KPIs and targets, but it must be without straying into unethical practice.

So please, look at your T&Cs and make sure you haven’t crossed a line. If you have, then do the right thing and make the change.

If you have examples of questionable T&Cs included in Financial Awards or if you have a different perspective on this subject, please get in touch.

Dr Julian Westwood

Director (Strategy) at S Squared Insights