3 key trends in tertiary education to maximise your roi

Australian universities collectively enrol over 1.5 million students, with international students making up a significant portion. However, the sector faces mounting challenges, including increasing competition from policy reforms such as the Universities Accord and alternative education pathways, a decline in trust around teaching quality, and economic pressures discouraging students from pursuing traditional degrees. To stay competitive, universities need to rethink their approach to student acquisition, engagement, and retention.

At ADMATIC, we bring 11 years of tertiary education experience working with Australia’s leading universities, leading media for the University of Sydney (2014-2015), UNSW International (2016-2020), UTAS (2017-2020), and UOW (2020-2025). We understand that the sector is now more competitive than ever.

With students increasingly exploring non-traditional education pathways, universities must navigate emerging trends, changing consumer behaviour, and the latest technologies to execute successful marketing campaigns. University marketing teams also face increasing challenges in trying to understand the plethora of marketing data, multi-channel strategies, and precise targeting.

In this article, we explore three key trends universities need to prioritise to remain competitive and drive student enrolments.

The digital decision-making process for students in 2025 is more complex than ever.

Google’s “messy middle” concept highlights the non-linear nature of student decision-making—where students continuously loop between exploration and evaluation before making a final choice. Prospective students don’t simply search for a university and apply; instead, they engage with multiple touch points, from social media interactions and peer recommendations to university ranking sites and campus tour videos.

For instance, a prospective engineering student might start by searching for “best universities for engineering in Australia.” Over the next few weeks, they may watch student vlogs on YouTube, follow university accounts on TikTok, check rankings on various sites, and browse discussions on Reddit. Only after this extensive research will they narrow down their choices and apply.

Relying mainly on Google and Meta ads means missing key moments in the student journey. Modern students engage across a wide range of platforms, including TikTok, LinkedIn, digital TV networks, and student forums. Universities must map out the full student journey to ensure they are present at every crucial touchpoint. This approach reduces wasted marketing spend and ensures institutions connect with students when they are ready to make a decision.

As of 2025, nearly half of all digital engagement occurs outside of Google and Meta ecosystems. While these platforms remain key players, 48% of student interactions happen across alternative platforms such as TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat, digital TV networks, and Spotify.

Over-relying on Google and Meta limits reach and overlooks key opportunities. Many universities focus their digital marketing budgets on these platforms without considering how their audience is distributed across emerging channels. While search engines are critical during the evaluation phase, a broader multi-platform strategy is required to attract prospective students earlier in the journey.

ADMATIC advocates for a bottom-up funnel approach, determining optimal investment in conversion channels while allocating budget to capture audiences beyond Google and Meta through our proprietary solution, ADIndex. ADIndex analyses diminishing returns for each channel using hundreds of data points, enabling universities to pinpoint exactly where additional spend generates real impact—and where it’s wasted. This ensures no more over-reliance on Google and Meta at the expense of high-performing emerging platforms like TikTok and digital TV networks.

While Google and Meta effectively target mature student demographics, younger students engage more with TikTok, Instagram, and streaming platforms. Meanwhile, LinkedIn plays a pivotal role in postgraduate recruitment. Recognising the diminishing returns from a single-channel approach and expanding into diverse platforms is essential for universities seeking sustained growth.

In an increasingly restrictive digital landscape, precision targeting is more important than ever. With the decline of third-party cookies and enhanced data privacy regulations, universities must develop smarter strategies to identify and reach their target audience.

Platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, and LinkedIn provide unique targeting capabilities beyond what Google and Meta offer. TikTok enables universities to segment audiences by age groups, interests, and engagement behaviour, while LinkedIn offers advanced professional and industry-based targeting for postgraduate courses.

First-party data is now a cornerstone of effective multi-channel strategies. Universities that leverage predictive modelling and lookalike audiences based on CRM data can significantly enhance their targeting accuracy. Furthermore, emerging solutions based on ID-based identification (rather than cookies) are set to redefine audience segmentation.

Most universities still structure campaigns around rigid stages like Open Eay, early Admissions, or final intakes. While this approach makes sense, it risks missing out on students who engage outside these fixed windows. To maximise impact, universities must shift from a campaign-by-campaign mindset to an always-on approach, ensuring continuous engagement throughout the student decision-making process. This requires thoughtful audience segmentation, minimising campaign overlap, and maintaining a consistent presence when prospective students are ready to evaluate their next steps.