Study in Sweden: advancing international recruitment

Study in Sweden is an initiative run by the Swedish Institute aimed at encouraging students from outside the EU to study in Sweden.

In late 2016 we were commissioned to carry out audience research for the Study in Sweden (SIS) team to help them understand more about the type of student who might choose to move to another country for university – and, in turn, what might make them consider Sweden.

Our work involved online surveys, focus groups on location at Swedish universities, and in-depth telephone interviews with prospective students from around the world. We worked with the SIS team on all aspects of the research, which allowed us to make sure we covered all the topics that the team felt were important to potential applicants considering Sweden.

One of the key things Study in Sweden were interested in was the international perception of Sweden as a country – what did prospective students know about the country? What might attract them? Where did it “rank” in people’s minds?

These different research strands were brought together in a findings report, which Study in Sweden shared with many Swedish universities. The findings also helped us to create a series of personas for the Study in Sweden team to consider when creating content for different audiences and target markets.

As part of the project we also provided advice to the Study in Sweden team on how to use personas in different ways, from sourcing people to write blog posts to prioritising different themes for content.

The personas we created are now being used to inform the redesign of the student blogs run by Study in Sweden.

Image used under CC license courtesy of Christopher Neugebauer via Flickr.