University of Alberta Faculty of Extension

The mission of the Faculty of Extension is to extend university study and continuing professional development opportunities to lifelong learners in local, regional, national and international markets. It promotes and facilitates high-quality and accessible continuous education through conventional and technologically mediated programs to part-time adult learners.

The Faculty is committed to supporting a climate for innovation and collaboration as it strives to maintain its status as the leader in continuing studies among Edmonton’s higher education providers.

The Challenge – Research and Evaluate Both Demand and Supply Side
In advance of their planned move to downtown Edmonton, the Faculty of Extension needed to gather  feedback and insight from prospective learners (demand side) as well as the state of the education market (supply side) in the downtown core. The challenge was to gather and analyze data and deliver meaningful insight as follows:

• Profile prospective continuing education students for downtown Edmonton and identification of primary perceived learner needs
• Assess of the size of the size and potential growth/decline of the primary city centre continuing education market segments
• Identify the competition – strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats
• Identify potential programming partners and areas for programming collaboration by function or subject matter
• Determine Extension’s competitive advantages, positioning and major selling points
• Identify the most effective channels for reaching and targeting selected market segments
• Determine channels of establishing effective partnerships

An Integrated Research Solution
Working closely with the Faculty of Extension’s Marketing Department, we designed and executed a three-step research project that included the following methods of collecting data:

Research Online – a 51 question survey targeted to students with incentive and supporting media campaign to drive response
Focus Group – comprising 21 Executives from downtown Edmonton educational institutions
Telephone Interviews – of Executives from downtown Edmonton educational institutions

Results and Key Findings
A response rate was achieved that exceeded expectations. Deliverables on the demand side included a rich dataset from the online survey (356 student responses across 51 questions) for ongoing use by the Faculty of Extension. On the supply side, feedback was gathered from 35+ Executives from Edmonton-area Educational Institutions via both the Focus Group and telephone interviews. Key findings included:

Demand Side – Students:
Profiles, Preferences, Demographics, Usage and Attitudes

• Detailed prospective student profiles
• Students’ primary learning objectives and needs (areas of study, level of study, accreditation sought)
• Employment sectors of prospective students
• Geographic segmentation of potential students
• Profession/employer based segmentation of prospective students
• Marketing/promotion channels and recommended segment specific strategies primary satisfaction issues
• Awareness around the move to downtown Edmonton as well as specific Extension programming
• Impact of the move downtown on demand
• Reasons for choosing a particular provider and continuing education course and delivery preferences
• Industry and employer impact on continuing education choices and preferences
  

Supply Side
Profile of Continuing Education Providers in Downtown Edmonton

• Student profiles – age, gender, level of education, home/work location, occupation
• Willingness to collaborate with other industry partners including U of A’s downtown campus, collaboration opportunities, specific areas for collaboration
• Key competitive advantages in the market for continuing studies
• Primary student recruitment (promotional) channels – print/electronic advertising, fairs, events, HR/employer community, web, publicity, direct response, etc.
• Size of continuing education market (number of students served) and subject areas of demand growth/decline
• Suppliers’ strongest programming areas for part-time adult learners in downtown Edmonton and primary areas of specialization
  

When data collection was complete, a detailed report covering all the above key (and supporting) findings was prepared together with a Powerpoint presentation which was given to 21 Faculty of Extension Staff and Management personnel.

Going Forward
The research findings and recommendations will enable the Faculty of Extension develop more effective, learner-driven programming, target and attract learners more efficiently, and more effectively position the Faculty as it prepares to move to downtown Edmonton.

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