Vocational Education and TAFE Branding Strategy

3 key challenges for Vocational Education providers and how branding can help

Education institutes like yours have had 12 months to navigate to the ‘new normal’ and ensure they continue to provide excellent levels of education to their students.

3 key challenges for Vocational Education, TAFE Brands

From increased digitalisation to a rising demand for skills-based qualifications, here are some key issues facing higher education leaders this year and how your brand can help you overcome them.

#1. The digital revolution

The forerunner to ‘distance’ education in Australia (and what is today TAFE Digital) has its beginnings in response to another emergency, the typhoid epidemic of 1910. At that time, Sydney Technical College was contracted to convert old railway cars into classrooms that could be transported around NSW to deliver training to remote railway workers who were unable to travel to Sydney because of the epidemic*.

Similarly, Vocational Education and Training providers had to switch to online teaching and learning in early 2020. EdTech got the starring role that digital education specialists and CIOs had been predicting for a long time. The challenge came when IT departments had to deliver a four-year digital strategy plan in six weeks.

Now the dust has settled, what happens? Well, online learning is here to stay, but there are a few points to be considered by higher education leaders in the digitalisation of their institutes:

What teaching will now be online and what should remain face-to-face?
Which parts of the institute have legacy systems and now need to catch up?
What tools are here to stay and which ones didn’t cut the mustard? What is the EdTech equivalent of Kahoot?
Does the existing brand message and story align with the new ways we are delivering education? Is it meeting the change in demand from prospective students?

#2. Increased demand for accredited skills

Jobs losses due to the pandemic have surged the need for job seekers to up-skill and re-skill in a relatively short amount of time.

Since COVID, existing industries have also shifted the way they operate, forcing employers and their staff to up-skill, re-skill and adapt to overcome unexpected challenges.

As a result, short courses, certificates and industry recognised accreditations are in high demand—especially those available online.

TAFE and RTO institutes’ current advantage may be found in their unique ability to provide a vast array of options and solutions in a quick, affordable and often more accessible route than traditional Universities.

Taking advantage of a rise in demand

Now is the time for the sector to market and reposition itself as a valuable alternative to Universities and break the long-standing stigma as the ‘Poor cousin to University‘

Having the right brand and marketing plan will be the tools Higher Education leaders need to position themselves to take full advantage of the emerging demand in accredited skills-based courses.

#3. More choice for students. More competition between providers.

The pandemic has forced the hand of many institutes to offer entire course curriculums online, which is an attractive option for many prospective students.

In many cases, this has resulted in increased interest and growth in the sector. For example, participation rates at TAFE Digital doubled in the first full year of online learning.

This transition to increased online access to accredited courses has given prospective students more choice than ever before.

Where you study is no longer defined by where you live, and today’s students have almost endless options available to them both locally, interstate and even internationally.

Students have the power of choice

Students are now choosing where they study based on whole different criteria, and competition in the HE sector is heating up.

Has the transition to offering more courses online finally levelled the competitive playing field between second and third-tier higher education and training institutes?

To ensure continued success, it is now critical for institutes to adjust their brand messaging and value propositions to meet the new needs of prospective students.

Students are now choosing where they study based on whole different criteria. Is it now time to align your TAFE branding and messaging to meet the new needs of prospective students.

We can help

How Alto helps Vocational Education providers

Alto has over 15 years of experience helping organisations and institutes in the education and knowledge sector transform their branding. Amongst others, we have helped TAFE and RTOs in:

Student Recruitment Campaigns

Position yourself as the best option for prospects

Brand Differentiation

Stand out in a hyper-competitive marketplace

Brand Awareness Campaigns

Build more recognion around your brand offering

Market Positioning

Own a unique place in the competitive landscape

Good friends of Alto

“This is the campaign that the industry has been talking about creating for years”

Karen Hook – Former Chief Marketing Officer / William Angliss Institute

Find out more

We’d love to help!

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Creative Branding, Marketing and Communications for TAFE and Vocational Education institutes

Creative Marketing Campaigns

Reach more students. Build brand awareness.

There’s no lack of choice when it comes to study options and pathways. Want to position your VET and TAFE courses as the best option for prospective students? Or is your aim to build more branding awareness in the hyper-competitive Vocational and Higher Education landscape? Alto has the expertise to create campaigns that have real impact.

Positioning and Differentiation

Stand out or stand aside.

Where you study is no longer defined by where you live. Meaning today’s students have almost endless options available to them both locally and internationally. What’s this mean for your TAFE’s branding? It has to connect and resonate to prospective students like never before. Alto’s team of brand strategists can help you develop your brand, its story and unique place in the market.