SMU enrolment slump prompts new recruiting effort

While some universities are bringing in more students this year, Saint Mary’s University isn’t, so it’s trying out some new strategies.

(Chart: Ruth Mestechkin)

Saint Mary’s University (SMU) isn’t pulling in as many students this year as other Halifax universities.

The number of full-time students who registered at SMU last year has dropped by 3.8 per cent from last year’s figures, according to the Association of Atlantic Universities report released Oct. 14. The year before, in 2007-2008, enrolment numbers fell by 2.6 per cent. And the year before that they plummeted by 6.1 per cent. The most recent hike in enrolment was in 2005-2006, when numbers for full-time enrolled students jumped by 11 per cent, partly due to the effects of the rush of students from Ontario’s 2002 double cohort year.

The university’s associate vice president and registrar Paul Dixon says he still doesn’t know all the reasons for the dip in numbers, but he does know some of it has to do with recruitment.

Dixon says the university is trying some new recruitment strategies to attract more students. SMU used to have one open house for new students, but for the past few years its been holding more to accommodate students from smaller communities.

“They found Halifax big, and to have a big open house event they found scary,” says Dixon.

SMU has also tweaked its campaign by bringing SMU events to smaller communities, so if students are from Yarmouth, they don’t have to trek all the way to Halifax. As well, it’s also advertising more in local media, such as publishing ads in the Bridgewater Bulletin, says Dixon.

He also explains the university has overhauled the way it communicates with prospective students.

“You’re trying to talk to your audience, not talk at it,” says Dixon. “With some of our campaigns we’ve run before, we weren’t engaging them in the conversation.”

Recruiters are now also tailoring presentations to demographics.

“In our presentation in Ontario, we have to sell Halifax a lot, explaining why Halifax is a great place to come to,” he says. “A lot of people in Ontario, they see Halifax as, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve seen those pictures of Peggy’s Cove.’”

Dixon says he’s starting to see some growth in numbers already. At last year’s first mid-October open house of the year, he says roughly 70 to 80 students checked out SMU’s digs. This year the number has doubled at around 150 to 170.

The slump in numbers this year is also thanks to the way SMU sold itself in areas in rural Nova Scotia, says Dixon.

“Nova Scotia is our core market, so if we don’t do well in a particular school in Nova Scotia, we feel it,” says Dixon. “I think a number of the other schools, because they draw very well from Ontario in particular, their numbers are better.”

SMU can’t claim a large draw from other regions — less than 10 per cent of its students are from Ontario and Western Canada.

Dixon explains advertising in the Ontario area is several times more expensive than in the Atlantic provinces.

“Last year, we tried advertising up there and just found it was really, really expensive and it’s hard to get noticed,” he says. “So we’re probably not going to pursue that this year.”

SMU’s total operating budget for 2008-09 is $97.1 million, according to Larry Corrigan, vice president (finance), who provided information through e-mail. Of this sum, he says the university allocates $638,000 for general student recruiting.

Dalhousie, which advertises heavily in Ontario and whose numbers are on the rise this year, channels $900,000 of its budget toward marketing and recruitment activities, according to Dalhousie spokesperson Charles Crosby.

Brand name recognition could be one reason why SMU’s enrolments have been on the decline, says Dixon. When universities show off their credentials at high schools and give presentations, it’s often the ones with the brand name power that pull in the crowds.

“The tables for Dalhousie, X (Saint Francis-Xavier), Mount A (Allison) and Acadia tended to draw much better than other schools because they’ve got the name recognition that is far better than if you had a table with Memorial or UNB (University of New Brunswick) or ourselves,” he says. “Our brand is just not as strong as theirs.”

Brand recognition was what pushed Krista Zeidan to try and transfer from SMU to Dalhousie. The third-year biology student initially didn’t make the cut for Dalhousie’s pharmacy program when she applied and opted for SMU instead, planning to transfer the following year. After completing her year at SMU, she landed an acceptance at Dal but didn’t end up making the switch due to program regulations, which would have forced her to re-take some of her first-year courses.

But she still says she would have made the swap to Dalhousie if she could.

“I was so excited to go to Dal basically because of the name,” she says. “I knew it was going to be harder because it was a better school and it was going to be a lot more challenging.”

Zeidan says she’s upset she doesn’t have the Dalhousie name to graduate with.

“My family and friends don’t even know what (SMU) is,” she says.

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