ROYAL TOWN PLANNING INSTITUTE
21 ideas to improve student recruitment
Here are 21 ideas that may improve student recruitment, most of which were reported at
2014 RTPI Partnership Boards as actions that Planning Schools with RTPI-accredited
courses are currently taking to improve student recruitment:
Marketing and media
 Improved visibility in the university prospectus
 Use of social media
 Direct mail to employers in the region (particularly to attract practitioners to
postgraduate courses)
 Appoint an in-house marketing officer (one PS has a Marketing Publicity &
Recruitment officer who has developed a marketing strategy and action plan and
enhanced the department’s website, social media, communications and impact)
 Develop a Planning-specific DVD for events and internet use, or use the RTPI Future
Planners film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWlzLeoA-9w&feature=youtu.be
 Clear advertising in prospectuses and websites and elsewhere that a programme is
RTPI-accredited, along with reference to the benefits to students of RTPI
membership (free for all students from 1 September 2014) and involvement, and the
benefit to graduates in their career of an accredited degree
 Pop-up adverts on websites with information about universities and courses
 Make appropriate Planning School information available on the university website for
potential students to see – including External Examiner reports (at least one School
does this)
Outreach
 The continuation of the RTPI Ambassadors / Future Planners Centenary project, in
which planners talk to school students in the UK and Republic of Ireland aged 11-18
to raise awareness of the built environment and planning, and draw attention to
RTPI-accredited Planning courses at universities
 Have planning-based ‘learning event’ open days with resource packs, for potential
students with an A-level geography background, with school teachers involved
 Improve the physical environment of the Planning School – this has recently included
improvements from redecoration to new buildings, which can make the difference in
a potential student’s decision about where to study
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Teaching and research
 Course title change (perception among some students that ‘town and country’
planning sounds old-fashioned and unattractive as a degree title)
 Course redesign
 Opening up innovative routes through existing programmes, including for
practitioners to take as professional updating
 Developing closer links with cognate subjects: some joint courses, eg architecture
and planning, are seeing strong growth
 Develop existing modules as CPD units for local or regional practitioners
 Raise the profile of the Planning School and its Planning provision locally, regionally,
nationally and internationally, by: holding public events such as lectures and
seminars and advertising these widely to local and regional practitioners; providing
short intensive training courses of one or two weeks for planners from other
countries; exchanges with students on planning courses overseas; holding
international conferences eg RTPI Planning Research Conference
 Develop a strong international research profile, where possible – this can play a key
part in raising the status of the Planning School and attracting students
 Incorporating work placements into programmes (normally at undergraduate level,
when placements can be up to one year in duration) and advertising these to
potential students can be a strong selling point (although some overseas students
may not be able to participate in work placements because of visa restrictions)
 Having a foundation course for potential students whose initial A-level grades were
not acceptable; the course could then be a feeder into an undergraduate Planning
course
 Strengthen the input of practitioners into programme provision – and highlight this to
potential students
RTPI Education Careers and Lifelong Learning Team
June 2014
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