Surf's up!

What would you do if you were a student evaluating the best options for education anywhere in the world or even just across the UAE? No prizes certainly for guessing, you would search online even before the mind has fully formed your thought.

That leads one to the question: Are educational institutes in the UAE able to effectively tap into social influence systems? While much has been spoken about Search Engine Marketing (SEM) that combines Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) with Search Engine Advertising (SEA), Social Influence Systems (SIS) management is less understood as it views the cycle of communication in its entirety to connect with audiences. SIS does not view digital platforms or social influence as a silo distanced away from established traditional modes of communication or replacing them. A casual browse through the UAE's educational institutes' online footprints reveals a discontinuous chain of communication: a Facebook page that pastes content from Wikipedia; another with a semi-dead page linking to its website. Nowhere does there seem to be a path that prospective students are led down for better levels of engagement regardless of the point of entry, be it through search, social media or networking platforms or even websites.

Reality check: A cursory search for generic terms even with UAE locations specified threw up very few universities in the top five for either featured or organic searches. Twitter feeds and LinkedIn profiles show little activity, if at all. No concerted attempts are being made yet by UAE universities to enable social media platforms and networks to provide even adequate information about the institutes or admission processes and procedures — let alone provide widgets and / or apps to help with admissions; or even take it a step further — to use these to engage in direct dialogue with the student community about its needs and priorities; or let current, past and potential students build communities etc.

Educational institutes around the region are now putting big money into technology as one newspaper reports: "GEMS Education has invested more than $25 million (Dh91.8 million) in technology… has more than 10,000 workstations, 200 servers, 27 data centres and more than 4,000 internet-ready multimedia class rooms." But while technology enabling of actual UAE classrooms and campuses across could now be considered the norm, they are still very far from using it themselves to connect and engage with the student community.

So students, you can't sit back on your couches to surf through your academic decisions just yet!

About the author: Madhuri Sen, MD - India, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide is a seasoned communications strategist consulting across sectors using the company’s bespoke Integrated Influence model