The Student Engagement Blog

Belonging Before the Beginning: The Uni-Life Impact of Fall 2025

Every autumn, universities face the same challenge: helping incoming students bridge the gap between receiving an offer and starting their studies - ensuring they enroll.

3 min

November 27, 2025

Before day one: how BUas helps offer-holders find each other

After strong results with current students, BUas moved upstream, giving future students a social home where connection starts early and confidence follows.

3 min

November 13, 2025

Belonging on campus: BUas’ student life in one place

This is where Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas) started with Uni-Life: a campus-wide social home for current students. The success here paved the way for the later pre-enrolment rollout.

3 min

November 11, 2025

Engagement that moves enrolment at Huddersfield

Huddersfield’s international recruitment was generating strong interest, but the team lacked a scalable way to nurture offer-holders in the crucial pre-arrival window. A previous peer-to-peer community had been trialled, but it relied on staff to seed and sustain activity.

3 min

November 6, 2025

Before they arrive, they belong: UCC’s student-led community

University College Cork (UCC) is a large and lively university with over 26,000 students from over 100 countries. UCC offers hundreds of undergraduate and postgraduate courses spanning many disciplines. Traditionally, the majority of pre‑arrival communication for offer holders was delivered via email and webinars. There was a gap in the absence of a student‑to‑student digital space, even though instant peer connection is vital to decision‑making.

3 min

October 30, 2025

From Applications to Connection: SETU’s Early-Engagement Story

South East Technological University (SETU) found themselves in a situation many universities know all too well: applications were rolling in, but enrolments weren’t keeping up. “While application numbers were growing, we faced a challenge in converting those into actual enrolments,” said Dr Colm Walsh, SETU’s Global Business Development Manager.

3 min

October 23, 2025

The Hidden Cost of Dropouts

It’s obvious to all that a student dropping out of university is a bad thing. The university loses tuition fees and the student has likely wasted some of their time and money, although it is critical to understand that dropouts start happening from the pre-arrival stage.

3 min

June 17, 2025

The Student Engagement Crisis: Why Universities are losing the Enrolment Battle

The numbers don’t lie—university enrollment is in decline. Between 2010 and 2021, colleges and universities collectively experienced a 15% drop in enrollment across the U.S., and similar trends are appearing globally NPR.

3 min

April 2, 2025

Studyportals Acquires Uni-Life to leverage Peer 2 Peer Community and Support the Full Student Journey

Studyportals, the global education-choice platform, announced the acquisition of Uni-Life, a peer-to-peer engagement platform that fosters student connections before and after enrolment to optimise student retention, welfare and conversion.

3 min

March 10, 2025

Understanding the Student Recruitment Funnel: Step 4 – The Decision-Maker

After months—sometimes years—of research, applications, and waiting, students finally reach the Decision Maker stage of the Student Recruitment Funnel. At this point, they’re holding multiple offers, weighing their options, and preparing to make a final decision and commit to their future university.

4 min

February 25, 2025