Five Reputation Numbers Every University Board Should See

Show notes

Boards scrutinise finance, risk and outcomes in detail, yet reputation rarely gets a structured place on the agenda. I share the five numbers I would put in front of every governing body, every quarter.

• Show reputation by priority audience, and the perception gap against real performance.
• Track share of voice and conversion from interest to commitment.
• Give the board one quarterly page with commentary and a reputational risk view.

Read the article: Five reputation numbers every university board should see

Full transcript

Hello, and welcome to Marketing Greats in Higher Education. I'm Jonathan Sabarre, your host, and this is where we explore the ideas shaping how universities are seen, chosen and trusted around the world. Everything I share on this show is my own personal view.

I've sat on and chaired a number of boards, from charities and schools to the commercial marketing board for a global hotel group. The best ones share a habit. They ask for evidence, and they ask about the things that genuinely drive the organisation's future. The quality of a board meeting usually comes down to the quality of the questions. In universities, reputation is one of those things. Yet it rarely appears on a governing body's agenda in any structured way!

Usually, reputation comes up when something goes wrong, or when a rankings result lands. That leaves boards reacting rather than overseeing. By then the story is already written. Governing bodies scrutinise finances, risk and student outcomes in real detail, and reputation affects all three. It deserves a place on the same agenda, with numbers to match. So here are the five I'd put in front of every university board, every quarter.

Start with reputation by priority audience. A single brand score hides far more than it reveals. Boards should see how the institution is perceived by the three or four audiences that matter most to its strategy: prospective students in key markets, academics in priority disciplines, employers, and policymakers or funders. The trend matters more than any single reading.

Number two is the perception gap: the difference between how good an institution is, on measures like research quality or graduate outcomes, and how good it's perceived to be. A large gap is an opportunity, not a failure. Picture a university whose graduates do brilliantly, but whose employers in a key market barely know its name. A board can do something about that, and the marketing team gets a clear brief.

Third, share of voice in the conversations that count. How often is the university mentioned, and in what light, in the media, social channels and AI search results its audiences use, compared with its real competitors? Boards don't need every mention. They need to know whether the institution is gaining ground or losing it. Any governor can grasp that in a minute.

Then there's conversion from interest to commitment, because reputation shows up in behaviour. Enquiry to application. Application to enrolment. First contact to research partnership. These rates tell the board whether a strong reputation is turning into outcomes, and a falling rate is often an early warning, long before it shows up elsewhere. If enquiries hold steady but applications soften in one market, ask about it at the very next meeting.

The fifth number is reputational risk, assessed honestly. Every institution carries risks that could damage how it's seen, from financial headlines to campus incidents to policy changes in key markets. Boards should see a short assessment of the top risks, how likely they are, and how prepared the institution is to respond. Being ready matters as much as being right. It belongs right alongside the financial risk register.

None of this needs a heavy reporting burden. A single page, updated quarterly, with clear trends and a short commentary from the responsible director, is enough to change the conversation. The commentary tells governors what the team believes is happening and what it plans to do. Resist the dashboard with forty measures. Five numbers that people genuinely understand will do far more than forty that nobody reads.

What boards ask about is what institutions prioritise. Put reputation on the agenda with real numbers, and the rest of the organisation will manage it with the same seriousness. If you're a governor or a vice-chancellor and you'd like to compare notes on what this could look like for your institution, I'm always happy to talk. Reputation is built every day, right across the university. It's time the board could see it too!

Thank you for spending this time with me. If this episode sparked something for you, hit subscribe, so you never miss the next one. And our full season, with guests from leading universities around the world, is coming very soon. Head to Jonathan Sabarre dot com and sign up, so you're the first to know when it launches. Until next time, keep building something great.