🥪 Lunch Briefing: How AI Is Reshaping Student Journeys - Staying Visible, Relevant, and Recommended

Thursday, July 2, 2026 1:00 PM to 1:30 PM · 30 min. (Europe/London)
Room 3
🚀Winning on Audience Journey

Information

Student recruitment journeys have fundamentally changed. Prospective students no longer follow the same search pathways universities have optimised for over the past 20 years. Discovery is now fragmented across AI tools, social platforms, recommendations and peer-led content. Increasingly, students are asking AI for guidance, comparisons and reassurance before they ever visit a university website.

This session explores how AI is reshaping search behaviour, student expectations and decision-making, and why many university marketing strategies are still built for an outdated version of search.

Key takeaways

  • How AI is changing student search and decision-making
  • Why traditional SEO and recruitment strategies are losing effectiveness
  • The shift from rankings and keywords to recommendations, trust and visibility
  • How universities can use AI to better understand and influence student intent
  • Practical steps to improve visibility, relevance and recruitment performance in the age of AI

ItinerisItineris is a multi-award-winning education marketing agency with over 23 years of experience supporting universities to strengthen brand visibility, attract the right students, and drive sustainable growth in an increasingly competitive and complex recruitment landscape. We work in partnership with leading higher education institutions including the University of Westminster, King’s College London, Anglia Ruskin University, the University of Chichester, the University of Cambridge, and Bloomsbury Institute. Our focus is simple. To help universities connect more effectively with prospective students at every stage of the decision-making journey. Through a combination of strategic consultancy, high-performing websites, and integrated digital marketing, we enable our clients to improve discoverability, increase engagement, and convert interest into enrolment. Our team of over 45 specialists brings deep sector expertise across student recruitment, digital performance, user experience, and brand strategy. We understand the nuances of higher education audiences, from prospective undergraduate and postgraduate students to international markets, partners, and stakeholders. We have a strong track record of helping universities: Improve visibility across search and emerging AI-driven discovery channels Strengthen digital experiences to support confident decision-making Increase application volumes and conversion rates Build distinctive, high-performing brands in competitive markets At Itineris, we take a collaborative and insight-led approach. We work closely with each institution to understand their strategic priorities, audience needs, and market positioning, developing tailored solutions that deliver measurable impact. As student search behaviour continues to evolve, particularly with the rise of AI, we help universities adapt their strategies to remain visible, relevant, and competitive in a rapidly changing digital environment.