Macquarie University Q&A - IDP Live

IDP Live is transforming the international landscape for the next generation of students. We recently interviewed Tanveer Shaheed, Acting Executive Director (International) at Macquarie University, to find out how their institution is using our student-centred app to help prospective students around the world to find the best-fit course and receive an Offer in Principle within a matter of minutes.

Why did you decide to become an IDP Live partner and how does it support your recruitment strategy?

IDP is a valuable partner for Macquarie University, and we’ve had a very long-lasting relationship. As we always strive to provide a positive customer service for our students, the last 20 months of this pandemic situation when people are locked down and can’t travel have been challenging, so we have been working with IDP to address those challenges. Once we heard this concept about IDP Live, it was a no brainer for us.

We are continuously looking for better ways to improve our customer service for students and to improve our association with IDP, so we jumped at the chance to collaborate.

What gives IDP Live and its fast-tracked recruitment capabilities the edge in the market?

It’s an open world nowadays and a student can go to any country in the world - everything is at their fingertips. The world has evolved with this digital revolution, which as a result, has increased our student intake. This industry revelation has brought challenges, but many opportunities as well. We found that this IDP Live capability by fast-tracking the recruitment process for their counsellors can contribute to this intake solution.

This is fantastic because now we can see our students easily get what they need, and then they can make a fair decision when choosing the right institution.

What synergies do you see between IDP Live’s student-centred approach and Macquarie’s values and key strengths?

Macquarie has recently adopted new policy where we are aligning our strategy to be student-first and are focusing on student-centric services This value aligns with IDP as we both ask the same questions: What is their requirement? What are their needs? What’s best for them? So, with this student-centric approach, Macquarie University really aligns to IDP’s values and mission.

Why do you think it’s important that innovative technology, like IDP Live, is leading the sector rebound in Australia?

IDP is certainly a major recruitment player in the global space and they have a significant market share for international student recruitment, not only for Australia but across the globe. We don’t have many universities in Australia (only 43) and we are all partnered with IDP, but this app provides us another edge to reach out to students through this innovative platform.

Students can receive an admission letter offer in a very short time and it’s an excellent outcome for both of us. An app like IDP Live was due for a long time and we really appreciate this collaboration.

IDP continues to innovate through leading tech coupled with human connections. How does that align with innovation at Macquarie?

I joined Macquarie University 13 years ago and during that time, IDP used to send paper applications which seems like the dinosaur age. So, from that age, to where we are now, we have seen technology transform over the years and subsequently how quickly it transformed our overall business model. Customer expectations have changed significantly so we do need to change and adapt to the current times.

For most of Australian universities, Macquarie included, we are always striving for better technology and optimization of our resources, so we really appreciate this advanced technology with IDP Live.

What would be your advice for institutions considering coming on board?

We were an initial partner of IDP Live, and we can see the benefit that the student can easily access what they need as an offer letter, and they make the right choice. IDP Live is linked with our admissions process called Study Link, so we didn’t face many challenges with connectivity between our admission systems and the IDP Live system.

I would advise it is quite easy to transform within our parameters but certainly a bit of time and engagement is required. Once you establish the portal and the channel, it’s that much more beneficial. I encourage all Australian universities to take this advantage as it’s a resource we can use in the future to improve our customer service for students.