October 1, 2026

Just released: The 2026 Enquiry Experience Tracker Sector Report

Two in three prospective students left unconvinced after enquiring with universities‍

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Australian and UK universities are losing prospective students not because they're getting enquiries wrong, but because they're stopping short of getting them right, according to Edified's 2026 Enquiry Experience Tracker (EET), the sector's annual mystery shopping and benchmarking study.

Just 37% of prospective domestic students said they'd be very likely to continue engaging with a university after enquiring, drawn from more than 700 mystery-shopper enquiries placed across 63 Australian and UK institutions. Only 15% had a genuinely negative experience.

The bigger problem is the large middle ground: students who weren't put off, but weren't convinced either.

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Five factors that drive impact

The research found the gap comes down to fundamentals: getting a reply, answering fully and tailoring it to the individual, and doing so in a friendly, welcoming way. Students who received a tailored response were seven times more likely to say they'd continue engaging than those who got a generic one. Yet only half of responses were warm and approachable, and just two-thirds fully answered every question a student asked.

Elissa Newall, Senior Partner and EET Project Director at Edified said:

"Students aren't walking away because they got bad information, they're on the fence because universities don’t give them enough confidence to take the next step. Warmth and a properly tailored answer show that you value the student, and in both Australia and the UK, too few institutions are consistently getting that right."

Where universities also gave students a genuine reason to choose them and followed up afterwards, the difference was striking: 97% of students left with a positive impression and 94% said they were very likely to continue engaging, far above the study average.

Follow-up should be the easy part, yet more than half of students who got an initial reply heard nothing further, a pattern that held in both markets.
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Jennifer Parsons, Chief Market and Partnerships Officer at UniQuest added:

"It's a gap we see constantly: institutions lose momentum the moment a prospect needs nurturing rather than answering. Sustained engagement doesn't happen by chance, it takes the right systems and journeys working behind every channel, so no qualified student is left to drift away."

Instagram fared worst of all: one in five enquiries went unanswered, the weakest result of any channel tested in either country. Responsiveness was best on traditional channels where nearly one in four enquiry forms received a reply within four business hours.

Some institutions are getting it right

Deakin University was named the highest-performing institution in Australia and the University of the Arts London topped the UK results. Both rated strongly across the study’s evaluation criteria: responsiveness, communication quality, follow-up and impact.

Commenting of the exceptional performance, Jessica Ward, Manager Prospective Student Enquiries at Deakin University said:

"This reflects our commitment to providing prospective domestic students with personalised, timely and meaningful support as they explore their study options. Every student has a unique set of circumstances and our team is committed to understanding their needs so we can provide a consistent, high-quality experience at every stage of their journey.”

Louisa Miles, Applicant Relations Manager at University of the Arts London said:

"UAL’s Applicant Relations team is proud to be recognised as Best in the UK in this year’s Enquiry Experience Tracker. In just three years, the service has transformed the enquirer experience from prospect to enrolment, putting the applicant at the heart of everything we do. By acting upon applicant insight and feedback from the Enquiry Experience Tracker, we have strengthened our personalised approach, combining this with clear and focused applicant support. We're committed to delivering an outstanding experience that instils confidence and combines operational excellence with meaningful human connection.”

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Students were also asked to put the same questions to ChatGPT and compare its answer with the university's own, and preferred the AI response 71% of the time. Remarking on this surprising finding, Newall added:

"Students are already using AI as a normal part of choosing a university, so the opportunity for enquiry teams isn't to compete on speed or information. It's to make sure that the student who takes the step to reach out feels like a person, not a ticket."

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