After attracting students to your educational institution, the real work begins. Your team needs to retain these students, this is the only way to guarantee retention.
And in this case, just offering complete training is not enough. Qualified teachers and updated content are the least students expect. So, how do you retain it?
Well, we’ve put together a checklist so you can guide yourself. Check out!
Checklist to increase student retention at your educational institution;
Good reading!
Below you will find a checklist with the main items that can drastically change the process of student retention at your educational institution. Before continuing reading this text, take a look at the items and think a little about how your team has dealt with each of them.
See the checklist:
Now that you've seen the checklist, let's understand each topic in it. Follow along!
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology combined with chat tools have brought a huge change to the area of Marketing and education — we've talked about these concepts before.
The evolution of chatbots in education has been driven by integration with advanced natural language processing technologies. Today, chatbots are capable of providing personalized guidance, answering complex questions, and recognizing signs of academic or emotional difficulties in students.
This level of interaction allows them not only to optimize operational support but also to create a meaningful connection, becoming allies in student engagement and satisfaction. Modern tools integrate chatbots with assessment systems, allowing for suggestions of specific content or resources based on individual performance, making retention much more effective.
AI chatbots can be used to offer humanized service to your students, but without leaving them in a waiting line to be served.
The robot can easily issue reports, provide a duplicate of a bill or receive documents that were due — this saves time and the student is satisfied with the service.
Content production is normally associated with positioning of your educational institution in search engines. But it can also be a strong retention tool.
How about creating a blog just for students at your educational institution? Here you can speak directly to your students, talk about events, start projects, give tips about academic life, etc.
More than just information, digital content should nurture a sense of belonging and facilitate the student's journey within the institution. Personalized strategies, such as exclusive student content series and academic storytelling, create greater student engagement and increase retention. Content that highlights career support, student testimonials, and evolutionary learning paths align expectations and encourage student retention.
One of the biggest difficulties faced by students is the lack of opportunities. They want to develop projects, join internships, showcase their talents or even set up groups and do some activity with people who share the same tastes.
Your educational institution does not need to offer all of this, but it can be a facilitator. Through partnerships and assistance in coordinating activities, your team can offer students what they have been looking for in their own education.
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Your students want to feel proud of the educational institution they are part of. They want her name to carry weight and for them to be recognized for studying there.
Student-faculty engagement programs, such as interdisciplinary projects with active faculty participation, result in a stronger sense of belonging and pride. Institutions that foster strong student-faculty connections, promoting mentoring and collaborative activities, have significantly higher retention rates, strengthening their institutional reputation.
To offer this to them, your educational brand needs to be strong. It is necessary to invest in research, dissemination, activities open to the public, multidisciplinary projects and much more.
Think about measures that can be implemented at your educational institution and that will take your brand to the community.
Having a presence on social media is essential. Currently the world revolves around these virtual social environments. We can even say that they are largely responsible for the visibility of a brand or the hits on a blog.
And just like your website, your presence on social media also requires a strategy completely focused on it.
Since your students are in these virtual spaces, your team needs to be present there too. Then, start preparing a strategy and keep your profiles active.
In addition to consistent presence, it's recommended to implement strategic communications at key points throughout the academic journey, such as the beginning of the semester, during assessments, and at the end of academic terms. Personalized messages at these times increase the perception of acceptance and reduce dropout rates.
Image: Adopting retention strategies strengthens the student experience and contributes to academic and institutional success.
There is a universe of actions that can be done by your team to increase student retention. But the most important of them is also the simplest of all: asking students what they want.
No one is more competent to say what they expect from their training or what opportunities they would like to have than the people who will directly benefit from what their educational institution does.
Therefore, it is interesting to carry out satisfaction surveys frequently. In them, ask about the students' general perception, what they thought of specific events and leave areas for them to give suggestions.
Implementing student satisfaction surveys not only identifies areas for improvement but also demonstrates institutional openness to dialogue. This strengthens student trust in management and increases both participation in initiatives and overall engagement. Furthermore, recent results show that providing transparent post-survey feedback is essential to consolidate this cycle of active listening and maintain high satisfaction rates.
Based on this questionnaire, think about new measures and repeat the actions that worked.
The most important thing is to remember that student satisfaction is linked to the lack of complications (excessive bureaucracy, difficulty talking to managers, errors in entries, payment problems, etc.) together with the benefits that your educational institution can offer.
Summary: Student retention requires more than quality education. This checklist presents practical actions like AI chatbots, exclusive content, active digital channels, brand strengthening, and satisfaction surveys. These initiatives foster engagement, a sense of belonging, and reduce dropout rates in educational institutions.
And since we are talking about actions that can be implemented, we have a suggestion. Read our post about new trends in Educational Marketing strategy and see if any of the ideas we present in it can help retain your students.
Retention begins by strengthening the relationship with students. More than offering good education, the institution must invest in efficient service, relevant content, activities that create belonging, a strong educational brand and strategic digital presence.
They provide fast, automated, and personalized support. Chatbots can issue documents, answer frequently asked questions and reduce waiting times. They also help detect student difficulties early, preventing potential dropouts.
Content not only attracts but also engages. Producing materials focused on student life — like academic tips, event updates and career support — strengthens the connection and encourages students to remain at the institution.
It shows the institution cares about real student development. Supporting projects, internships and group activities gives students purpose and strengthens their commitment to the academic journey.
A strong brand builds pride and a sense of belonging. When the institution is respected and actively involves students in public and academic initiatives, it reinforces their desire to stay.
Being where students are — on social platforms — builds connection. Targeted actions during key academic periods improve support and engagement, reinforcing the institution’s presence beyond the classroom.
Surveys allow the institution to listen to students, detect gaps and implement changes based on real feedback. This transparency builds trust, strengthens the student-institution relationship and increases engagement.