Universities and education brands are increasingly formalising student content creator roles, investing in peer‑to‑peer campaigns and experimenting with digital “student ambassador” models to reach prospective learners.
“The new generation is immune to marketing. It’s immune to sales,” Mark Balneger, co‑founder of student creator platform UpperClass, told The PIE News.
For Balneger, the most persuasive “influencers” are already inside institutions.
“The best kind of student creator is either current students or alumni of the university. Those are your best marketing tools,” he argued.
“The amount of followers they have means absolutely nothing.” What counts, he suggested, is credibility inside a specific niche – a business student in Lagos hearing from someone like them at a campus in Toronto; a first‑generation student in Vietnam following another Vietnamese student through the realities of working part‑time in Australia.
Balneger points to conversations that never surface in prospectuses or official webinars.
He describes, for example, a Russian student studying in Korea fielding questions from another Russian student back home: “Is there enough Russian food? Do you experience racism because you’re Russian? Are they judging you because of the Russian‑Ukraine war?”
Those are exactly the issues, he said, that agents, universities or generic influencers are unlikely to address head‑on – but the answers can determine whether a student applies at all.
Many universities already run student ambassador schemes aimed at converting prospects who have shortlisted an institution.
Balneger sees that work as sitting “down the funnel”. According to him, the new wave of student creators, operate much earlier, long before a prospect has joined a mailing list or booked an open day.
Content is shared within “hundreds of small, overlapping circles” of friends, classmates and compatriots, often on personal channels the institution doesn’t see.
“If you have 100 students making content… they post content on their platform, and it spreads in their network,” he explained. “It’s a part of the network that the school cannot touch by posting on their social media.”
Universities from Carleton in Canada to Arizona State in the US and UCL in the UK have already begun formalising these roles, advertising for student storytellers and content creators to produce social, video and written content about campus life.
For those still nervous about giving students a more prominent role in their marketing, Balneger warned them that the shift is already happening without them.
“Students are already posting about your university, but you have no control of it, and you have no way to capitalise on it,” he said.
“You cannot stop them from making content. You cannot sue your students for saying something about your school. They’re already doing it, but now you can structure it, utilise it, work with your students, and capitalise on it.”
You cannot stop them from making content. You cannot sue your students for saying something about your school. They’re already doing it, but now you can structure it, utilise it, work with your students, and capitalise on it
Mark Balneger, UpperClass
For Balneger, this peer‑to‑peer turn is not a passing marketing fad.
“We honestly know that this is the future of higher education marketing – peer to peer, student to student. Students trust students,” he said.
Similar dynamics are starting to reshape how global test providers speak to prospective test takers. ETS, the organisation behind the TOEFL iBT test, has been repositioning the TOEFL brand since it launched an enhanced version of the exam, with a focus on student‑centred storytelling and creator‑driven content.
As part of its transformation, ETS rolled out the ‘Learn It, Take It, Review It’ campaign, inviting 35 influencers, educators and partners in multiple markets to sit the updated test themselves.
Their reactions and reviews were then used in campaign content so that so that students could “see the updated TOEFL iBT test through trusted voices, not just brand messaging”.
“Our goal has been and continues to be that we are aligning the TOEFL experience with the students taking it and the future they are preparing for,” said Omar Chihane, global general manager of TOEFL at ETS.
“Today’s learners expect flexibility, authenticity, and support throughout their journey. TOEFL is evolving to reflect the realities of global mobility, digital learning, and the future of work while continuing to deliver the academic trust institutions rely on.”
Around that creator‑led core, ETS has leaned into formats that look more like youth culture than conventional test prep.
An original anthem and music video, ‘You Speak World’, has been supported by a global social and dance campaign encouraging students to stitch their own content.
Elsewhere, student‑led videos highlight preparation journeys, test‑day experiences and study‑abroad life, while ‘Tina’, a digital student ambassador, frontlines social‑first guidance and tips in a tone closer to a peer than to a corporate account.