Make Yourself at UWTSD: how student insight and pride in place shaped recruitment campaign

We know who we are – now we need to own it! A call to action that kicked-off the first conversation of more than two hundred encounters we had, as we began exploring a deceptively simple question – why should the prospective graduating class of 2030 choose the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD)?

In spring 2025, Perago was selected to support the University in developing its undergraduate recruitment campaign for the 2027 intake. Our approach, rooted in service design, begins in the same place every time – with the people the work is for – the user.

Before thinking about messages or creative ideas, we needed to understand the experiences, motivations, and expectations of the audiences involved. That meant looking beyond a single perspective.

University staff were an important part of the picture, but they were only one of several groups who could help answer the question. We also spoke to prospective students, the people who influence their decisions – parents, guardians, teachers, and, as it turned out, the supportive aunties – as well as those approaching key decision points in school, college, or at a turning point later in life. And then there were those who had already made the journey – the class of 2025 – UWTSD’s graduates.

Six weeks of discovery

The discovery phase gave us six weeks to gather as much insight as possible before returning to Perago’s creative team with a clearer picture of what students today are looking for in a university tomorrow.

 

Part of that picture came from data. UWTSD’s insights team generate a substantial body of research every day, tracking student behaviour, application patterns and wider sector trends. But numbers alone rarely tell the full story. To understand the experience behind the data, we needed to listen to the people who live it.

Hearing from those who’ve been there

One of the more grounding moments came during the university’s summer graduation ceremonies in Swansea – away from the formalities of the stage, graduates gathered with friends and family. For many of them, their decision to attend UWTSD was now several years behind them, but their reflections on that choice were still vivid.

They talked about lecturers who knew who they were; about being able to ask questions and have conversations rather than sitting anonymously at the back of a lecture theatre; about smaller classes where discussion and doing were part of the learning process. They also spoke about experiences that connected their studies to the world beyond university – practical projects, industry links and opportunities to apply their learning in real contexts.

None of these themes appeared as a single headline in the data, but together they painted a clear picture of what the UWTSD experience felt like from the inside.

Listening before telling

A key part of the discovery phase was resisting the temptation to start with assumptions.

Universities, like most institutions, develop strong internal narratives about what makes them distinctive. Our job was not to reinforce those ideas, but to test them against the experiences of the people who study, work and graduate there.

Through conversations with staff, students and alumni – alongside the university’s own research – certain themes began to repeat themselves.

 

A place to make your own

These insights became the foundation for the recruitment campaign that followed. Instead of focusing purely on facilities or statistics, the story that emerged centred on the experience of studying at UWTSD – one where students are known by name, supported in their development and encouraged to shape their own path.

It’s an idea captured in the in Welsh campaign strapline ‘Dyma dy amser di’ – This is your time. And in English, with a slight shift in emphasis, ‘Make yourself at UWTSD’.

Both expressions speak to the same belief – a belief that university is not simply something you attend, but something you actively shape. At its best, the UWTSD experience gives students the space, support and confidence to do exactly that.

That’s us!

Looking back at the discovery phase, one thing stands out – the university community already had a strong sense of what mattered most – smaller classes, meaningful connections between staff and students, and a focus on preparing graduates for the realities of life beyond university. The research process simply helped bring those ideas into sharper focus.
For UWTSD, ‘owning it’ means celebrating the environment where students are not just enrolled, but known – where the next generation can make their time at university distinctly their own.

For Perago, the cheer of “that’s us!” when we presented the research findings back and introduced the initial creative concept, brings optimism that the campaign, which has just gone live, will see more people seizing this time and making themselves at UWTSD – Wales’ oldest higher education institution.