Winning the 2025 Clearing Battle with Market Intelligence

As policy changes impact revenue for UK universities and clearing becomes more significant, we explore the rising role of market intelligence.

UK universities are under intense pressure. 

Over the past 18 months, policy changes on student visas have severely dented the number of international student applications, creating a huge financial problem for many universities.

That decline is being exacerbated by the government considering a change which would require graduates to secure a ‘graduate-level job’ to remain in the UK after their studies. With 48% of graduates in the UK struggling to find a role at that level, it’s little wonder that international students are considering other options.

With 72% of UK universities facing deficits in 2025/26, this is a challenging time.

Several higher education institutions have taken measures such as staff cuts, course removals and reduced investments to navigate these uncertain times. While there are growing fears over the reputational damage these measures could have long-term.

University leaders are banding together to call for “a long-term, sustainable funding settlement for the higher education sector.” But until then, they’re in a fight for revenue – and clearing has become an important battleground.

The Clearing Battle

As you well know, for universities, clearing is more than a ‘back-up’. It’s become an integral part of their strategies. And as we near the summer months, open days, incentives, promotions and marketing messages are all being planned in a bid to attract students and bolster revenues.

But with so many universities facing the same commercial challenges, many are in direct competition for the same, shrinking pool of students. 

To win clearing, they need to stand out and outsmart the competition – and, to do that, they require intelligence.

Overwhelmed by Data. Short on Intelligence.

As with any strategic or creative endeavour, the ability to use data to inform or validate ideas and actions is extremely valuable. When the right insights are gathered and harnessed effectively, it presents a huge advantage over competitors.

In the last year, we’ve spoken to many UK universities. While some are on top of their data, the vast majority are feeling overwhelmed by it.

They’re doing their best to track details on courses, fees, scholarships, bursaries, marketing campaigns and clearing in general. But most of it is being gathered manually from a wide selection of sources, including competitor websites, press, anecdotal feedback and social media. 

The lack of structure to this data means noise overwhelms actionable insights. It’s hard to keep up.

Coupled with the sheer volume of data that’s out there, key competitor actions are easy to miss. Using manual processes, it’s virtually impossible for a university team to know about every change a competitor makes. Let alone those made by multiple competing universities.

University marketing and insight teams long for structure. Yet the only organised data they have is the same, retrospective UCAS insights that every university has access to. While useful for understanding the bigger picture over the last two years, many are finding it hard to turn that data into actions that give them an advantage right now.

So what’s the answer?

The Clearing Advantage: Real-time Market Intelligence

If you’re running a clearing campaign on behalf of a university, you’ll know that at any given time, a competitor could be making changes to their courses, introducing new incentives and promotions, launching open days, creating marketing campaigns, tweaking messaging or more.

Unless you know what those actions are in a timely manner, make sense of them from a strategic point of view and act upon them swiftly, your position is vulnerable. Each move could give them the advantage and make it harder for you to compete.

The window and margin of error during clearing is small. Smart decisions made quickly are the best way to gain and protect an advantage. So competitor data that’s vague, outdated, sporadic, complicated or incomplete will never be enough.

Instead, university teams need market intelligence that’s:

• Tracked and logged in real-time
• Of strategic value – cuts through the noise
• Covers every update , no matter how small
• Structured in a way that’s easy to search and access
• Analysed by humans (or AI agents) so the data becomes insights
• Easy to share with relevant decision makers

We work with a number of universities who have used these accurate, timely and complete insights to take strong, decisive action. They’re protecting their position and seizing opportunities while others are forced to wait. Their campaigns and tactics are agile, ready to adapt as needed rather than periodically.

The First Big Decision

Of course, we know that in these times of uncertainty, budgets are tight. 

It isn’t easy to justify investing in a market intelligence tool. Or any tool, for that matter. But for less than the fee of one international student, you’ll have insights that equip you to make smart decisions about your entire budget, reducing wasted spend.

Not only that, but if your competitors are using a market intelligence tool, you risk them tracking your every move. This summer, they could use insights to minimise the impact of your campaigns. Your time, effort and ideas might not have the impact they deserve. 

With market intelligence, you can launch campaigns that cut through the noise and attract more students at a time when university marketing departments are under immense pressure. The battle for clearing is on. The only question is: are you ready?

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Discover more about market intelligence and clearing.

If you’re navigating clearing and want to explore how real-time intelligence can shift your position, book a quick chat with Danielle, our education insights expert: danielle.guettier@watchmycompetitor.com