The University of Canterbury (UC) has hosted its annual China Open Day for many years. As one of UC’s signature recruitment events, it brings the International Recruitment team and academic faculties from New Zealand to key cities across China to meet prospective students, parents and education partners.
From 10–16 May 2026, UC visited Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Beijing, delivering a series of face-to-face events designed to showcase the University’s academic strengths, student experience and study opportunities in New Zealand.
To support the campaign, United Media Solution (UMS) partnered with UC to digitise the entire Open Day experience, from event discovery and registration to livestreaming, audience engagement, data collection and post-event insights, creating a scalable recruitment platform that can be reused for future campaigns.
The Challenge
Like many universities hosting overseas recruitment events in China, UC’s China Open Day had traditionally relied on local recruitment teams, education agents and organic promotion to attract attendees.
While the events had been successful year after year, they presented several common challenges:
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Limited visibility into where registrations originated, whether from social sharing, paid advertising, education agents or other channels. -
Minimal first-party data about prospective students before they attended the event. -
No consistent way to capture valuable information such as intended level of study or academic interests. -
Difficulty measuring the effectiveness of marketing activities and evaluating return on investment (ROI). -
Limited opportunities to engage prospective students who were unable to travel to one of the four event locations. -
Little structured feedback after the event to understand attendee satisfaction, interests and future study intentions.
UC wanted more than a successful recruitment roadshow. It wanted a smarter, data-driven approach that could improve student engagement while providing meaningful insights to inform future recruitment strategies.
Our Solution
A Long-Term China Open Day Platform
Rather than developing a one-off event registration page, UMS designed and built a dedicated China Open Day Platform that UC can reuse year after year.
The platform serves as a central destination where prospective students and parents can discover Open Day information, explore event schedules and continue accessing content even after the events have concluded, extending the value of the campaign beyond a single week.
Students could choose to attend either in person or online through the same platform while providing valuable registration information, including:
- Intended level of study
- Programme interests
- Contact information
- Preferred event location
- Attendance format (online or in person)
This transformed event registration into a valuable source of first-party recruitment data, giving UC a much deeper understanding of its prospective student audience.
Driving Qualified Registrations through Paid Media
To maximise awareness and attendance across all four cities, UMS planned and executed targeted paid media campaigns across China’s leading digital platforms.
Prospective students and parents were directed seamlessly from paid advertisements to the Open Day Platform, creating a frictionless registration journey while enabling UC to better understand which marketing channels were driving registrations.
The integrated campaign successfully achieved attendance targets while building greater visibility for UC among its target audience in China.
Creating an Immersive Hybrid Open Day Experience
To extend the reach of UC’s flagship recruitment event beyond the physical venues, UMS produced a simultaneous livestream from the Shanghai Open Day on WeChat Video Channel and RED (Xiaohongshu).
Students registering for the online event could reserve their place through the Open Day Platform, receive automated viewing reminders before the livestream, and join the broadcast with a single click.
Rather than simply broadcasting presentations, the livestream recreated the experience of attending the Open Day in person through an immersive programme featuring:
- Live coverage of the Open Day venue
- Faculty meet-and-greet sessions and event highlights
- An overview of studying in New Zealand, including current policies and opportunities
- Faculty presentations across key disciplines
- Live Q&A sessions covering academics, employability, career outcomes, pathway options, student life and pre-departure preparation
- Interactive prize draws and real-time audience participation
Capturing Insights Beyond the Event
The value of the platform continued well after the Open Day concluded. UMS designed and delivered post-event surveys for both online and in-person attendees, enabling UC to capture structured feedback from participants.
The surveys provided valuable insights into:
- Overall event satisfaction
- Programme interests and study intentions
- Quality of faculty presentations and interactions
- Student questions and information needs
- Suggestions for future Open Day events
Feedback from both online and offline participants was overwhelmingly positive, with strong levels of satisfaction and engagement reported across both event formats.
The Impact
By integrating digital technology, targeted marketing and hybrid event delivery, UMS helped the University of Canterbury transform its signature China Open Day into a measurable, data-driven recruitment programme, providing UC with a stronger foundation for evidence-based recruitment planning and future student engagement in China.
