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Only your people
Everyone here works in higher ed marketing or admissions. You'll never have to explain what a yield rate is.
HigherEd Collective
Marketing and admissions leaders, thinking out loud together.
Same problems, different campuses. Across the UAE, we meet up to swap notes, work through what's hard, and actually get to know each other.
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Leaders
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UAE institutions
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Editions
What is the HigherEd Collective?
The peer group your job never came with.
Most marketing and admissions leaders in the UAE are figuring it out alone, with no one outside their own institution to check an idea against.
The Collective changes that. Real challenges, talked through honestly, with people who've lived them.
Members keep coming back for a simple reason: someone's always willing to help with whatever you're stuck on.
What makes it different
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Notes, not slides
Members share what they actually tried this intake, with the numbers and the mistakes left in. It's the kind of detail you rarely hear on a conference stage.
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Bring your problem
Stuck on something? Put it on the table. You'll walk out with options from people who've already been there.
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People over institutions
We care who you are and what you bring, not which logo is on your lanyard.
Why it exists
Higher ed was the industry without a room.
Every other industry has its own community and its own ecosystem. Higher ed marketing and admissions never did.
Red tape and cultural nuance kept most leaders inside their own institutions, with few chances to meet the people doing the same job down the road. So everyone kept solving the same problems, separately.
That's why the HigherEd Collective exists.
What it looks like now
Clarity
On what's working, what isn't, and how to get ahead of the next intake instead of reacting to it.
A benchmark you can trust
You finally know whether your numbers are good, bad or just normal for this market.
Relationships that outlast a job title
People move institutions. The connections stay.
“Higher education needs better ways of thinking together. The HigherEd Collective creates an opportunity to step outside our own institutions, exchange perspectives with peers, challenge assumptions, and look at shared issues through a wider lens.”
Moe Kamal, Jr.
Executive Director of Strategic Communications,
Marketing & Student Recruitment Ajman University
Marketing & Student Recruitment Ajman University
The journey
What started at a table now fills a stage.
There was no summit at the start. Just four leaders and a conversation worth continuing.
It grew one gathering at a time, long before there was ever a stage. Today it's 35+ marketing and admissions leaders from 22+ UAE institutions, still comparing notes and still learning from each other.
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The first gathering
The Collective's first real conversation between peers.
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The conversation grows
More voices joining, each bringing a different perspective.
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A community takes shape
The Collective becomes a place members keep returning to.
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The Annual Dinner
An evening built around relationships more than any schedule.
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The UniMarketer launch
The conversation reaches professionals from across the wider higher-ed marketing community.
UniMarketer
Born in the room.
Spend enough time in these conversations and you start hearing the same things: what's missing, and what would actually help. UniMarketer is one of those ideas made real.
It's a magazine for higher ed marketing and admissions professionals, born out of the discussions in the community.
Collective members are first in line to contribute, and get a free copy every time a new edition lands.
Request a copy today
Beyond the gatherings
The conversation doesn't stop when everyone leaves.
Collective Meetups
Small gatherings where peers come together to trade ideas and solve challenges.
LiveWhatsApp Community
Curated, and busy all year. The fastest way to ask “has anyone dealt with this?”
LiveThought Leader Series
Short takes from people leading UAE higher ed. Six episodes so far.
LiveUniMarketer
The Collective's editorial home, published by Ubrik.
LivePodcast
Longer conversations with people shaping the sector.
Listen nowRetreats
Getaways with your peers. Less agenda, more fun, and friendships that go well beyond work.
Coming soonJob Portal
A platform to post and hire for higher ed marketing and admissions roles.
Coming soonIndustry Visits
A look inside how international teams really run things, beyond the slides and the case studies.
Coming soon
The next big room
HigherEd Collective Summit 2026
One day. One room. The people shaping higher-education marketing and admissions across the UAE.
The Summit brings the Collective's spirit into one full-day experience — creating space for meaningful conversations, practical ideas and relationships that last beyond the event.
Explore the SummitThe next chapter of the HigherEd Collective.
Join the Community
