Hard sell works for higher education

Hard-sell techniques used for commodities like soap powder and insurance are just as successful in attracting people to learning, a study has found. A project, run jointly by the Institute for Public Policy Research and Sunderland University, found that techniques such as mass leafleting, telesales, advertising slogans and "taster" courses were most effective in getting people to buy into learning. The project also confirmed the power of information technology, with a fifth of the 6,034 registrations to courses in the Northeast between September last year and June this year made online via the internet.