Revenue and Profit Uplift Through Segmented Discounts

The Challenge

Our client, a top 10 university in Australia, was faced with a $50m budget gap in 2025, partially driven by the new cap on international students.

We were engaged by the University’s Executive to review pricing for international students, with the aim of increasing revenue per student whilst still offering strong value to students compared to other universities.

The University asked us to focus on scholarships / discounts to drive immediate impact, recognising that its approach to scholarships was broad and not adapted to specific dynamics across courses and source markets.

The Solution

ConceptSix conducted a fast-paced 6-week review to develop practical, evidence-based recommendations that could be implemented for the next study year.

Value and price benchmarking

We identified criteria for how students decide where and what to study and the relative importance of these criteria. This was based on extensive research, incl. a bespoke student survey, expert interviews, and review of market reports. For each criteria (e.g. gross price, scholarships / net price, and employment outcomes) we benchmarked the University vs competing universities and used these benchmarks to create overall value scores and scores by course and source market. This was underpinned by the insight that sensitivity to price varied significantly by student segment. Based on these scores, we estimated how much our client could increase prices and still be competitive on overall value.

Segmented, practical recommendations

We used the identified “room of opportunity” to develop specific recommendations by course and source country. We also estimated the revenue impact of these recommendations at different volume scenarios, informed by the impact of historical price changes.

Constant stakeholder engagement

We completed the review well within the agreed timeframe, whilst ensuring ongoing input and involvement from all stakeholders, incl. the Executive, the Faculty leadership, and the recruitment team.

The Impact

Our recommendations resulted in strong options for revenue and profit uplift, some of which were implemented immediately and some that will be implemented as the impact of the new regulations unfold. The implemented recommendations were estimated to generate a ~4% revenue and profit uplift.

Additionally, our work provided the University with a clear approach to future pricing reviews. We were commended for a high-quality approach and practical recommendations.