Education marketing glossary.
Plain-English definitions of the terms admissions, marketing and academic leaders use every day.
A–Z of education marketing
ABC (Academic Bank of Credits)
A national digital repository that stores the credits a student earns across recognised institutions, so credits can be carried, combined and redeemed under multiple entry and exit options introduced by NEP 2020.
Admissions funnel
The stages a prospective student moves through, from awareness and enquiry to application, admission and fee payment. Marketing is judged by conversion at each stage.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation)
Structuring content so search engines and voice assistants can extract direct answers, for example featured snippets and People Also Ask.
AI visibility
An institution's share of mentions and recommendations across AI assistants for the prompts its prospective students ask.
AISHE (All India Survey on Higher Education)
The Ministry of Education survey that publishes official figures on enrolment, GER, institutions and faculty in Indian higher education. It is the primary source for national higher-education statistics.
AQAR (Annual Quality Assurance Report)
The yearly report an accredited institution submits to NAAC through its IQAC. Consistent AQARs make the next accreditation cycle far easier because the evidence is already organised.
CAT and XAT
Entrance tests for MBA and PGDM admissions. CAT is conducted by the IIMs and XAT by XLRI, and many other B-schools also accept their scores. B-school campaigns are usually timed around their registration and result windows.
CO-PO-PSO mapping
A matrix that links Course Outcomes (COs) to Programme Outcomes (POs) and Programme Specific Outcomes (PSOs). It is the backbone of outcome-based education and is examined in both NAAC and NBA processes.
Conversions API (CAPI)
Meta's server-side method for sending conversion events, such as qualified leads or admissions, directly from your server or CRM. It is more resilient to browser and cookie restrictions than the pixel alone.
Core Web Vitals
Google's page experience metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (loading), Interaction to Next Paint (responsiveness) and Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability). Slow programme pages lose both rankings and enquiries.
Cost per admission (CPAd)
Total marketing spend divided by confirmed enrolments. The single most important efficiency metric for institutions.
Cost per lead (CPL)
Total campaign spend divided by the number of enquiries generated. Useful, but misleading on its own if lead quality varies.
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation)
Systematically improving landing pages and forms so more visitors become enquiries.
CUET (Common University Entrance Test)
The National Testing Agency exam used for undergraduate and postgraduate admission to central universities and a large number of state, deemed and private universities that opt in.
DVV (Data Validation and Verification)
NAAC's process for checking the quantitative metrics an institution reports in its SSR against supporting evidence. Unsupported or inconsistent data can be marked down at this stage.
E-E-A-T
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness: the qualities Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines use to judge content. Faculty bylines, real outcomes data and clear sourcing help institutional content demonstrate them.
Featured snippet
A highlighted answer shown above or near the top of Google results, extracted from a web page. Clear question-and-answer formatting on programme and admissions pages improves the chance of being selected.
FYUGP (Four-Year Undergraduate Programme)
The four-year honours or honours-with-research undergraduate structure under UGC's Curriculum and Credit Framework for UG Programmes, with exit options after each year.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation)
Improving how often generative AI models such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity mention and cite a brand in their answers.
GER (Gross Enrolment Ratio)
Enrolment in higher education as a percentage of the 18–23 age population. India targets 50% by 2035.
Google Business Profile (GMB)
A business listing that powers Google Maps and the local 'map pack'. It is critical for school and campus 'near me' searches.
IQAC (Internal Quality Assurance Cell)
The body inside an institution responsible for planning, monitoring and documenting quality. It owns the AQAR and coordinates evidence for NAAC.
JoSAA
The Joint Seat Allocation Authority, which runs the counselling and seat allocation process for IITs, NITs, IIITs and other government-funded technical institutes.
Lead scoring
Assigning points to enquiries based on profile and behaviour (programme, eligibility, location, engagement) so counsellors call the most likely applicants first.
Lead-to-admission rate
The percentage of enquiries that become enrolled students. It reflects lead quality and counselling effectiveness together.
Lookalike audience
A Meta (and similar platform) audience built from people who resemble a seed list, such as past admitted students. Seed quality decides lookalike quality, so seeding with admissions beats seeding with all leads.
NAAC
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council, which assesses and accredits higher education institutions in India.
NBA (National Board of Accreditation)
The body that accredits individual programmes, mainly in engineering, management, pharmacy and other technical fields, using an outcome-based framework.
NEP 2020
India's National Education Policy 2020, which introduces multidisciplinary education, academic credit banks and outcome-based learning.
NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework)
The Ministry of Education's annual ranking of Indian higher education institutions across categories such as Overall, University, Engineering, Management and Colleges.
OBE (Outcome-Based Education)
An approach where curricula, teaching and assessment are designed around measurable learning outcomes (COs, POs and PSOs).
Offline conversion tracking
Sending CRM outcomes (qualified, applied, admitted) back to Google or Meta so their algorithms optimise for real admissions instead of form fills.
ORM (Online Reputation Management)
Monitoring and improving how an institution is perceived across reviews, forums, social media and news.
Performance Max (PMax)
Google's automated campaign type that serves across Search, YouTube, Display, Gmail and Maps. It needs lead-quality signals to work well for admissions.
Schema markup
Structured data (JSON-LD) that tells search engines what a page represents, for example an organisation, course, FAQ or breadcrumb.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
Improving a website so it ranks organically in search engines for relevant queries such as programme, city and career searches.
Server-side rendering (SSR)
Generating a page's HTML on the server so search engine and AI crawlers see full content immediately, instead of a blank page waiting for JavaScript.
Share of voice (SOV)
An institution's share of visibility compared with competitors in a channel: paid impressions, organic rankings, social conversation or AI assistant answers.
Speed-to-lead
How quickly a new enquiry is contacted. Faster response dramatically improves conversion in admissions.
SSR (Self-Study Report)
The main document an institution submits to NAAC, combining quantitative metrics and qualitative narrative across all seven criteria. Not to be confused with server-side rendering.
Frequently asked questions
What is AI visibility?
What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation)?
What is Cost per admission (CPAd)?
What is Speed-to-lead?
What is CUET (Common University Entrance Test)?
What is IQAC (Internal Quality Assurance Cell)?
What is DVV (Data Validation and Verification)?
What is ABC (Academic Bank of Credits)?
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