Sharyn has led marketing and recruitment teams in state governments and in private enterprise. As Director International at a large Australian university, she had particular success in agent management, compliance, marketing, student recruitment and outbound mobility.
In other senior university roles, she frequently engaged with consultants, so she understands where a ‘catch-all’ approach can fall down. Sharyn is always consultative and collaborative, but rarely settles for the easy or expected way of doing things. She believes that hands-on experience in education is critical, and a generalist business approach won’t cut it in an educational institution. She’s acutely aware of how important it is to truly listen to clients and then channel Edified’s collective experience to shape solutions that are nuanced and culturally relevant, and which work with the sometimes complex ways education institutions operate.
Talk to me about
- Branding and communication
- Product strategy
- Motivating teams through change
- Price and scholarship strategy
Major projects
- Helped a ‘Group of 8’ university develop a new tuition fee and scholarship strategy, which led to a bottom-line saving of about $20 million.
- Developed brand positioning and message frameworks for regional study clusters across Queensland and South Australia, managing the significant co-creation process.
- Devised a market diversification strategy for Victoria’s government schools network.
- Led a tuition fee and revenue optimisation project for a major London university.
Before Edified
Sharyn established her career in international education with management roles at Education Queensland International, pioneering many aspects of source market diversification in Australia. She has held senior international and marketing roles at Queensland University of Technology, and has also been lead consultant on major in-house projects for the Victorian and Queensland governments. In the private sector, she has directed education digital marketing at student acquisition agency Social Garden.
After hours
Sharyn is an avid patron of live music in Melbourne. She’s long wanted to be a backup singer but keeps getting the words wrong. An incorrigible bringer-together of people from diverse backgrounds, she holds quarterly social events for groups of acquaintances who’ve never met, but who rapidly become best friends. She also regularly repurposes vintage garments to sew new clothes, and travels to places other people don’t go.