Enclosure F Alumni Board

22 January 2016

Author: J Almond Updated January 2016

Alumni Engagement in Context

Introduction The Plymouth University Alumni Engagement team lead on the development of a University wide alumni engagement programme which is designed to attract support for and engagement with a variety of University projects and programmes that support core business objectives. Sitting within the Development Office, External Relations, allows the team to work closely and collaboratively with the fundraising, events, student recruitment and the marketing functions, however the team also links with all faculties and other professional service areas of the University. In essence, the Alumni Engagement team are responsible for enabling the Alumni Engagement strategy, including managing the data quality of the alumni database, mass communications with our alumni, raising awareness about University successes and news, increasing the alumni engagement index, facilitating staff and student engagement with alumni, developing relationships with key graduates, and benchmarking our performance and practices against like-minded HEI’s. Team

The Alumni Engagement team currently consist of:

1. Jean Almond, Alumni Engagement Manager (G8) 2. Jill Gratton, Database Officer (G5) 3. James Wadham, Database Officer (G5) 4. Samantha Davis, Alumni Engagement Officer (G5) 5. Joshua Schouten de Jel, Alumni Case Study Officer (G5) 6. Laura Smith, Alumni Engagement Assistant Administrator (G3) 7. Natassia Richardson, Development and Alumni Intern (G2)

PU Alumni by numbers

UK Overseas Unknown

Totals 90301 10778 32257 Contactable by email 32089 5697 7797 Contactable by post 57400 4992 - Not Contactable 812 89 24460

Alumni by age

<20 or (blank) 3144

20-29 39540

30-39 45079

40-49 27892

50-59 11912

60-69 4982

70-79 728

Enclosure F Alumni Board

22 January 2016

Author: J Almond Updated January 2016

80-89 56

90-99 3

Top 10 subjects (by number of alumni)

Psychology 3532

Geography 3163

Post Compulsory Education and Training 3000

Nursing (Adult) 2914

Environmental Science 2551

Accounting & Finance 2258

Business Administration 2135

Fine Art 1817

Architecture 1660

Business Studies 1615 Key projects:

1. Online Community

The team are currently driving work to implement and co-deliver a secure scalable online professional community with Careers & Employability, Student Recruitment and Admissions, the Director of Student Services, Create Digital, Technology and Information Services and members of the University legal and Data Protection teams. This project is a strategic priority for the Alumni Engagement team and will impact on student employability, student recruitment and the student experience. The project will enable alumni to:

connect with each other securely online regardless of their location

mentor students and recent graduates in a scalable way, securely, online regardless of their location

support conversion by sharing their experience of Plymouth with applicants who

are in receipt of an offer from Plymouth University This project will have a significant impact on the student experience and support the UPSU strategy around employability. UPSU are very supportive of this project. Timeline: the phased rollout of the platform began in November 2015 with established alumni. To date over 900 alumni have registered on the platform and about 10% of these alumni have pledged to offer mentoring or be an ambassador. Phases two and three will see the platform rolled out to selected students and applicants between February and May 2016.

2. Alumni Survey

In 2015 the team worked with SERIO to conduct the biggest survey of Plymouth University alumni in recent years. The aim of the survey was to gain feedback from alumni in terms of what alumni want from the University and how they wish to engage and support the University, from communications to events and mentoring. The survey was promoted

Enclosure F Alumni Board

22 January 2016

Author: J Almond Updated January 2016

through a mailing to 6,700 sampled alumni (PG and UG), by email to 28,000 alumni and through the alumni social media channels. The survey closed on 18 September 2015, over 1,700 responses were received. The online and postal survey was followed by telephone interviews and analysis by SERIO. A draft report is now available and will provide important direction for future alumni engagement activities.

3. Student recruitment

The Alumni Engagement team are collaborating with colleagues in Student Recruitment & Outreach to establish how best to leverage the alumni community to support recruitment objectives, including:

new Alumni Portraits are under development to support the forthcoming Open Days

selected Alumni Portraits are featured in the PG Marketing campaign a bank of over 100 new alumni case studies have been developed to support the

strategic priorities of the University, including recruitment & employability

during graduation week the team identified and photographed class of 2015 ‘star’ graduates for case studies highlighting their early career outcomes and plan to build on this approach in 2016

4. Employability

Over the last 12 months the Alumni Engagement team have developed a structured programme of co-delivery with the Careers & Employability team, including:

working with Exams & Awards and Careers &Employability in a coordinated way to capture contact information for the graduating cohort of students and supporting the delivery of Jobshop (the graduate recruitment agency) at graduation

working with Careers & Employability and TiS to find a data sharing / CRM solution between Sales Force and Donor Strategy

sourcing case studies highlighting career outcomes and paths

sourcing alumni mentors for the UK Widening participation mentoring scheme in the academic year 2015-2016

successfully completed a mentoring pilot in Beijing in 2014-15

promoting volunteering opportunities to alumni

supporting the 2015/16 DLHE survey 5. Fundraising Campaign

The alumni engagement team plays an important supporting role in increasing philanthropic income and sponsorship revenue by:

delivering a structured programme of communications for key stakeholders, including alumni and VIPs, to raise awareness about our institutional successes and ambitions and inform them of opportunities to engage and support

managing Donor Strategy, the Development Office CRM database, including supporting financial reporting

delivering a continuous programme of data cleansing

represented on Campaign Project Boards in order to support the delivery of the Campaign by leveraging engagement opportunities for alumni, VIPs

a major data cleansing and wealth screening project is currently underway

mailing Connect magazine to VIP stakeholders

Enclosure F Alumni Board

22 January 2016

Author: J Almond Updated January 2016

recent key gifts include the Stephen Ball’s gift to the Tamar Engineering Fund

6. International

Over the last 3 years the team have established a collaborative approach with Academic Partnerships (AP) and the International Office, ensuring that our activities support the international strategy and ambitions of Plymouth University, including:

weaving alumni engagement and communications into the plans for international graduation ceremonies (eg Hong Kong, Beijing, Sri Lanka)

sourcing international case studies to support recruitment e.g. British Council campaigns

collaborating with AP, the International Office, and the Events Team to deliver a programme of high quality international alumni events which support recruitment and partnerships

piloting our first international volunteer alumni committee in Hong Kong

7. Student Experience

The alumni engagement engages with over 100,000 alumni worldwide however, by working collaboratively with colleagues across Plymouth University whose remit is more student facing, we can better engage with current students and raise awareness of the alumni community, what it means to be a Plymouth alum and the benefits of the alumni community, including:

implementing the new online community so that, for the first time, current students can access alumni mentors

promoting scholarships and awards

producing a series of alumni profiles in The Knowledge to inspire students and raise awareness

working with the wider External Relations Directorate to deliver an exceptional graduation experience

working collaboratively with the Residence Life team to design mugs and coasters which were placed in student rooms in the halls of residence, carrying an alumni / welcome message during Arrivals week. The objective being to raise awareness of the alumni programme from the point of student arrival at the University

Key Challenges :

· staffing resource to capitalise on new opportunities · internal visibility across a large and diverse University workforce · integration with the University CRM Sales Force

Contact:

Jean Almond Alumni Engagement Manager Email: jean.almond@plymouth.ac.uk https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/your-university/about-us/university-structure/service-areas/marketing-and-communications/development-office