alumni relationship management in europe
TRANSCRIPT
Alumni Relationship Management in Europe
Presented by Azri and Petrus Communications
in cooperation with the
INTAL Special Interest Group of the EAIE
EAIE Conference, Kraków, September 2005
Table of Contents
ABOUT AZRI...............................................................................................................3
ABOUT PETRUS COMMUNICATIONS......................................................................3
ABOUT INTAL.............................................................................................................4
ABOUT THE SURVEY ................................................................................................4
HIGHLIGHTS...............................................................................................................5
ORGANIZATION OF ALUMNI RELATIONS: ......................................................................5 ALUMNI RELATIONS ACTIVITIES: .................................................................................5
SUMMARY OF RESULTS...........................................................................................6
1. WHO DEALS WITH ALUMNI RELATIONS AT YOUR INSTITUTION? ..................................6 2. IMPORTANCE OF ALUMNI RELATIONS AT EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS:...........................6 3. IMPORTANCE OF BENEFITS OF ALUMNI RELATIONS FOR EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS: ....7 4. THE KINDS OF TOOLS THAT ARE USED TO MANAGE ALUMNI ACTIVITY AND COMMUNICATION WITH ALUMNI: ..............................................................................8 5. SATISFACTION WITH THE TOOLS THAT ARE BEING USED: ..........................................9 6. SERVICES THAT ARE OFFERED TO ALUMNI: ............................................................10 7. POPULARITY OF SERVICES OFFERED TO ALUMNI: ...................................................11 8. TOOLS OFFERED ONLINE ......................................................................................12 9. ALUMNI ACTIVITIES ARE FUNDED BY: .....................................................................13 10. THE THREE BIGGEST CHALLENGES FACED IN ALUMNI RELATIONS WORK: ...............13
CONTACTS ...............................................................................................................14
EAIE: European Association for International Education www.eaie.org
INTAL: International Alumni Relations – a special interest group of the EAIE
About Azri We help Educational Institutions leverage a host of emerging internet technologies to enhance their mission as academic centers of excellence. Teachers and students with access to the right technologies are experiencing learning though hybrid instructional methods and strategies that include the classroom and the web. We offer consulting, development and infrastructure services that:
• Develop and manage student as well as alumni relations • Support life-long learning initiatives • Aid effective course and learning management • Stimulate virtual networked learning environments • Comply with learning content standards such as IMS, SCORM etc.
Our philosophy is based on simple business principles, agile project methodologies, open-source software and a good work ethic, which we believe will help us build sustainable win-win relationships with our associates, clients, partners and contractors.
About Petrus Communications Petrus Communications specialises in market research and direct marketing among students and recent graduates all over Europe. Our clients are educational institutions and graduate recruiters. We help them understand and engage with their target audience using measurable and effective tools. We work directly with university marketing, alumni or recruitment teams to advise on or generate new ideas, test and implement them. Our two key areas of expertise are:
Market Research & Consultancy: Desk research and market information / focus groups and student panels / online and face-to-face surveys / Internal Marketing Audits Direct and Campus Marketing: Organising recruitment events and campus activities / email and web campaigns / partnerships with student organisations / recruitment events.
We have over 10 years of experience in European Education and Recruitment, and recent clients include: Shell, Università Bocconi, Christchurch College Canterbury, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Goldman Sachs, Unilog. We have offices in London, Paris and Krakow. For more information go to www.petruscommunications.com
About INTAL INTAL was established as a special interest group within the EAIE around 4 years ago and focuses on all aspects of international alumni relations. INTAL aims to assist Alumni Offices setting up a new International Alumni Programme, as well as those who wish to develop an existing Programme, by sharing the ideas and knowledge of EAIE members with experience and interest in this field.
About the Survey Alumni Relations is growing in importance in Europe for many reasons. Sharing information about what is working and what is needed can help us become more successful in this discipline. The survey was designed to explore what alumni-related activities are being used successfully now, and what might be required in the future. With the interim results of the survey from around 110 Universities in Europe, the survey has produced information from many different cultures and countries; Belgium 7 France 7 Spain 3 Germany 12 Denmark 6 Hungary 1 UK 9 Ireland 2 Estonia 2 Monaco 1 Finland 9 Netherlands 18 Norway 2 Poland 4 Portugal 6 Sweden 9 Switzerland 3 Turkey 5 The full analysis will include comparisons between countries, and between sizes of institutions, as although the sample size is not statistically significant, we feel that a lot can be learned from looking at the differences. We are hoping to launch the survey specifically in the UK and will share these results via the INTAL pages on the EAIE website. Although over 150 surveys were answered, we filtered out universities that filled out more than 1 questionnaire as well as universities that were not located in Europe. The survey has reached the target audience of staff members responsible for university affairs (over 60% of respondents represent administrative and service-provision departments). In this document we refer to institutions of higher education in Europe as universities. This comprises business schools, universities, polytechnics, etc.
Highlights
Organization of Alumni Relations:
• Most European universities have a separate alumni relations office, none-the-less 8% claim to not have anyone in charge of alumni relations.
• The majority of respondents said that Alumni relations is of strategic or high importance for their university.
• University promotion, alumni tracking, and new student recruitment are felt to be the most important benefits to be gained from engagement with alumni.
• Generating additional funding from alumni is not seen to be an important benefit whereas communication with alumni is.
Alumni Relations Activities:
• Most respondents already have or plan on building an online portal or online database.
• Over 20% are not satisfied with their local and international alumni networks. • Less than 35% were satisfied with their printed newsletters however over
50% were satisfied with their online newsletters. • Over half the universities represented accept donations from alumni however
only 20% run fundraising campaigns. • 55% of respondents feel that the Alumni Relations culture in Europe is one of
the major challenges in their alumni relations work.
Summary of Results
1. Who deals with alumni relations at your institution? Alumni relations office 55% Alumni groups/clubs/networks 51% Independent association run by former students
40%
Departmental alumni associations 31% External relations department 25% Marketing and recruitment department 29% Development office 15% Corporate communications department 10% Other 11% No one 8% The survey demonstrates the importance of alumni relations and also the wide variety of alumni relations structures in use.
2. Importance of alumni relations at European institutions: High importance 34% Strategic importance 30% Some importance 25% Little importance 8% No importance 2% While over 60% of institutions have placed high and strategic importance on alumni relations, later in the analysis we see that only 34% of alumni offices have their own budget, which suggests a lack of financial support to match the ambitions or expectations of the alumni structures at present.
3. Importance of benefits of alumni relations for European institutions:
Promotion, tracking, and recruitment are seen to be the key benefits from engaging with alumni. Help with careers and internships are two strong potential benefits, and 40% see additional funding as a potential benefit, however just over 20% of respondents see additional funding as a key benefit. Unlike American universities, the European universities in our survey are placing far greater importance on communication with their alumni as opposed to seeing alumni as a source of funding. Potential benefits highly suited to the European market, such as implementing life long learning or finding research projects, did not score highly.
Importance of Alumni relation benefits
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Promoting the institution
Generating additional funding
Student Recruitment- Undergraduate
Student Recruitment- Graduate
Finding students internships
Material/case studies for student projects
Gathering information about what happens to your graduates
Finding research projects
Finding research funding
Help with finding jobs for your graduates
Implementing initiatives for life-long learning
Very important Quite important A bit important Not at all important No answer
4. The kinds of tools that are used to manage alumni activity and communication with alumni:
Over 75% of universities plan to have or already have an online alumni database and over half have or plan to have printed and/or online newsletters. Local alumni networks and mailing lists are already available or will be available for almost every university with a university web page providing a point of reference. The largest “pipeline” in the area of alumni relations in Europe (what is planned) has to do with online activity. Over 25% plan to develop an online alumni portal and an online alumni database.
Tools in use
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Offline alumni database
Online alumni database Mailing lists
University web site
Alumni section of university web site Online alumni portal
Outsourced database management
Outsourced mailing services
Printed newsletter Printed magazine
E-newsletter
Online magazine Local alumni networks
International alumni networks
Existing Planned Interest but not yet planned Not Considering No answer
5. Satisfaction with the tools that are being used:
A wide variety of tools are being used by European universities, with good levels of satisfaction reported for many. Physical activities seem to be the main areas of concern or difficulty - over 20% of respondents are not so satisfied with local and international alumni networks.
Some low levels of satisfaction simply indicate that that kind of service is not really being used at present, for example, outsourced database management.
Satisfaction with tools
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Offline alumni database Online alumni database
Mailing lists University web site
Alumni section of university web site Online alumni portal
Outsourced database management Outsourced mailing services
Printed newsletter Printed magazine
E-newsletter Online magazine
Local alumni networks International alumni networks
Very satisfied Satisfied Not so satisfied Dissatisfied No answer/ Not used
6. Services that are offered to alumni:
The survey clearly shows that universities have a solid set of services they offer to alumni and that if we look at ‘planned’ services, these are set to become more sophisticated. Many universities are interested but have not yet planned actual implementation for career advice services, business directory, or mentorship programs. Some contradicting results also emerged – over half accept donations yet only 20% run fundraising campaigns; 25% publish alumni directories yet only 5% publish business directories. The most widely offered services are news, social and professional networking.
Alumni Services offered
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
We organise professional events We organise social events
We offer career advice We communicate job offers
We sell university memorabilia We run fundraising campaigns
We facilitate business networking We facilitate social networking
We accept donations We publish an Alumni events calendar
We publish an alumni directory We distribute news about the institution
We publish a business directory We organize discussion forums
We offer discounts on post-grad courses & business courses
We run a mentor programmes
Happening
Planned
Interest but not yet planned
Not considering
Done in past but not now
No answer given
7. Popularity of services offered to alumni:
In terms of how popular are the services on offer, alumni are checking news about the institution and are interested in organized social events. Donations and professional networking remain much less well used than the news and socializing on offer. In fact, the services that are the most well used, are those that are most regularly offered.
Popularity of services offered to Alumni
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100 %
We organise professional events We organise social events
We offer career advice We communicate job offers
We sell university memorabilia We run fundraising campaigns
We facilitate business networking We facilitate social networking
We accept donations We publish an Alumni events calendar
We publish an Alumni directory We distribute news about the institution
We publish a business directory We organize discussion forums
We offer discounts on post-grad courses & business courses
We run a mentor programme
Very well used Well used Used sometimes Hardly used at all No answer / not offered
8. Tools offered online
Online service offerings
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
We organize professional events
We organize social events
We offer career advice
We communicate job offers
We sell university memorabilia
We run fundraising campaigns
We facilitate business networking
We facilitate social networking
We accept donations
We publish an Alumni events calendar
We publish an alumni directory
We distrbute news about the institution
We publish a business directory
We organize discussion forums
We run a mentor programme
We currently do this online We would like to do this online We don't want to do this online No answer
Clearly some services are more suited to online provision than offline, for example, communicating job offers and publishing information which changes regularly (eg events calendar and directory). Even some of the more complex services are offered online, such as mentor programmes.
There is currently a lot of potential for developing online services as in almost all cases as many institutions are planning to provide the service online as are doing it already.
9. Alumni activities are funded by: Alumni Relations office has a budget 34% Membership fees 19% External relations or corporate communication budget 8% Academic departments 5% No specific funding available 15% Donations 1% Other 19% Other included a number of different offices such as ‘administrative budget’, ‘special budget from the rector’ and ‘a combination of several sources’. Clearly there are a number of different funding models, including membership fees. If the ‘culture’ of alumni relations in Europe is a potential barrier to fundraising, there is however room for universities to provide a wider range of services for which could be charged a membership fee. By providing better services, European universities could increase the value proposition to their alumni and thus make attractive membership options for them.
10. The three biggest challenges faced in alumni relations work: Lack of funding 63% Culture of alumni relations in Europe 55% Lack of HR capacity 49% Lack of committed volunteers 35% Lack of alumni contacts 33% Lack of management support 24% Lack of know-how 17% The analysis has shown that universities are not proactively fundraising, yet at the same time are highlighting the lack of funding as a major problem. HR capacity is strongly linked to the lack of funding. The fact that ‘culture’ is the second biggest challenge suggests that many institutions have not yet resolved the question of fundraising, and the position of their alumni strategy within the culture of their institution or their country. Almost a quarter of respondents cited lack of management support as a major challenge, so even though alumni relations was cited earlier as an issue of high or strategic importance, it is not being given the according level of management support.
Contacts Azri Hanna Mokritsky +49-551-38919047 [email protected] www.azri.biz Petrus Communications Kirsten Williamson, Managing Director 00 33 1 28 58 39 14 [email protected] www.petruscommunications.com INTAL Serge Sych (Central European University) [email protected] www.eaie.org/INTAL