Enclosure CAlumni Board

22 January 2016

Alumni Engagement Plan 2015 - 2017

Contents:

1. The Context for Alumni Engagement at Plymouth University

2. Objectives for Alumni Engagement

3. Developing an Alumni Engagement Plan

4. Timeline

Appendix 1: Current Alumni Engagement Activities

Page | 1

Enclosure CAlumni Board

22 January 2016

1.0 The Context for alumni engagement at Plymouth University

The 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 where alumni support is required. In some cases these projects form part of the University Campaign and so the Alumni Engagement team are represented on the Project Boards. Our aim is to ensure that alumni engagement is woven into the plan for appropriate Campaign projects to maximise opportunities and support the Campaign objectives.

In 2015 - 2017, the Development Office will leverage the Campaign to encourage more of our alumni to make a gift to the University via a Regular Giving programme. Programmes of this nature work to attract new donors and develop a philanthropic pipeline for the University. The quality and quantity of our alumni data and engagement profile are cornerstones to the success of such a programme.

The Alumni Engagement Team are responsible for the data quality of the alumni database, mass communications with alumni, raising awareness about University successes and news, increasing the alumni engagement index, and developing relevant links with key graduates.

This plan aims to build on the recent successes of the Development Office in alumni engagement. In 2013/14, over 10,867 alumni records were updated or ‘found’, increasing the University’s overall ‘contactable’ alumni community to 92,029. Further work is underway to reach ‘lost’ alumni, via an increase in social media and alumni event activity.

During the academic year 2014-2015 the Alumni Engagement Team was restructured and spent time revisiting the services which it offers to alumni, in order to focus on activities which add value for alumni and support University core business. Our approach has been collaborative in nature, involving colleagues in External Relations and many other Departments and Faculties. This revisiting of the alumni ‘offer’ is ongoing and the results of a major alumni survey, carried out by SERIO on behalf of the Alumni Engagement Team, were published in December 2015 and will shape this work further.

However this refresh has already yielded exciting new projects, such as Plymouth Connect and the Alumni Portraits, which have been developed since 2014 and are having a major impact. The Alumni Portraits have significantly raised the profile of alumni on the campus and have been chosen to form the content for the current PG Marketing campaign. Over 350 alumni registered for the new online platform, Plymouth Connect, in the first week of operation and this continues to grow, creating a pool of alumni expertise which current students can draw upon by requesting an alumni mentor. Additional resource was allocated to support the development of alumni case studies and resulted in 70 new alumni case studies being produced to support student employability and recruitment over a period of 4 months.

These projects, which have proved to be highly effective, will be cornerstones of our long term plan. Moving forward, the key will be to listen to our alumni and ensure that we are meeting their needs while continuing to use our resources to best effect by aligning alumni engagement activities to support core business, including student employability, the student experience and student recruitment.

Page | 2

Enclosure CAlumni Board

22 January 2016

To help to drive this work forward and embed it across the University, an Alumni Board will be established to identify ways to strengthen and capitalise upon these connections for mutual benefit: recognising the University as a continuing resource for alumni and alumni as a continuing resource for the University. Drawing upon lessons learned in 2015 and using the alumni survey results as a roadmap for future developments, the Board will ensure that in revisiting the services which we offer to alumni we continue to develop a mutually beneficial relationship with our alumni.

Page | 3

Enclosure CAlumni Board

22 January 2016

2.0 Objectives for Alumni Engagement

The overarching aims for the Alumni Engagement Team at Plymouth University are to strengthen and extend engagement with our alumni and external stakeholders by working with them as ambassadors and enriching our connections with them, so that our current students and the broader University can learn from their knowledge and expertise. To do this we will:

1. establish and increase the Plymouth University alumni engagement index

2. develop a University wide alumni engagement programme which will attract support for and engagement with Plymouth University projects

3. increase the opportunities for our supporters to invest in the work of the University

4. engage alumni in investing time and money in the University

5. improve the volume and quality of the alumni data held by the University

Page | 4

Enclosure CAlumni Board

22 January 2016

3.0 Developing an Alumni Engagement Plan

The proposed approach to delivering an effective Alumni Engagement Plan, which delivers against the objectives outlined in section 2, is set out below.

Phase 1: Establish the Plymouth University alumni engagement index

In order to establish the alumni engagement index, we need to agree a set of measures to gauge the current level of alumni engagement and enable us to benchmark our progress in increasing alumni engagement.

The proposed measures include:

registrations on the Plymouth Connect platform active mentors on the Plymouth Connect platform attendance at graduation attendance at alumni events (UK and international) attendance at University events (e.g. Cornwall lecture, Brain Tumour Research

events, Raiders) number of alumni guest lectures delivered number of alumni receiving Evolve number of click through’s to web pages from Evolve number of unique hits on the alumni web pages number of unique visits to alumni social media channels number of alumni receiving Connect / Plymouth’s progress number of alumni records updated, ‘found’ or added (graduating cohort) number of ‘contactable’ alumni (number and %) number of alumni with an email address on Donor Strategy (number and %) number of alumni with a postal address on Donor Strategy (number and %) number of alumni with employability data on Donor Strategy (number and %) number of employability records updated on Donor Strategy (number and %) number of alumni donating to Plymouth University (number and %) level of donations (number and value) number of alumni engaged in ambassadorial activities (e.g. speaking at applicant

days, British Council Campaigns, case studies, alumni portraits) number of alumni engaged in supporting employability (mentoring, competitions,

placements, speaking)

Following the approval of these measures, the alumni engagement team will produce baseline alumni engagement data benchmarking the current level of activity, to inform our plans and enable us to measure our progress in delivering against our objectives.

Page | 5

Enclosure CAlumni Board

22 January 2016

Phase 2: Benchmarking and research

Using the initial set of comprehensive alumni engagement index data, we will analyse the current level of alumni engagement and alumni engagement activities, internal and external factors, in order to develop a detailed 3-5 year delivery plan:

o identify which groups of alumni are currently engaged o identify the means and level of engagemento benchmark against alumni engagement data from comparable Universitieso identify opportunities, weaknesses etc in current alumni engagement activitieso consider potential methods of building on this and increasing engagemento consider how we support the Plymouth University campaign, priorities such

as employability and recruitment, faculties and 2020 plano conduct research to establish what alumni want from PU at different stages in

their lives (e.g. networking opportunities, accessing journal articles from academics, giving back to current students)

Phase 3: Develop a University wide alumni engagement programme which will increase the alumni engagement index

Using the initial set of comprehensive alumni engagement index data, we will analyse the current level of alumni engagement and alumni engagement activities, internal and external factors, in order to develop a detailed 3-5 year delivery plan:

o use the research data to inform our Alumni Engagement Plan. Given the available resources, where do we focus our activities to increase this engagement most effectively?

o if more resource was available, what would this enable us to achieve?o formulate recommendationso develop KPIso clarify key dependencies (systems, technology and communications) o budgeto staffingo timeline

Phase 4: Implementation, Monitoring and Review

By benchmarking the alumni engagement index, prior to developing a detailed alumni engagement plan, we will be able to monitor and review our progress against a set of clear KPIs.

Page | 6

Enclosure CAlumni Board

22 January 2016

Page | 7

Enclosure CAlumni Board

22 January 2016

4.0 Timeline 2015 - 2016

Activity DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOVPhase 1: Establish the Plymouth University alumni engagement indexPhase 2: Benchmarking and researchPhase 3: Develop a University wide alumni engagement programme which will increase the alumni engagement indexPhase 4: Implementation, Monitoring and Review

Page | 8

Enclosure CAlumni Board

22 January 2016

Appendix 1: Current Alumni Engagement Activities

Supporting employability

o Plymouth Connect (Mentoring)o Case study bank (web and The Hub)o Promoting Jobshopo Alumni as judgeso Alumni as speakerso Successful Mentoring pilot project in Beijing

Supporting recruitment:

o Plymouth Connect (Ambassadors)o Alumni portraits on campuso Case study bank (web and prospectus)o British Council Campaign in Indiao Developing links with key graduateso Sourcing speakers for applicant days

Student Experience

o the Plymouth Connect project will have a significant impact on the student experience by offering a mentoring opportunities for students

o growing working links with UPSUo case studies in The Knowledge highlight careers incomes and inspire

studentso mugs placed in Halls of Residence during welcome week

International

o weaving alumni engagement and communications into the plans for international graduation ceremonies

o international reunions aligned with graduation ceremonies o forming our first international alumni committee in Hong Kong

Events

o Hong Kong graduation and alumni engagemento China stakeholder and alumni engagemento Singapore alumni engagemento Channel Islands graduation and alumni engagemento Greece stakeholder and alumni engagement

Page | 9

Enclosure CAlumni Board

22 January 2016

o Back to Plymouth weekendo Partnership events (e.g. BTR)o Dartmouth Centre for Seapower and Strategyo Dental alumni event 2015o Ad hoc alumni guest lectures

Communications

o Connect magazine o Bi-monthly Evolve e-newslettero Envirosend event emailso Alumni surveys Beijing and Hong Kongo Alumni presence at www.plymouth.ac.uk o Alumni social media

o Facebooko LinkedIno Twitter – @PlymUniAlum launched in 2014o We Chat – launched in 2014

Data

o Wealth screeningo Researching stakeholderso Cleaning and importing current data listso Categorising datao Improving systems and procedureso Supporting Campaign activities

Research

o Dissemination of research news and success to alumni via social media channels

Supporting key University events and partnerships

o Graduationo Lectureso Crowdfundero BTRo Cornwall lecture

Alumni Board

Page | 10