Why Now Is the Moment to Engage Alumni: Navigating Higher Education’s Stormy Seas
Higher education is navigating unprecedented challenges: shrinking endowments, political scrutiny, declining public trust, and generational shifts in alumni expectations. In this turbulent climate, alumni engagement isn’t just a nicety: it’s a lifeline. While financial pressures might tempt institutions to cut back, the data* reveals that now is precisely the time to invest in alumni relationships. […]
The Importance of Benchmarking
In the competitive landscape of education, institutions are working to enhance alumni engagement strategies to grow a robust, supportive community that contributes financially and advocates for the institution. One practical approach to achieving this goal is benchmarking against both peer institutions and internal year-over-year progress. The Importance of Benchmarking Against Peer Institutions One of the […]
What Alumni Value Most
Over the past 20 years, the PEG Ltd. team has surveyed thousands of alumni, and a clear theme has emerged: alumni want to see the value of their degrees increase over time. We call this concept “equity of degree.” Alumni view their education as a lifelong investment and expect their alma mater to help that […]
Patching up the Leak of the Communication Gap with Hispanic Alumni
Hispanic alumni have the highest Satisfaction Score compared to any other Ethnicity group. Additionally, Hispanic alumni report that “Not knowing how to get involved” is the largest barrier holding them back from participating in Alumni Events, as compared to other alumni ethnic Population. This difference of high satisfaction and higher scores on “Not knowing how […]
Solving the “Paradox of Event Attendance” – Leveraging Communications
There are many “generally accepted truths” that we hear over and over from our university and college clients. In spite of the power of such paradigms, there appears to be ongoing debate about the veracity of some. One topic getting a lot of attention is sponsored events and the attendance implications of those events. Three […]
Understanding the NPS for Higher Education
At the 2014 CASE District IV Annual Conference, I presented on alumni opinions and feedback with Graham Stewart, Vice Chancellor for Alumni Relations, at Vanderbilt University. At that meeting, Graham spoke about his use of the Net Promoter Score (NPS), a process taken from top business consultants that centers on asking stakeholders about their willingness […]
Engagement Through a Celebration of Our Differences
Not all alumni have the same experience of their alma mater, either as a student or as an alumnus/a. For every individual, each experience is filtered through their individual and cultural lens. Research reveals, however, that there are similarities (of such perceptions) among members of distinct demographic groups. A few of the most important demographic […]