DJS Research is ideally placed to carry out Alumni research projects, as the Education, training and skills sector is one of DJS’s primary areas of expertise. DJS Research has worked extensively with several major universities, and covered a variety of audiences in the projects undertaken. These include postgraduate and undergraduate students, prospective students, and most importantly for this topic, universities’ Alumni. Previous Alumni research has explored the attitudes towards on-going support, information needs, awareness and usage of services aimed at Alumni by their universities.
The market has become increasingly more competitive, which means that keeping track of Alumni is particularly important. Alumni research can help market the institution, as regular contact means they can gather employment, salary and progression prospects; all valuable marketing tools for prospective students. Alumni can also act as advocates of their institution or their course, and can even support the university in other ways, such as volunteering or donating money. Therefore, keeping touch with Alumni is therefore an important duty.
Objectives of Alumni research tend to focus on a few key areas. Firstly, client universities want to update their database with Alumni’s communications preferences, employment status, salary level and whether they would be interested in any other courses on offer. Another aim is to establish trends and insight for PR, reports and product development. The client would also find it useful to identify the more engaged members which they can use to carry out more regular research with. The research results would be used to improve services and to prioritise development of services to students after their graduation.
Alumni research is just one example of education research that DJS Research has a wealth of experience in. The education and skills research team at DJS can understand the context that educative organisations face, and has a strong heritage in the education sector. The countless projects for universities, colleges and sector skills councils, and the wide range of audiences reached by DJS, demonstrate this expertise in the education sector.