Enhancing student experience through alumni engagement: building a lifelong community.

Burgess, Katherine

Abstract

During academic session 2022/23, a graduate engagement project was undertaken for the BSc(Hons) Applied Sport and Exercise Science course at Robert Gordon University. The aim of the project was to enhance students' knowledge of possible career pathways, enhance student engagement through relatable real-life applications, and to create a lifelong community for our students and graduates. The project began by contacting all graduates from the course since its commencement in 2012 (n=329), through the use of emails, LinkedIn and snowballing techniques. Graduates were asked to complete a short survey and indicate whether they were willing to be involved further. As a result, 108 responses to the survey were collected. Outputs from the survey have included: the creation of a "Graduate Journeys" document, to assist current students in identifying potential career pathways and employability skills; and the creation of an advice document for current students, containing 'words of wisdom' to help in their studies. In response to the survey, 59 graduates expressed an interest in finding out more about hosting student placements; this has resulted in 8 new placement providers for academic session 2022/23 and 2 interested in offering placements for 2023/24 (10 investigated further, but their employer was not in a position to take on placement students at this time). 83 respondents expressed an interest in finding out more about guest-lecturing. Further contact with these 83 graduates lead to 21 indicating those aspects of the course to which their expertise and job role best aligned. From this, 13 were selected to present to current students, spread across the full range of stages and modules on the course. All students and graduates were invited to join a LinkedIn group, to create a lifelong learning community. This presentation provides an evaluation of the project and its impact.

Citation

BURGESS, K. 2023. Enhancing student experience through alumni engagement: building a lifelong community. Presented at the 2023 International higher education teaching and learning annual conference (HETL 2023): re-imagining education: collaboration and compassion, 12-14 June 2023, Aberdeen, UK.

• Presentation Conference Type: Presentation / Talk
• Conference Name: 2023 International higher education teaching and learning annual conference (HETL 2023): re-imagining education: collaboration and compassion
• Start Date: Jun 12, 2023
• End Date: Jun 14, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jun 26, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 26, 2023
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: Sport science students; Sport science graduates; Alumni relations; Alumni engagement
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1997509