Encl D - Alumni Engagement Survey Report DRAFT 05.11

Enclosure DAlumni Board22 January 2016

Plymouth University Alumni Engagement Survey

Draft Report

November 2015

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Enclosure DAlumni Board22 January 2016


Draft Report

November 2015

SERIOA Plymouth University Centre of Expertise

Research and InnovationPlymouth Science Park9 Research WayDerrifordPlymouthPL6 8BT

t 01752 588942f 01752 588987e [email protected]

www.serio.ac.uk

ii

http://www.serio.ac.uk/

mailto:[email protected]

Plymouth University Alumni Engagement Survey Report

Plymouth University Alumni Engagement SurveyResearch Report

Contents

Executive Summary i

1. Introduction 11.1 Background to the Research 11.2 Method 1

2. Respondent Profile 32.1 Introduction 32.2 Respondent Characteristics and Graduation Year 32.3 Previous Involvement as a Student 42.4 Current Circumstances 5

3. Previous Alumni Engagement 73.1 Introduction 73.2 Awareness of the University’s Aim, Reputation and External Work 73.3 Awareness of and Access to Alumni Services 83.4 Service Improvements 133.5 Previous Donations 143.6 Current forms of Communication with the University 163.7 The Alumni Service Generally 17

4. Plymouth University’s Future Offer 194.1 Introduction 194.2 New Alumni Services 194.3 Future Event Attendance 224.4 Careers Support 244.5 Future Communications 254.6 The Future of the Alumni Group 264.6.1 Naming the Group 264.6.2 Increasing Alumni Engagement 274.6.3 Tailoring the Alumni Offer 27

5. Future Contributions to the University 295.1 Introduction 295.2 Supporting the University 295.3 Barriers to Participation 32

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5.4 Financial Donations to the University 335.5 Future Priorities 35

6. Conclusion 366.1 Introduction 366.2 Key Findings 366.2.1 Previous Engagement 36

6.2.2 Satisfaction with and Improvements to Current Services 36

6.2.3 Future Needs 366.2.4 Attending Events 376.2.5 Donations 376.2.6 Supporting Students 376.2.7 Communications 386.3 Implications 38

Technical Annex 40

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Executive Summary

1. Background to the Research

Strengthening alumni engagement is a key priority for Plymouth University. However in order to do this it is important to understand how alumni currently access university services and how they would like to see the university engage with them in the future. In recognition of the importance of this, Plymouth University’s External Relations team asked SERIO, an applied research unit based in the university’s Research and Innovation Directorate, to undertake a survey of university alumni. The aim of the survey was to establish the services and opportunities graduates would like to access through the university’s alumni service.

2. Method

The research methods primarily consisted of a large-scale survey of former Plymouth University graduates1 whose details were held on the university’s alumni database, and who were contacted either through email or post. This was supplemented by a series of in-depth interviews with a selection of graduates who had completed the survey. A total of 1,718 completed survey questionnaires were returned and 15 follow-up telephone interviews were completed.

3. Respondent Profile

Survey respondents came from a variety of backgrounds although younger, more recent, graduates tended to predominate. Over half the respondents (53%) were aged between 26 and 44 years of age, while over two-fifths of respondents (42%) graduated between 2010 and 2015. A large majority (82%) were based within the UK, of whom over half lived in the South West. Sixty-seven percent of all respondents were in full-time employment at the time of the survey, while 10% were self-employed and 8% were part-time.

4. Previous Alumni Engagement

Previous engagement and awareness of the services available to alumni was limited. Over half the respondents (56%) knew of the alumni events, but only a minority were aware of the careers support (42%) and library access (33%). Furthermore only 8% of respondents (137) had accessed at least one of these three types of service.

Approximately three quarters of users were satisfied with the events they had attended and the library access available to alumni. However less than half (46%) of the users were satisfied with the careers support, although it should be noted that the service may have changed considerably since some of the respondents had last used it. Nevertheless, both survey respondents and interview participants highlighted that they would like more tailored support to be provided. In addition a slight majority of respondents (52%) felt that careers support should be offered to alumni for a longer period than three years after graduation.

1 This includes graduates of Plymouth University’s predecessors: Plymouth Polytechnic and Polytechnic South West.

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A majority of respondents (60%) received the alumni newsletter, Evolve, and interview participants rated the newsletter highly in comparison to communications from other alumni networks they were members of. Encouragingly, over half the respondents were aware of the university’s standing as one of the top 50 ‘modern universities’, although awareness of its research specialisms and external work could potentially be improved.

5. Plymouth University’s Future Offer

Respondents expressed interest in a variety of possible support services, with those that would enable them to update their knowledge and skills being particularly sort after. This included access to online educational resources (72%) and discounted CPD and executive courses (63%). The interest in these services amongst respondents who had graduated over 10 years ago suggests that even alumni who have advanced further in their professional life may still look to the university to help them progress and further develop their careers.

The majority of respondents (85%) would like to receive the email newsletter, a higher proportion than those who currently receive it. Overall respondents expressed a preference for attending reunions (71%) and social or networking events (54%) in Plymouth. However 40% expressed a desire for social or networking events in another UK city, with London being the most popular choice.

6. Future Contributions to the University

A large majority of alumni expressed interest in supporting the university and its students in some way. More than half indicated they would be happy to provide a career profile (57%), mentor a student online (55%) and speak to a student at an event or workshop (51%). Those alumni who had graduated most recently tended to prefer to contribute through online mentoring, while less recent graduates were more open to providing a career profile. Factors which respondents highlighted would discourage them from closer engagement included: time constraints (65%); distance from the university (64%) and family and job commitments (60%). While less than half felt discouraged by the cost of participation this was a key concern for those who had graduated in the last 10 years.

Just 10% of respondents indicated that they would consider donating money to the university, with supporting students from underprivileged backgrounds being seen as the most important priority for donations. The desire to give to other organisations was the main reason alumni cited for not wanting to donate any money (40% of respondents), followed by uncertainty over where the contributions would go and how they would be used (37%).

7. Conclusion and Implications

This survey, the first to seek the views of the university’s alumni community in general, highlights how alumni have previously engaged with the university, as well as their future support needs and how they might also contribute to supporting existing university activity. Given the breadth of issues covered, we would recommend that External Relations study the findings in detail with a view to informing the development of their engagement plan. However some implications have emerged which could serve as a useful starting point:

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The finding that only a minority of respondents were aware of careers support and alumni access to the library, alongside qualitative feedback from interview participants suggests that alumni engagement could be enhanced through further communication of the services that are available. Consequently, it may be useful to review how awareness of alumni services could be improved, for all groups of alumni, but particularly recent graduates.

Survey responses revealed an appetite for the provision of services to alumni related to improving their educational and professional skills. The development of online learning, particularly through open educational resources and open access journals, may be a useful means by which the university could help support alumni with their continuing professional development.

The interview feedback suggests that there are grounds for targeting careers and professional development support at more recent graduates. However it also suggests an appetite for some support in this area later in a graduates’ career. Consequently it would be useful to consider how the university might also support more experienced alumni with re-training or help with career changes.

The survey feedback regarding preferred alumni services found that alumni who had graduated over 20 years ago were particularly keen on an online directory to search for their old classmates. This suggests that finding old colleagues is an important priority for this group. The university could consider how such a directory could be developed and how they could provide further opportunities for alumni in this group to re-connect with their old peers and with the university more generally.

Careers support was also identified as a key priority area by both survey respondents and interview participants, in terms of how alumni can contribute to the university. The university has recently worked with alumni to develop career profiles in different subject areas and it is clear that this is something which many alumni would be willing to do. In addition, the university might consider how it could develop opportunities for both face-to-face and online mentoring.

Just over a third of respondents highlighted that they would not consider donating money to the university as they were unsure as to where their contributions would go or how they would be used. In light of this, further communications regarding how the donations are spent and how they are helping the university could be circulated amongst the alumni community. It is also important to note that the majority of respondents who would consider donating money in the future would like it to support students from underprivileged backgrounds.

The low response rate for the postal element of the survey, and the interest alumni expressed in online communications, such as the newsletter, highlights the importance of ensuring alumni can be engaged through email. However acquiring email contact details of alumni after they have already graduated, and are no longer able to access their university accounts, can be challenging. One solution might be to provide a permanent university account for all alumni, as was suggested in the survey. However, the university might also consider requiring students to provide a secondary email address when they join the university, which could potentially be used when they leave.

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Plymouth Alumni Engagement Survey

Main Report

1. Introduction

1.1 Background to the Research

Alumni engagement is a key priority for Plymouth University. In an increasingly competitive higher education environment a graduate’s success in their career can reflect well on the university’s reputation. Furthermore the university can benefit substantially from alumni experience, expertise, and financial support. There is much that the university can do to support its alumni and encourage them to maintain and develop their engagement. However in order to further develop this work it is important to understand how alumni currently access university services and how they would like to see the university engage with them in the future.

In recognition of the importance of better understanding its alumni, External Relations at Plymouth University asked SERIO, an applied research unit based in the university’s Research and Innovation Directorate, to undertake a survey of university alumni. The aim of the survey was to establish the services and opportunities alumni would like to access through the university’s alumni service. In particular, the survey looked to explore whether there were any differences in the preferences and requirements of alumni according to the length of time since they graduated from Plymouth University. The findings discussed in this report will go onto inform the university’s Alumni Engagement Plan which will provide a framework for focusing the alumni activities and services.

1.2 Method

The research method primarily consisted of a large-scale survey of former Plymouth University graduates2 who were on Plymouth University’s alumni database, supplemented by a series of in-depth interviews with a selection of graduates who had completed the survey.

The survey was emailed to all of the 35,490 contacts on the alumni database whose email address was known, and was strongly promoted by External Relations through the alumni social media channels. However for the majority of contacts on the database (approximately 64,000) an email address was not available raising concerns regarding the validity of the results. Consequently, in order to address this issue, the survey was disseminated via post to a sample of these contacts for whom no email was available. The sample that was initially drawn was based on 10% of the records (6,400), however given the low numbers of alumni in the database who had graduated over 20 years ago, the sample was increased to 6,7043.

2 This includes graduates of Plymouth University’s predecessors: Plymouth Polytechnic and Polytechnic South West. 3 This was based on 100% of all alumni who graduated over 30 years ago, 30% of alumni who had graduated between 20 to 30 years ago and 10% of all other alumni in the database.

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Altogether a total of 42,194 people received an invitation to complete the alumni survey either via email or through the post. Of these recipients, 1,718 completed and returned the survey questionnaire, a response rate of 4%, which included 1,524 email responses and 194 postal responses.

A total of 15 follow-up interviews were conducted over the phone with graduates who had completed the Alumni Survey. The following five graduation year groups were identified and three interviews were undertaken with alumni from each group:

0-5 years since graduation;

5-10 years;

10-20 years;

20-30 years;

30 years plus.

The aim of the interviews was to provide additional depth through qualitative data to support the findings of the main survey and to probe in further detail the responses collected. The 15 interviewees were targeted for recruitment on the basis of how long ago they had graduated from Plymouth University.

Analysis of the survey data was completed using SPSS and Excel, while the semi-structured interviews were analysed via NVivo. In order to capture any differences within the alumni population the analysis was broken down by the five graduation year groups and geographic location of the respondents. In addition cross-tabs were created, where applicable by the subject area and type of degree (undergraduate or postgraduate) held by the respondents.

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2. Respondent Profile

2.1 Introduction

This section provides an overview of the characteristics of the respondents. This includes the respondents’ year of graduation, chosen subject area, and level of qualification achieved.

2.2 Respondent Characteristics and Graduation Year

Of the 1718 respondents who completed the survey, 1712 specified their gender. Of these, 51% were male and 48% were female. As shown in Table 1 below, just over half the respondents (53%) were between 26 and 44 years of age, and 24% were aged between 45 and 64.

Table 1: Age of Respondents

Age No. of Respondents Percentage

Under 25 328 19%

26-34 498 29%

35-44 401 23%

45-54 264 15%

55-64 151 9%

65+ 67 4%

Base: All respondents (n=1709, missing=9)

All 1718 respondents were asked in which year they graduated from Plymouth University or its predecessors. In the case where respondents had graduated on more than one

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Summary of Key Points: Respondent Characteristics and Graduation Year: Over half the

respondents (53%) were aged between 26 and 44 years of age, whilst a quarter were aged between 45 and 65. Over two-fifths of respondents (42%) graduated between 2010 and 2015.

Student History: 77% of respondents had studied at undergraduate level only. The most commonly studied programmes were marine, earth, geography and environment (22%) and business, law, logistics and management (20%).

Current Circumstances: A large majority of respondents (82%) were based within the UK, of whom over half lived in the South West. Among non-UK respondents a majority were based in either other EU countries or in Asia. Sixty-seven percent of all respondents were in full-time employment at the time of the survey, while 10% were self-employed and 8% were part-time.


occasion, they were asked to identify the year in which they had most recently graduated. As shown in Chart 1 42% of respondents graduated between 2010 and 2015, while 14% had graduated over 20 years ago.

Chart 1: Length of Time since Graduating from Plymouth University

30+

20 - 30

10 - 20

5 - 10

0 - 5

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

5

9

25

18

42

Percentage of Respondents

Year

s si

nce

Gra

duat

ion

Base: All respondents (n= 1718)

2.3 Previous Involvement as a Student

Of the 1707 graduates who provided a response, a large majority (77%) indicated that they had only studied at undergraduate level at the university. Of the remaining respondents 12% studied at postgraduate level only and 11% studied at both postgraduate and undergraduate level at the university.

Table 2 provides a breakdown of respondents by the area of study of their most recent degree. As shown, the areas of ‘Marine, Earth, Geography’ and ‘Environment or Business, Law, Logistics and Management’ were particularly well represented (with 42% of respondents). In contrast only seven respondents had studied in medicine and dentistry.

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Table 2: Area of Study for Most Recent Degree

Area of Study No. of Respondents Percentage

Marine, Earth, Geography and Environment 379 22%

Business, Law, Logistics and Management 338 20%

Computing, Mathematics and Statistics 147 9%

Psychology and Social Sciences 140 8%

Education and Teaching 136 8%

Art Design, Media and Performance 113 7%

Biological, Health, Chemical and Agricultural Sciences

106 6%

Engineering and Robotics 81 5%

Humanities and Languages 79 5%

Health and Social Work 78 5%Architecture, Design, Building and Construction

56 3%

Hospitality, Tourism, Sport and Leisure 33 2%

Medicine and Dentistry 7 0%

Other 24 1%

Base: All respondents (n=1717; missing=1).

2.4 Current Circumstances

The majority of the 1717 graduates responding (82%) indicated that they were currently a resident of the UK, whilst 18% indicated that they were not. Of those respondents who currently live within the UK and who provided postcode details, just over half (57%) lived in the South West.

Three hundred and four of the 310 respondents who currently live outside of the UK provided the name of the country in which they currently live. As shown in Table 3, the largest concentration of alumni was in other EU member states, followed by Asia.

Table 3: Country of Current Residence (non UK Based Graduates)

Area of the World No. of Respondents Percentage

EU 99 33%

Asia 68 22%

North America 57 19%

Oceania 40 13%

Other Europe 20 7%

South America 3 1%Base: All respondents living outside of the UK (n=304; missing=6).

The survey then explored respondents’ current occupational status. As shown in Table 4 below, a large majority (85%) were employed or self-employed in some capacity.

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Table 4: Occupational Status

Occupational Status No. of Respondents Percentage

Employed full-time 1151 67%

Self-employed 170 10%

Employed part-time 133 8%

Retired 85 5%

In full-time education or training 73 4%

Unemployed 57 3%

Other 45 3%Base: All respondents (n=1714, missing=4).

Other responses regarding current occupational status included: long term sickness/illness (12); caring responsibilities (9); retired but continuing to work (5); part-time education (5); voluntary work (3); maternity leave (3); housewife (3); casual employment (1); and preparing for study (1).

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3. Previous Alumni Engagement

3.1 Introduction

This section outlines respondents’ previous engagement with the alumni services provided by Plymouth University, as well as how informed they feel about developments at the university.

3.2 Awareness of the University’s Aim, Reputation and External Work

Ensuring alumni are aware of the university’s mission, as well as new developments and successes, may help to instil a sense of pride in the university which could be important for encouraging future engagement. With this in mind, respondents were presented with a list of statements about the university (Chart 2), through which they were asked how aware they were of the university’s aims, reputation and external work. As can be seen from the chart just over half the respondents (54%) were ‘very’ or ‘quite aware’ of the university’s standing as one of the top 50 ‘modern universities’ in the world, whilst 46% were aware of the university’s aim to be the ‘enterprise university’. However awareness of the university’s work with external organisations was somewhat lower, with 40% being aware of the work with businesses and 36% being aware of the work with local communities.

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Summary of Key Points: Access and Awareness: Awareness of the university services available to

alumni was limited. Over half the respondents (56%) knew of the alumni events, but only a minority were aware of the careers support (42%) and library access (33%). In total only 8% of respondents (137) had accessed at least one of the three types of service.

Satisfaction Levels: Approximately three quarters of users were satisfied with the services that they received when accessing the library and the events, however users were less satisfied with the careers support (46%).

Donations of Time or Money: A fifth of respondents had donated either time and/or money to the university before. A higher proportion of those who had graduated 30+ years ago donated money than other groups. Alumni who donated were most commonly motivated by a desire to give something back to the university.

Communications: A majority of participants (60%) received the alumni newsletter – Evolve, and interview participants rated the newsletter highly in comparison to communications from other alumni networks they were members of. However awareness of and access to the alumni network social media communications was much lower.


Chart 2: Awareness of the University’s Aims, Reputation and External Work

The university's work with local communities (B: 1712; M:6)

The university's work with businesses (B: 1711; M: 7)

Plymouth University's standing as one of the top 50 'modern universities' in the world (B: 1711; M: 7)

Plymouth University's research specialisms (B: 1715; M: 3)

Plymouth University's aim to be the 'enterprise university' (Base: 1716; missing: 2)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Very aware Quite aware Neither/Nor Not very aware Not at all aware


Respondents who graduated within the past 10 years were more aware of the university’s aims, reputation and external work, compared with those who graduated less recently. For example, of those students who graduated between 0-10 years ago 34% were aware of the university’s aim to be the ‘enterprise university’ compared to 20% of other graduates. Further details can be found in Tables A-C of the Technical Annex.

3.3 Awareness of and Access to Alumni Services

The survey explored how aware respondents were of the services offered by Plymouth University to its alumni; including careers support which is available for three years following graduation, access to the University library and networking and reunion events. As can be seen from Chart 3 over half the respondents were aware of the events, while awareness of the careers support (which is available for three years after graduation) and library access was somewhat lower. Actual use of the three services was much lower, with only 8% of all respondents (137) having accessed at least one of the services. This equated to 11% of all respondents (1197) who were aware of at least one service.

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Chart 3: Awareness of Alumni Services and whether they have been Accessed

Careers support Alumni access to the Plymouth University

library

Events0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

42%33%

56%

5% 4% 5%

Aware of service Accessed service%

of R

espo

nden

ts

Base: All respondents (n=1718).

Further analysis revealed that:

Respondents who graduated 0-5 years ago were more aware of the careers support and access to the library, than those who graduated later. Sixty-five percent of respondents who graduated over 30 years ago were aware of events compared to 59% of other graduates.

Respondents living within the South West had a greater awareness of the careers support and library access than those living outside the region. Despite this the proportion of respondents in the South West who had accessed the library (4%) was broadly the same as the proportion of those living outside the region (3%). Interestingly, a slightly higher proportion of international students (8%) reported that they had attended an event than those living within the UK (5%).

Those respondents who studied only at undergraduate level were less aware of the services available than those who had studied at postgraduate level or both. For example, 42% of respondents who studied at undergraduate level only were aware of the careers support, compared to 54% of other graduates.

Further information on the differences by date of graduation, region and type of study are included in Tables D – F of the Technical Annex.

The survey investigated how recently graduates had accessed the services. As demonstrated in Chart 4 below, of those respondents who accessed the library, 38% had done so in the last 12 months. It is also shown that 84% (76 out of 90) of alumni who attended an event did so within the last five years.

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Chart 4: When Alumni Accessed the Services

Alumni access to the Plymouth University library

Events0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

In the last year Between one year and five years agoOver five years ago

No. o

f Res

pond

ents

Base: All respondents who reported that they had accessed the services (Library: n=63; missing=4; Events: n=94; missing=4).

Of the respondents who had graduated in the last five years 61% had accessed an event in the last year, while 57% had used the alumni access to the library. In contrast less than half of all other graduation year groups had used these services in the last year. Further details can be found in Table G of the Technical Annex4.

As noted above, there was little overall difference in use of the library amongst respondents depending on whether they lived within or outside the South West, while internationally based alumni accessed events more than those in the UK. However analysis of those respondents who used the library and attended events within the last year reveals that a higher proportion were based within the South West (48% and 55% respectively) compared to other graduates (36% and 25% respectively). It may be that some of the graduates who had accessed these services over a year ago may have been in the South West region at the time before moving elsewhere.

Of the 94 respondents who had attended an event, 58 provided the name of the city in which the event/s they had attended were held. The majority of respondents (50, 86%) indicated that they had attended events based in UK cities, including: Plymouth (32 respondents); London (13); Bristol (3); Isle of Wight (1); and Truro (1). The remaining respondents had attended events which were held outside of the UK, including; Hong Kong (5); Boston (2); Beijing (1); and Athens (1).

Most respondents were satisfied with the services that they received whilst accessing the library (46 out of 61/ 75%) and events (70 out of 92/ 76%) as shown in Chart 5 below. However just under half (41 out of 90/ 46%) were satisfied with the careers support that they had received, compared to 22% (20) who were unsatisfied.

4 It should be noted that a higher proportion of respondents based in the South West (46%) graduated in the last five years compared to respondents in the rest of the UK (40%) and those living abroad (33%).

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There was little difference in satisfaction levels according to the subject areas alumni had studied, and the low sample sizes make it difficult to draw any conclusions. However further data is included in Tables H – J of the Technical Annex.

Chart 5: Satisfaction with Accessed Services

Careers support

Alumni access to the university library

Social or networking events or reunions

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Very satisfied Quite satisfied Neither/norNot very satisfied Not at all satisfied


Base: All respondents who reported that they had accessed the services (Social or networking events or reunions: n=92; missing=2; Alumni access to the library: n=63; missing=2; Careers support: n=92; missing=2).

A few respondents provided additional details about why they rated the services in this way. Three respondents reported that the events they had attended were good, although another respondent felt that more could be done to ensure that alumni from a wide variety of backgrounds are invited and attend. One respondent indicated that they find the alumni email interesting, while another wrote that they had found it easy to book and use private study rooms.

Some of the respondents who had accessed the careers service provided details on why they were not fully satisfied. Some of the concerns raised included: the support provided being too generic in nature (4); the support being unhelpful (4); receiving no response after asking for help (3); and cutbacks affecting the careers service (1).

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Feedback on Services Available to Alumni

‘Really lovely people, friendly and [they] put me at ease, but I left with no further insights into my options nor any idea about options that I’d not considered previously. [It] left me feeling very disheartened and despondent’.

‘They have been patchy in previous years but [it now] appears much more joined up and professional’.


In-depth interview participants were asked about the nature of their engagement with the alumni services. Of the 15 respondents, 10 had not engaged with the alumni services at all since graduating. Of the remainder, five respondents reported that they received the email newsletter, three had attended reunion events in the past and two participants had used the library as alumni.

‘The only thing that I do receive and read [is] the email newsletter. It’s always interesting, but I graduated from Plymouth so long ago [that] I’m not up to date with Plymouth as it is today’.

‘[I have attended] a Plymouth Nautical Degree Association event. When the university was a polytechnic PYNDA was set up for people studying marine and maritime degrees. Events are held for members every year, to meet up, network etc’.

Participants liked event locations, complimentary drinks and reconnecting with old colleagues but one participant suggested considering the scheduling of alumni events to ensure that they don’t clash with other high-profile events.

‘[I] met up with an old colleague there entirely by coincidence and it was good to reconnect after such a long time’.

‘Sometimes the level of attendance can be quite low which is quite disappointing. Bristol can have 6 or 7 amazing events on any given night of the week. So when they are scheduled against other big events they lose participants’.

3.4 Service Improvements

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Feedback on Services Available to Alumni

‘Really lovely people, friendly and [they] put me at ease, but I left with no further insights into my options nor any idea about options that I’d not considered previously. [It] left me feeling very disheartened and despondent’.

‘They have been patchy in previous years but [it now] appears much more joined up and professional’.

Interview Participant Feedback


The survey then explored any other ways in which respondents felt that the alumni services could be improved. Nineteen respondents suggested that a focus should be paid to increasing the awareness amongst alumni that these services are available. Other cited areas for improvement include:

Providing more careers support (14 respondents): including careers advice and guidance (12); showing the career paths of others who studied their subject (1); and providing face-to-face mock interviews (1);

Providing more reunions/ social networking opportunities (10): including reunions which are targeted towards particular courses of study (4); and support to help alumni set-up reunions (1);

Improving accessibility to events, including (7): including hosting events in different national locations and different venues (4); hosting events at a variety of times during the week (2); and providing subsidised transport to events (1);

Being able to access the services for a longer period of time following graduation (3);

Providing educational support for alumni (3) including: short courses/workshops in subject areas (2); and providing more funding for continuing professional development (1);

Staying in touch via postal and electronic communication and social media (2);

E-access to the library (2);

Updates on developments at the university (2);

Providing a way to search and find other alumni and their contact details (2).

Interestingly 22 respondents stated that there was nothing that could improve the services that were already provided.

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Improvements to Services Currently Available

‘The career postings that I usually see are all based round Devon and Plymouth. Now I have moved away from Plymouth these are not particularly useful. I would like to see national and even international job postings’.

‘Engaging more with students after they graduate’.

‘[Increasing] greater awareness of the offer before and after graduating [and] ideas about how to get involved would be helpful’.

‘I am unsure how long I will be able to use the library – is it forever? I also think it would be good to have career support for longer than 3 years after graduating because I feel now it would be great to have the support but I am too late!’.



Interview participants suggested a number of changes that could be made to Plymouth University’s alumni offer. Prominent among the improvements listed was improved promotion of the service to ensure that alumni were aware of what was available:

‘Keep ex-students in the loop and make them aware of the contact, services, events that are available to them’.

‘Just raise awareness and generally make it easier for people to know what’s available to them and how to access it’.

These comments were reinforced by some participants who were not aware, themselves, of what was currently offered to alumni:

‘The university need to be more vocal about what they offer. They probably already offer access to the library but I wouldn’t know how to do it’.

‘[The] key thing is that I don’t know what benefits there already are and it certainly doesn’t come across very clearly’.

Other participants emphasised the need to maintain contact with alumni beyond the immediate period after graduation. This included providing access to employment and careers services for a longer period than the three years currently offered:

‘The city and the university will grow when alumni come back, pass on their expertise and give back to [the] current students. Encourage recent graduates to maintain contact’.

‘Alumni should have access to employment and career services for an unlimited period of time once they have graduated… I wonder if it is more ethical and moral for universities to have a lifelong commitment to alumni and graduates’.

3.5 Previous Donations

Respondents were asked whether they had previously donated any time and/or money to the university.

As shown in Table 5 below, two thirds of respondents had neither donated time nor money to the university. A total of 340 (20%) respondents had donated either time or money, including 269 who had donated time only, 48 who had donated money only and just 23 who had donated both money and time.

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Table 5: Donations of Time and/or Money

Donations to the University No. of Respondents Percentage

Not donated time or money 1126 66%

Donated time 292 17%

Donated money 71 4%

Don’t know 88 5%

Prefer not to say 146 9%Base: All respondents (n=1700; missing=18).Please note: Findings may not sum to base due to multiple responses.

As Table 6 shows, a higher proportion of the respondents who reported previously donating money to the university had graduated 30+ years ago. However of those who donated time a higher proportion had graduated either 0-5 years ago or 30+ years ago.

Table 6: Donations by Graduation Year Group

Year Since Graduation

0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Base 712 305 430 158 78

Donated time 22% 14% 13% 8% 22%

Donated money 3% 5% 5% 4% 9%

The factors motivating a respondent to donate time and/or money were then further explored. Of the 340 respondents who donated either time and/or money, 332 indicated which factors were most important in motivating them to do this (Chart 6). As the chart shows, the desire ‘to give something back’ was by far the most important motivation selected as ‘very’ or ‘quite important’ by 87% of respondents. However, other important factors related more specifically to the university’s outlook and the quality of current alumni engagement, with over two thirds (68%) indicating that support for the university’s mission was an important motivation. Similarly just over half (54%) felt that being well informed about university activities was important.

In contrast only 38% of respondents rated feeling ‘supported by the university after I graduated’ as important. This lower rating might be explained by alumni regarding the support they received while actually studying at the university as more important to the decision to contribute than any help they may have received after graduating.

SERIO 15


Chart 6: Factors which Motivated Donations

I wanted to give something back to the university (B: 332; M: 8)

I felt well informed about university activities (B: 312; M: 28)

I felt supported by the university after I graduated (B: 312; M: 28)

I support the university's mission and values (Base: 324; missing: 16)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Very important Quite important Neither/NorNot very important Not at all important


The majority of respondents across all graduation years highlighted that ‘wanting to give something back’ was the main motivating factor for donating time and/or money to the university. However, feeling informed about the university activities and feeling supported after graduation were particularly important factors amongst those who had graduated less than 10 years ago. In contrast a higher proportion of those who’d graduated over 30 years ago felt that supporting the university’s mission and values was an important factor. Further details are included in Tables K - N of the Technical Annex.

3.6 Current forms of Communication with the University

Respondents were then asked about the forms of communication that are currently offered to alumni. As shown in Chart 7 79% of respondents were aware of ‘Evolve’ the alumni newsletter, which 60% of these respondents receive, while awareness and access to the social network related communications was much lower. Overall, 45% of respondents (776) reported being aware of at least one form of social media communication and 24% of total respondents (410) received such communication.

SERIO 16


Chart 7: Current Forms of Alumni Communication

0%20%40%60%80%

100%79%

39%28% 21%

11%

60%

19%8% 4% 1%

Aware of Receive

Perc

enta

ge o

f Res

pond

ents

Base: All respondents (n=1718)

Respondents who graduated between 0 and 5 years ago reported that they were more aware of the updates from the LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter groups. A higher proportion of those who graduated 0-5 years ago received updates from the Facebook page, whilst those who graduated less than 20 years ago were more likely to receive Twitter updates than alumni. Interestingly, a similar proportion of all graduation year groups accessed the Alumni LinkedIn network. Further details are included in Table O of the Technical Annex.

3.7 The Alumni Service Generally

Interview participants were also asked some more general questions on the value of the alumni service to them and how it compared to any other alumni networks they were members of. The benefits that were reported tended to be of a non-tangible nature, including being kept informed and having an emotional connection to the university:

‘I am aware of the services and I get the post and mail but I haven’t adopted any of the benefits or adopted any further information. I haven’t benefitted in any other way.’

‘I think I have benefitted in that I like to feel connected. I think once you graduate from a university you will always be a graduate, you can never not be a graduate from where you graduated. So you can never lose that relationship’.

‘I suppose it’s more of an emotional benefit rather than a physical benefit’.

SERIO 17



Around half of the interview participants were members of other alumni networks, e.g. for other universities or schools or colleges they had attended. When asked to draw comparisons between their respective memberships, participants tended to rate Plymouth University’s more favourably, with the newsletter in particular being cited as a key strength for the Plymouth network:

‘If I had to offer any comparison I would say Plymouth’s newsletter is much better than [other university’s]. It is more friendly, open and easier to engage with’.

‘If I had to compare their newsletter to yours I’d say theirs is not as good as yours. It’s not sent as regularly and it’s not as informative’.

From their experiences of another alumni network one participant suggested an example of good practice that could be applied by Plymouth University:

‘Obviously the scale of resources are better from [Plymouth], but the secondary school does provide access to a network of students and encourages the passing on of skills/ mentoring. For example I was invited to give a school assembly to pass on my experiences and knowledge’.

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4. Plymouth University’s Future Offer

4.1 Introduction

This section outlines how respondents would like the university’s current offer to alumni to develop in the future. This includes any new services they would like to see available, and their preference for future events and communication. In addition this section explores how alumni engagement can be developed in the future. The focus of the section is on what the university can do for alumni rather than how alumni can contribute to the university which is discussed in Section 5.

4.2 New Alumni Services

Respondents were asked to express their preference for new services that could improve the offer currently provided by the university to their alumni. As shown in Chart 8 the majority of respondents would like access to services that would enable them to keep up to date with training and knowledge. Of the 1665 graduates responding to the question, 72% highlighted that they would like to be able to access online educational resources, whilst 63% would like discounted continuing professional development (CPD) and executive courses. Access to a variety of online services was also considered important, with 59% indicating they would like an online director to search for classmates. Similarly, 50% of respondents wanted online access to business magazines and journals, and the same proportion desired the ability to update their details online.

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Summary of Key Points: Alumni Support Services: The majority of respondents would like to access

information enabling them to keep training and knowledge up to date, such as online educational resources (72%) and discounted continuing professional development and executive courses (63%).

Careers Support: Just over half the respondents (52%) felt that careers support should be provided for alumni for a longer period than three years.

Communications: The majority of respondents (85%) would like to receive the email newsletter. In general alumni were keen to receive communications on a monthly basis with the exception of those wanting a printed magazine (every 3 months) and those interested in twitter updates (every week).

Increasing Alumni Engagement: Increasing accessibility to events was seen as the key priority for improving alumni engagement amongst interview participants. In general participants felt that the alumni services could be tailored so that those graduates new to the labour market received the most support, however a need was also identified for career and retraining support for alumni in a later stage of their career.


Chart 8: Interest in Possible New Alumni Services

Base: All respondents (n=1665, missing=53). Please note that figures may not total base due to multiple responses.

Seventy eight respondents provided comments regarding the ‘Other’ forms of services that they would like the university to provide to alumni. Of these, 21 respondents made comments regarding services that were already currently offered by the university, including: careers support and guidance (16); international meetings (2); reunions (2); and providing an online newsletter (1). This suggests that more could perhaps be done to publicise or expand these existing services.

Of the remaining respondents, six highlighted that they would like access to the knowledge base within the university via lectures, workshops and courses as well as being able to buy department time for assistance with specialist projects. In addition, five highlighted that they would like access to practical services (e.g. technology, an ISP service and meeting rooms) while another five would like access to networking opportunities and networking skills. This need for continuing university support was also reflected by an additional four respondents who highlighted that they would like on-going careers support and advice.

Additional analysis revealed that different year groups would prefer different services from the university. Table 7 below provides an overview of the highest proportions for each year group and what they would prefer. Some of the key points to note are:

Those who graduated more recently (0-10 years) would like more access to educational support than other graduates. Recent graduates were particularly keen to access CPD courses and online educational resources (over 70% for both groups) and to a lesser extent online access to business magazines and journals.

While only a minority of these recent graduates wanted mentoring or business start-up support, the level of interest in these services was also more notable amongst this group than amongst other graduates.

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Other services

Mentoring from a fellow graduate

An alumni blog

Business start-up support

An email account for life

Online access to business magazines/ journals

The ability to update your details online

Online directory/ search for classmates

Discounted CPD and executive courses

Access to online educational resouces

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

5

21

27

31

42

50

50

59

63

72

Percentage of respondents


In general respondents who had graduated over ten years ago tended to be more interested in contacting their old classmates. A larger proportion of these who had graduated over ten years ago (70% or over for all three groups) wanted access to an online directly compared to around half of recent graduates.

Table 7: New Services that Different Groups Would Prefer to Use

0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Base 707 299 423 146 73

Online directory/ search for classmates 49% 51% 70% 80% 85%

Mentoring from a fellow graduate 27% 20% 15% 13% 11%

The ability to update your details online 44% 53% 54% 58% 60%

Business start-up support 35% 36% 28% 19% 18%

An alumni blog 26% 29% 28% 30% 23%Online access to business magazines and journals 54% 53% 45% 45% 37%

Discounted continuing professional development and executive courses 70% 73% 53% 51% 43%

Access to online educational resources 79% 74% 63% 64% 63%

An email account for life 55% 40% 29% 24% 29%Please note: Percentages do not sum to base due to multiple responses.

Interview participants were asked what types of support they would like to receive from Plymouth University in the future. The majority of respondents, irrespective of the time passed since graduation, said that they did not know how the University could support them in the future:

‘I don’t really need much support to be honest. I don’t really need the alumni service for connecting with other alumni because Facebook is good for that’. (Graduated 0-5 years ago)

‘I’m not entirely sure how [Plymouth University] could support me … I don’t feel the need to do get-together events’. (Graduated 30+ years ago)

Some participants suggested that the University could support them with an advisory service including career guidance.

‘It would be nice if they still had that engagement with graduates, [and were] still able to listen to any queries/ questions and provide that advisory service on a lifelong basis’.

‘It would be handy if you could improve the careers assistance that’s provided. For example providing C.V. help, keeping people in touch, putting you in touch with the right people to help you out if you have a careers query, that sort of thing’.

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‘We never had much of a career talk. I just left at the end of my exams and then left into the big wide world. There was no talk about the next steps, for example postgraduate study’.

Other types of proposed support included increased alumni achievement recognition, more opportunities to network, funding and financial support for further education and greater involvement in events and business developments.

‘I think we should celebrate former graduates’ successes with some sort of hindsight recognition process for alumni achievements’.

‘Intuitively it feels wrong to be locked [out] of higher education now just because I don’t have money and cannot afford tuition costs’.

‘It would be nice to keep in contact and for me to be invited to end of year shows, [and] be made aware of what’s going on’.

4.3 Future Event Attendance

Graduates were also asked whether they would consider attending any future alumni events or reunions. As shown in Chart 9 below the majority of respondents would like to attend an event that was happening within Plymouth. A large minority expressed a preference for social or networking events and/or reunions in another UK city, while just under a fifth indicated they would like a social or networking event or a reunion outside the UK.

Chart 9: Events that Alumni Would Consider Attending

Reunions outside of the UK

Social or networking events outside of the UK

Reunions in another UK city

Social or networking events in another UK city

Social or networking events in Plymouth

Reunions in Plymouth

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

19

19

35

40

54

71

% of Respondents

Base: All respondents (n=1423; missing=295). Please note that figures may not total base due to multiple responses.

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Further analysis revealed that a higher proportion of respondents who graduated between 0 and 5 years ago wanted to attend events than other graduates. While 65% of this group indicated they would attend an event in Plymouth, only 54% of those who graduated between 5 and 10 years ago indicated the same, alongside less than half of those who graduated over ten years ago. Similarly those who graduated between 0 to 5 years ago were also more likely to attend event in other UK cities or outside the UK than the other group. Further details are included in Table P of the Technical Annex.

The survey explored the cities in the UK that respondents would like the events to take place in. Of the respondents who highlighted a city (648), 50% indicated that they would like this to be London (326). Other less commonly cited cities included: Bristol (113); Exeter (50); Birmingham (27); Southampton (17); Manchester (14); Truro (13); Cardiff (10); and Oxford (9).

Respondents were asked about the countries and cities that they would attend events in that were outside of the UK. As Table 8, shows a wide variety of countries were suggested with the USA, Greece and China being the most commonly mentioned.

Table 8: Suggested Locations for Future Alumni Events Outside the UK

Country and Frequency City and Frequency

USA (47) New York (15); Boston (6); Los Angeles (5); San Francisco (2); Seattle (2); Chicago (2); San Diego (2); and Miami (2)

Greece (31) Athens (30); Thessaloniki (3); Piraeus (1) and Chania (1)

China (24)Hong Kong (14); Shanghai (6); Beijing (4); Guangzhou (1); Shenzhen (1); and Macau (1)

Germany (21)Berlin (5); Frankfurt am Main (3); Hamburg (3); Munich (3); Dusseldorf (2), Bonn (1); Stuttgart (1); and Colonge (1)

France (19) Paris (13); Nice (1) ; Marseille (1); and Rennes (1)

Australia (17) Perth (5); Sydney (5); Melbourne (4); and Adelaide (1)

Malaysia (16) Kuala Lumpar (7); Singapore (4); Kuching (1); and Penang (1)

New Zealand (9) Auckland (5); Wellington (2); Christchurch (2) and Dunedin (1)

Canada (9) Toronto (7); Ottawa (1); and Vancouver (1)

Italy (8) Rome (2); Naples (2); Milan (1); Venice (1); and Florence (1)

Spain (8)Barcelona (2); Bilbao (1); Vigo (1); Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1); and Madrid (1)

United Arab Emirates (8) Dubai (5); and Abu Dhabi (1)

SERIO 23


4.4 Careers Support

Currently alumni can access careers support for up to three years following their graduation. As shown in Chart 10, just over half the respondents (52%) felt that the current length of time was too short and should be extended either to ten years after graduation or indefinitely, although over two-fifths of respondents (44%) felt the time was about right.

Chart 10: How Long Following Graduation Should Careers Support be Available

Other timescale

Indefinitely

Ten years after graduation

Three years after graduation (the current length of time offered)



Of those who provided additional detail regarding their answer of ‘other timescale’ (68 out of 78), the majority of respondents (48/ 71%) felt that it should be offered for up to 5 years following graduation.

Additional analysis revealed some differences in the responses depending on how long ago the alumni had graduated. While 60% of respondents who’d graduated over 30 years ago felt the three year period was about right, only 44% of those who had graduated between 0-5 years and 40% of those who’d graduated between 5 to 10 years agreed.

There was also some variation depending on which course the respondent studied. Less than a third of those respondents who studied ‘art design, media and performance’ and ‘hospitality, tourism, sport and leisure’ felt that the three year period was about right compared to 53% of ‘computing, mathematics and statistics’ graduates. Further details by graduation year group and subject area can be found in Tables Q and R of the Technical Annex.

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4.5 Future Communications

The survey explored the types of communication that alumni would like to receive from the university and how often. As demonstrated in Chart 11 below the majority of respondents (85%) would like to receive an email newsletter. Interest in social media was lower amongst alumni, although over a third (36%) wanted to receive LinkedIn updates.

Chart 11: Future Communications from Plymouth University


There was generally little difference between graduation year groups with regards to communication preferences. Over 80% of the respondents in each year group, indicated they would like to receive the email newsletter.

Respondents were then asked to identify how frequently they would like to receive the different forms of communication. As shown in Table 9 below, the majority of respondents would like to receive their preferred communication monthly. The two exceptions were the printed alumni magazine, which was preferred on a 3 monthly basis and the Plymouth University Alumni twitter feed updates, which was preferred on a weekly basis.

SERIO 25

Other

Plymouth University We Chat group

Plymouth University Alumni twitter feed

Plymouth University Alumni and Friends facebook group

Email alerts

Printed alumni magazine

Plymouth Alumni LinkedIn network updates

Email newsletter

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90



Table 9: Frequency of Communication

Respondents were then asked which areas of the university’s expertise that they would like to receive communication on in the future. As shown in Chart 12 below, there was considerable interest in all seven subject areas. However, just over half the respondents (51%) would like to receive information regarding technology and innovation, whilst 46% would like to receive information from the area of marine and environment.

Chart 12: Areas of University Expertise for Future Communications

Health and Medicine

Culture and Heritage

Arts

Enterprise

Sustainability

Marine and Environment

Technology and Innovation

0 10 20 30 40 50 60



4.6 The Future of the Alumni Group

4.6.1 Naming the Group

All alumni completing the survey were asked to select from three options their preferred name for the Plymouth University Alumni group. Just under half the respondents (59%) indicated that they would like the group to be called the “Alumni Network”. This was closely

SERIO 26

Form of communication Base Weekly Monthly Every 3 months

Every 6 months

Annually

Email newsletter 1323 3% 45% 36% 10% 5%

Printed alumni magazine 516 2% 18% 34% 23% 24%Plymouth Alumni LinkedIn network updates 547 23% 52% 19% 4% 2%

Email alerts 439 18% 56% 19% 5% 2%Plymouth University Alumni and Friends Facebook group updates 433 35% 44% 15% 4% 2%

Plymouth University Alumni Twitter updates 200 60% 35% 3% 2% 1%

Plymouth University We Chat group 92 30% 48% 13% 4% 4%


followed by “Alumni Community” which 47% of respondents preferred. In comparison only 4% highlighted that they would like the group to be called the “Alumni Programme”.

4.6.2 Increasing Alumni Engagement

Interview participants also suggested a range of ways to increase alumni engagement with the network. The most commonly cited suggestions included hosting regional events and/or events which are held outside of normal working hours:

‘I think that there should be more events held more frequently outside of Plymouth, and more in England generally’.

‘The key is to look at where there are clusters of students and see if any events, centres or services can be held in their local area. This applies to international students as well’.

‘If events were held outside of normal working hours then more people might be able to attend’.

Online engagement was also suggested, albeit in the context of alumni directly engaging with students rather than each other:

‘There could be a role for online engagement, maybe mentoring over the phone or video conferencing. We have so much technology these days there isn’t really a barrier with that level of communication’.

Other proposed ideas included providing financial assistance to attend events, making the engagement worthwhile, and promoting the service better:

‘I think you have to give alumni a reason to stay here and to keep being engaged. Give them that reason and they will shout about it’.

‘I think that if alumni were to be provided with clear information about what career services and university access they still have, this would increase alumni’s engagement with the university’.

4.6.3 Tailoring the Alumni Offer

Around half the interview participants thought that the service should be tailored to alumni at different stages of their career. Of these, many suggested that there should be more support for early career graduates, including greater access to resources and facilities. These comments were made primarily by respondents who had graduated more than 10 years ago, and tended to emphasise the need to make it easy and straightforward for recent graduates to make use of alumni support:

SERIO 27



‘By the time people get to their mid-30s they are likely to be stable in their career,…and have less need for university support. The key is to engage the early years group – the recent graduates who are still trying to find their first job’.

‘I think new graduates should definitely be given more encouragement to contact fellow graduates and staff at the university – just click and connect and have the information/ contacts they need’.

‘More support in the early stages of a career would be hugely beneficial, for example accessing materials that they’ve used a lot [in their degree]. Make it easier for ex-students to stay within the university network by making them feel that they can access resources without feeling a nuisance’.

Other suggestions included offering a more personalised service, based on subject area as well as age:

‘People live with different degrees and backgrounds, they have different career aspirations. [It would be good to provide] a tailor-made service for each different type of graduate [so they] can access a more individualised service’.

‘You have got to have something to act as a basis for which everyone could take part. Then there could be particular subgroups/ networks to students’ areas of study, where help from alumni would be particularly pertinent’.

However some participants identified potential problems with a tailor-made approach. This included concerns around the practicalities and costs involved of tailoring the service:

‘I think tailoring the service would be very hard and time consuming to organise’.

‘I would actually go the other way. I’d like to integrate everyone… I would make [the service] bigger, better and broader’.

Other participants also cautioned against assuming that only recent graduates might benefit from career support:

‘Later on when I had a career change I would have appreciated some help and guidance transitioning. So the help shouldn’t be based entirely on the length of time that has elapsed since leaving the university.’

‘Later on I think the alumni service should provide opportunities for retraining, upskilling, continuing professional development, discounts to alumni wanting to come back and retrain, or help for unemployed people commencing a new course’.

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5. Future Contributions to the University

5.1 Introduction

This section explores alumni preferences for contributing their time, energy and money to the university. It explores the different means by which respondents would like to support existing students and others as well as the barriers to engagement and the reasons why some alumni do not wish to contribute.

5.2 Supporting the University

The survey explored different activities which respondents might be interested in undertaking to support the university in the future. As shown in Chart 13 below just over half the respondents (57%) indicated that they would be happy to provide a career profile for careers support or marketing information; mentor a student online (55%), or speak to a group of students at an event or workshop (51%). While mentoring students face-to-face will be logistically problematic for some alumni, just over a quarter (27%) expressed interest in supporting the university in this way.

The 35 who indicated ‘other’ suggested a variety of alternative ways they could contribute to the university, with the most commonly suggested being that they could perform guest lectures (4).

SERIO 29

Summary of Key Points: Supporting the University: Over half the respondents identified they would

be happy to provide a career profile (57%), mentor a student online (55%) and speak to a student at an event or workshop (51%). Those who had graduated in the last five years were particularly keen on online mentoring while other graduates preferred to provide career profiles.

Barriers to Participation: Factors which respondents highlighted would discourage them from closer engagement included: time constraints (65%); distance from the university (64%) and family and job commitments (60%). While less than half felt discouraged by the cost of participation this was a key concern for those had graduated in the last 10 years.

Donating to the University: 10% of respondents indicated that they would be interested in donating money to the university in the future. Creating opportunities for students form under-privileged backgrounds was seen as a key priority for just under two-thirds of those interested in donating.


Chart 13: Future Contributions to the University


When considering each of the future contributions to the university a higher proportion of respondents who graduated between 0 to 5 years ago would prefer to contribute by mentoring a student online (59%) than alumni in other groups. In comparison all the other year groups had a higher proportion of respondents indicate that they would prefer to provide a career profile for career support or marketing information. Further details are included in Table S in the Technical Annex.

Analysis of responses by geographical area revealed that:

A higher proportion of those living in the South West were interested in face-to-face mentoring (38%) than those in the rest of the UK (17%) and those living outside of the UK (19%). A majority of respondents in all three year groups were interested in online mentoring.

A lower proportion of international alumni (36%) were interested in speaking to prospective students than those living in the UK (44%).

A slightly higher proportion of international alumni (30%) were interested in providing a blog or contributing to social media than those living in the UK (27%).

Further details are included in Table T in the Technical Annex.

Interview participants were asked how they felt alumni could contribute to the university. The responses included suggestions for supporting current and prospective students, engaging with businesses or communities and helping other alumni.

SERIO 30


Other

Mentoring a student face-to-face

Providing a blog or contributing to social media

Speaking to a prospective student

Speaking to a group of students at an event or workshop

Mentoring a student online

Providing a career profile for career support or marketing information

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%



Supporting Current and Prospective Students

Interview respondents suggested various ways that alumni can support current or prospective Plymouth University students. The most prominent means of support concerned careers guidance:

‘Alumni can help provide guidance and information about a broad range of industries and career paths’.

‘Alumni can play a brokering role between 18-20 year olds, who have less knowledge/ experience, and the world of work. [Alumni can] introduce them to different areas and help connect the two’.

Participants also suggested that alumni can share their experiences with students, providing mentoring and reassurance. This also included broadening their horizons in terms of the types of employment they could go into:

‘[Students] need to know that having a degree in a particular subject does not necessarily mean that they have to go into that field of employment’.

‘I think it might be quite a frightening prospect going to work for possibly the first time and experiencing the working world post-university. For us to give them some experience or knowledge I think that that would be valuable’.

A more practical suggestion was that there could be ‘better integrating of alumni networks into placement programmes’, while another respondent suggested incorporating careers support ‘into the lecturing timetable, for example alumni come back to give talks to students, share wisdom and experiences’.

One participant stressed the importance of students learning from alumni at different stages of their career:

‘I might be able to provide some mentoring or share my experiences now and then later be able to do more, like give a work experience student some time. I think it’s about tapping into what different people can do at different points in their lives’.

Supporting Other Alumni

Interview respondents suggested several ways in which alumni can support other alumni including post-graduation mentoring, networking and career progression.

‘When I left [university] I could have done with mentoring with a lecturer or alumni to guide me through how to get the best of my degree. I think that would be a beneficial service’.

‘More senior alumni could provide some sort of mentoring service to newer members of the network/ working world’.

SERIO 31


‘I think that alumni can play a role in each other’s lives. Even if they have the right qualifications they may still encounter problems accessing/ being in the world of work. Alumni can help each other with this transition’.

Respondents who graduated more than 20 years ago tended to suggest that alumni can support each other for social purposes rather than for employment or career progression.

‘I think it is worthwhile for alumni to keep in touch with each other, more for social reasons and general networking rather than because they think it will lead to a job’.

It should be noted that 21% of survey respondents indicated they would like mentoring from another graduate (see Chart 8).

How alumni can support university engagement with business or communities

In general participants were less certain of how alumni could help support the university’s external work with businesses and communities. While some participants felt this could be an important area of alumni engagement no tangible activities were suggested:

‘I do think alumni can help forge links for the university with the community’.

However some participants considered geographical constraints to impact upon their ability to engage with the local community and another was wary of industry conflicts.

‘I do think maintaining relationships is affected by how physically close you are to the university. I live near Essex now so my engagement with the local community is somewhat non-existent’.

‘This might create difficulties/ conflicts on the basis that depending what subjects the alumni have studied, once they are within the world or business they may not be able to engage with certain industries, for example for sponsoring or funding’.

5.3 Barriers to Participation

Alumni were also asked to consider some of the factors which could discourage them from closer engagement with the university. As shown in Chart 14 below, the main barriers to further engagement: were time constraints (65%); and the distance of the alumni from the university (64%), followed closely by family or job commitments (60%). Just under half (49%) were concerned about the cost of participation, while over a quarter (29%) were worried about the possibility of not knowing anyone.

SERIO 32


Chart 14: Factors which may Discourage Closer Engagement with the University

Possibility of not knowing anyone

Cost of participation

Family or job commitments

Distance from the university

Time constraints

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70



Additional analysis revealed that:

Of those respondents who graduated more recently (0-10 years) a higher proportion (0-5= 57%, 5-10=53%) highlighted that the cost of participation would discourage them from closer engagement compared to less than 50% for all other groups.

Family or job commitments were seen as a key barrier by a majority of all year groups, with the exception of those who graduated over 30 years ago, where it was selected by just 37% of respondents.

Perhaps unsurprisingly a higher proportion of alumni living outside of the South West (84%) saw the distance from the university as a barrier to engagement than those based in the region (42%).

Interestingly a lower proportion of international alumni felt that time constraints (50%) and family or job commitments (42%) would discourage them from closer engagement with the university than those living in the UK (68% and 64% respectively).

In addition to this, a higher proportion of respondents living in the South West reported that the possibility of not knowing anyone (32%) was a barrier to engagement than those living outside of the region (25%).

Further information on the views of alumni from different year groups is included within Table U of the Technical Annex.

5.4 Financial Donations to the University

The survey then explored whether alumni would be interested in donating money to the university in the future. Of the 1708 graduates who provided a response to this question, 54% indicated that this would not be something that they would be interested in doing whilst 10% indicated that they would. The remaining respondents (36%) preferred not to say. Interestingly there was little discernible relationship between the year in which the alumni

SERIO 33


had graduated and their interest in donating money. See Table V in the Technical Annex for more information.

As Table 10 below shows, of the 164 respondents who would consider donating money to the university, nearly two thirds felt such donations should go towards helping students from underprivileged backgrounds. In addition, approximately half the respondents felt it should support the university’s world class research. Less than a third of the respondents felt it should support the university’s engagement with business.

Table 10: Objectives that Donations Should Target

Objectives No. of Respondents %

Creating opportunities for students from underprivileged backgrounds

107 65

Supporting the university’s world class research 84 51

Assisting students to be job ready when they graduate 77 47

Providing careers support for newly graduated students 62 38

Enhancing the university’s contribution to the local community 43 26Enhancing the university’s engagement with and support for business

30 18

Other 9 6Base: All respondents who would consider donating money in the future (n=164).

The reasons respondents did not wish to donate money were also explored. As shown in Table 11 preferences for donating money elsewhere and concerns over how contributions to the university would be used were the main reasons given.

Table 11: Reasons for Not Donating to the University

Reasons for not donating No. of Respondents %

I prefer to give to other organisations which I am personally involved in

364 40

I’m not sure where my contributions would go or how they would be used

294 32

I’m not sure how donating a gift benefits me now 198 22

I object to certain policies or decisions the university has made 105 12

Other 289 32Base: All respondents who would not consider donating money to the university (n=936).

Of those respondents who selected other (289), just under half (134 respondents/ 46%) indicated that this was due to financial restrictions that they were currently facing. Other less commonly cited reasons include: the view that student fees are enough (38); that they were happy to donate time but not money (31); that the university feels like a business (10); and that donations are not necessary (9). However, as demonstrated in the text box, some of these respondents did clarify that they would not be adverse to donating time.

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Additional analysis revealed that concerns over where the contributions would go or how they would be used were more important factors for alumni who had graduated in the last 10 years. In contrast for respondents who had graduated over 10 years ago the desire to give money to other organisations they were personally involved with was more important. Further details are included in Table W of the Technical Annex.

5.5 Future Priorities

Interview participants were asked what they think should be the priorities for alumni engagement. Responses were mixed, with some thinking that current students should be alumni’s primary focus whilst others felt that alternative priorities, such as supporting other alumni and engaging with the community were also important:

‘The priority for alumni should definitely be supporting current students progressing through their course’.

‘I think one of the biggest problems is keeping talented people down here in the South West. I think people need to see that actually there are opportunities down here and alumni should be the examples of that. People should see staying in Plymouth as an option and they don’t have to move away to get a good job. Alumni can promote that’.

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Other Reasons for Not Donating Money

“I stated I would not consider donating money. This is because I do not have oodles of cash to donate to Universities. However, I would always consider donating time to the University.”

“I have paid for my degree and feel what I paid is more than sufficient, however I would not object to donating my time.”

“The university is not a charity and receives fees from students to support it. I donate money to charities close to my heart who are more in need of my contribution.”


6. Conclusion

6.1 Introduction

As mentioned in the introduction, supporting and developing alumni engagement is a key priority for Plymouth University. This survey, the first to seek the views of the university’s alumni community in general, highlights how alumni have previously engaged with the university, as well as their future support needs and how they might also contribute to supporting existing university activity. This section first summarises the key findings from the previous sections, before highlighting some of the possible implications for the future development of the university’s alumni services.

6.2 Key Findings

6.2.1 Previous Engagement

Ensuring alumni are well informed of developments at the university is an important aim of alumni engagement and also a key pre-requisite to encourage them to become more fully involved. Encouragingly, over half the respondents were aware of the university’s standing as one of the top 50 ‘modern universities’ in the world, although awareness of the university’s research specialisms could potentially be improved. While less than 40% of respondents were aware of the university’s work with businesses and local communities, this may partly reflect the higher priority alumni place on the traditional university activities of supporting students and research, as demonstrated by their preferred priorities for future donations.

Previous engagement and awareness of the services available to alumni was limited. Just over half (56%) were aware of the alumni events, while 42% were aware of the careers support and 33% were aware of access to the library. Furthermore, only 8% had actually accessed at least one of these three services. While levels of use did not differ considerably by geography, respondents from the South West were more likely to have attended events and used the library in the last 12 months.

6.2.2 Satisfaction with and Improvements to Current Services

A large majority of respondents were satisfied with the service that they received whilst accessing the library and the events, however less than half (46%) were satisfied with the careers support they had received. It should be noted though that many of the respondents will not have accessed the careers support for some time (due to it being limited to three years after graduation) and the service may have changed considerably since they last did. Nevertheless, both survey respondents and interview participants highlighted that they would like more support to be provided, including: showing the career paths of others who studied their subject and providing face-to-face mock interviews. In addition a slight majority of respondents (52%) felt that careers support should be offered to alumni for a longer period than three years after graduation.

6.2.3 Future Needs

A majority of respondents highlighted that they would like access to services that would enable them to keep up to date with training and knowledge, including access to online educational resources (72%) and discounted CPD and executive courses (63%). While

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interest in this form of support was most notable amongst more recent graduates, a large proportion of those who had graduated over 10 years ago also expressed an interest in this support. Taken together with the remarks about extending career support, this suggests alumni who have advanced further in their professional life may still look to the university to help them progress and further develop their careers.

6.2.4 Attending Events

Overall respondents expressed a preference for attending reunions (71%) and social or networking events (54%) in Plymouth. However 40% expressed a desire for social or networking events in another UK city, with London being the most popular choice. The main barriers which respondents felt would discourage them from closer engagement included: time constraints (65%); distance of the alumni from the university (64%) and; family and job commitments (60%). However the perceived cost of participation was seen as a key barrier by respondents who had graduated less than 10 years ago.

A higher proportion of respondents who graduated between 0 and 5 years ago wanted to attend events than other alumni. This may be due to more recent graduates having higher levels of demand due them being in an earlier stage of their career.

6.2.5 Donations

Two thirds of respondents had neither donated time or money to the university. However of those respondents who had donated, the majority (79%) had donated time. Around 10% indicated that they would consider donating money to the university in the future. Of these, nearly two thirds felt that such donations should go towards helping students from an underprivileged background, while approximately half felt it should support the university’s world class research.

Of those who did not wish to donate money, 40% of respondents highlighted that this was due to them supporting charities which were personally relevant, whilst 32% indicated that they were unsure where their contributions would go or how they would be used.

6.2.6 Supporting Students

While only a small minority of alumni were willing to donate money to the university, a large majority expressed interest in supporting the university in other ways. Alumni preferences differed depending on when they had graduated with the most recent graduates preferring to contribute by mentoring a student online. In contrast, providing a career profile was the most preferred means of contributing amongst all other graduation year groups. This may reflect differences in career stages, as recent graduates are possibly still in the process of developing a career and feel closer to the immediate issues students will face. In contrast, other alumni may feel more established in their career and so more confident in having their experience used in a roadmap for others.

6.2.7 Communications

A large majority of respondents were aware of, and received, ‘Evolve’ the alumni newsletter. While the sample is very small it is notable that interview participants identified the newsletter as one of the university’s strengths in comparison to other alumni networks they were members of. Awareness of and access to the university’s social media networks

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was much lower, although the findings did suggest that the newsletter was by far the most popular form of communication.

6.3 Implications

The survey findings touch on a wide range of issues related to alumni engagement, and we would recommend that External Relations study the findings in detail with a view to informing the development of their engagement plan. However some implications have emerged which could serve as a useful starting point:

The finding that only a minority of respondents were aware of careers support and alumni access to the library, alongside qualitative feedback from interview participants suggests that alumni engagement could be enhanced through further communication of the services that are available. Consequently, it may be useful to review how awareness of alumni services could be improved, for all groups of alumni, but particularly recent graduates.

Survey responses revealed an appetite for the provision of services to alumni related to improving their educational and professional skills. The development of online learning, particularly through open educational resources and open access journals, may be a useful means by which the university could help support alumni with their continuing professional development.

The interview feedback suggests that there are grounds for targeting careers and professional development support at more recent graduates. However it also suggests an appetite for some support in this area later in a graduates’ career. Consequently it would be useful to consider how the university might also support more experienced alumni with re-training or help with career changes.

The survey feedback regarding preferred alumni services found that alumni who had graduated over 20 years ago were particularly keen on an online directory to search for their old classmates. This suggests that finding old colleagues is an important priority for this group. The university could consider how such a directory could be developed and how they could provide further opportunities for alumni in this group to re-connect with their old peers and with the university more generally.

Careers support was also identified as a key priority area by both survey respondents and interview participants, in terms of how alumni can contribute to the university. The university has recently worked with alumni to develop career profiles in different subject areas and it is clear that this is something which many alumni would be willing to do. In addition, the university might consider how it could develop opportunities for both face-to-face and online mentoring.

Just over a third of respondents highlighted that they would not consider donating money to the university as they were unsure as to where their contributions would go or how they would be used. In light of this, further communications regarding how the donations are spent and how they are helping the university could be circulated amongst the alumni community. It is also important to note that the majority of respondents who would consider donating money in the future would like it to support students from underprivileged backgrounds.

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The low response rate for the postal element of the survey, and the interest alumni expressed in online communications, such as the newsletter, highlights the importance of ensuring alumni can be engaged through email. However acquiring email contact details of alumni after they have already graduated, and are no longer able to access their university accounts, can be challenging. One solution might be to provide a permanent university account for all alumni, as was suggested in the survey. However, the university might also consider requiring students to provide a secondary email address when they join the university, which could potentially be used when they leave.

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Technical Annex

Table A: Awareness of Plymouth University’s Aim to be the ‘Enterprise University’

Table B: Awareness of Plymouth University’s Research Specialisms

Table C: Awareness of Plymouth University’s Standing as One of the Top 50 ‘Modern Universities’ in the World

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Graduation Year Group

0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Base 721 304 432 158 79

Very aware 25% 15% 11% 8% 13%

Quite aware 37% 27% 21% 16% 25%

Neither/nor 12% 14% 14% 14% 17%

Not very aware 15% 22% 26% 23% 22%

Not at all aware 12% 23% 28% 39% 24%


0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Base 720 305 431 158 79

Very aware 11% 8% 7% 1% 8%

Quite aware 37% 37% 32% 31% 30%

Neither/nor 19% 18% 16% 20% 18%

Not very aware 23% 25% 27% 24% 28%

Not at all aware 10% 13% 18% 24% 17%


0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+Base 718 306 433 157 79Very aware 28% 17% 13% 10% 18%Quite aware 38% 35% 30% 27% 35%Neither/nor 12% 11% 14% 17% 11%Not very aware 14% 20% 23% 23% 10%Not at all aware 8% 16% 20% 24% 25%


Table D: Awareness of Alumni Services and whether they are Accessed by Graduation Year Group

Table E: Accessed Alumni Services by Residential Address

Table F: Awareness of Alumni Services and whether they are Accessed by Type of Degree Level

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0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Aware of

Base: 722 307 434 158 79

Careers support 57% 43% 40% 29% 25%

Access to the library 40% 31% 35% 20% 29%

Events 60% 60% 59% 55% 65%

Accessed

Base: 409 131 160 45 20

Careers support 15% 11% 5% 13% 20%

Access to the library 13% 10% 5% 13% 26%

Events 6% 7% 11% 15% 29%

South West Other UK International

Base: 372 232 156

Careers support 13% 12% 10%

Access to the library 4% 3% 4%

Events 6% 4% 8%

Undergraduate Only

Postgraduate Only Both

Aware of

Base: 1311 205 191



Events 58% 69% 64%

Accessed

Base: 554 114 101



Events 5% 4% 8%


Table G: When Alumni Accessed the Services by Graduation

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0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+Alumni access to Plymouth University libraryBase: 35 9 7 4 4

In the last year 57% 11% 14% 25% 25%Between one and five years ago 37% 33% 14% 50% 25%

Over five years ago 6% 56% 71% 25% 50%

Attended alumni events

Base: 23 13 28 13 13

In the last year 61% 39% 39% 46% 0%Between one and five years ago 39% 39% 46% 46% 54%

Over five years ago 4% 23% 14% 8% 46%


Base Very satisfied Quite satisfied Neither/nor Not very satisfied Not at all satisfiedArchitecture, Design, Building and Construction 4 0% 25% 75% 0% 0%

Art design, Media and Performance 7 0% 14% 57% 29% 0%

Biological, Health, Chemical and Agricultural sciences

5 0% 40% 40% 20% 0%

Business, Law, Logistics and Management 20 5% 35% 35% 10% 15%

Computing, Mathematics and Statistics 7 29% 14% 14% 14% 29%

Education and Teaching 6 33% 17% 33% 17% 0%

Engineering and Robotics 4 0% 75% 0% 25% 0%

Health and Social Work 3 33% 33% 0% 33% 0%Hospitality, Tourism, Leisure and Sport 1 0% 100% 0% 0% 0%

Humanities and Languages 3 0% 100% 0% 0% 0%

Marine, Earth, Geography and Environment 22 9% 32% 36% 23% 0%

Psychology and Social sciences 6 17% 33% 33% 17% 0%

Other 2 50% 50% 0% 0% 0%

Table H: Satisfaction with the Careers Support Accessed by Subject of Study

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Table I: Satisfaction with the Alumni Access to the Library by Subject of Study




7 57% 43% 0% 0% 0%








Other 1 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Table J: Satisfaction with Events or Reunions by Subject Area of Study

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5 20% 60% 0% 20% 0%




Engineering and Robotics 2 0% 100% 0% 0% 0%





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Table K: Factors which Motivated Donations of Time and/or Money: I wanted to give something back to the university

Table L: Factors which Motivated Donations of time and/or Money: I felt well informed about the university activities

Table M: Factors which Motivated Donations of Time and/or Money: I felt supported by the university after I graduated

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0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Base 163 53 75 18 21

Very important 34% 42% 48% 67% 38%

Quite important 50% 47% 41% 28% 52%

Neither/nor 9% 9% 8% 0% 5%

Not very important 6% 2% 1% 6% 5%

Not at all important 1% 0% 1% 0% 0%


0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Base 161 50 65 15 19

Very important 22% 18% 12% 7% 11%


Neither/nor 29% 34% 42% 73% 37%




0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Base 162 52 62 16 18

Very important 15% 19% 8% 0% 6%


Neither/nor 35% 40% 52% 81% 72%




Table N: Factors which Motivated Donations of Time and/or Money: I support the university’s mission and values

Table O: Current Forms of Alumni Communication by Graduation Year Group

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Graduation Year Group0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Base 163 53 69 17 20

Very important 27% 36% 30% 12% 35%


Neither/nor 22% 23% 30% 35% 10%




0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Aware of

Base: 722 307 434 158 79Evolve – the alumni newsletter 76% 85% 79% 78% 84%

Updates from the Plymouth alumni LinkedIn network 42% 38% 38% 35% 34%

Updates from the Plymouth University Alumni and Friends Facebook group

34% 24% 24% 22% 25%

Updates from the Plymouth University Alumni Twitter feed

28% 19% 17% 10% 15%

Updates from the Plymouth University We Chat group 14% 12% 9% 5% 5%

AccessedEvolve – the alumni newsletter 23% 12% 16% 6% 3%

Updates from the Plymouth alumni LinkedIn network 8% 3% 5% 2% 1%

Updates from the Plymouth University Alumni and Friends Facebook group

4% 1% 2% 1% 0%

Updates from the Plymouth University Alumni Twitter feed

2% 1% 1% 0% 0%

Updates from the Plymouth University We Chat group 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%


Table P: Future Event Attendance by Residential Address

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Base: 608 511 276Social or networking events in Plymouth 70% 47% 32%

Social or networking events in another UK city 33% 60% 17%

Social or networking events outside of the UK 7% 9% 62%

Reunions in Plymouth 73% 79% 54%Reunions in another UK city 27% 52% 18%

Reunions outside of the UK 6% 9% 64%


Table Q: How Long Following Graduation Should Careers Support be Available by Subject of Study

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Base Three years after graduation

Ten years after graduation Indefinitely Other timescale

Architecture, Design, Building and Construction 56 45% 16% 32% 7%

Art design, Media and Performance 110 33% 21% 39% 7%


106 43% 19% 34% 4%

Business, Law, Logistics and Management 334 48% 16% 33% 4%

Computing, Mathematics and Statistics 146 53% 14% 29% 4%

Education and Teaching 134 40% 19% 37% 4%

Engineering and Robotics 78 50% 26% 21% 4%

Health and Social Work 76 51% 24% 21% 4%Hospitality, Tourism, Leisure and Sport 33 30% 36% 27% 6%

Humanities and Languages 79 35% 23% 35% 6%

Marine, Earth, Geography and Environment 371 48% 18% 31% 4%

Medicine and Dentistry 7 57% 29% 14% 0%Psychology and Social sciences 138 43% 20% 33% 4%

Other 23 52% 17% 26% 4%

Plymouth University Alumni Engagement Survey Report – Technical Annex

Table R: How Long Following Graduation Should Careers Support be Available by Area by Graduation Year Group

Table S: Future Contributions to the University by Graduation Year Group

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0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Base 716 304 431 151 74Three years after graduation 44% 40% 47% 51% 60%

Ten years after graduation 21% 23% 14% 17% 16%

Indefinitely 31% 31% 36% 30% 22%

Other timescale 5% 6% 3% 2% 3%


0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Base 563 225 274 100 53Providing a career profile for career support or marketing information

57% 56% 55% 62% 70%

Mentoring a student face-to-face 32% 24% 23% 18% 19%

Mentoring a student online 59% 54% 51% 57% 47%Speaking to a group of students at an event or workshop

54% 52% 47% 42% 57%

Speaking to a prospective student 50% 44% 35% 28% 26%

Providing a blog or contributing to social media 31% 28% 22% 26% 30%

Other 2% 4% 3% 7% 2%


Table T: Future Contributions to the University by Residential Address

Table U: Factors which may Discourage Closer Engagement with the University by Graduation Year Group

Table V: Graduation Year Group and Interest in Monetary Donations

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Base 525 422 258Providing a career profile for career support or marketing information

53% 17% 19%

Mentoring a student face-to-face 38% 17% 19%

Mentoring a student online 53% 59% 55%Speaking to a group of students at an event or workshop

51% 51% 52%

Speaking to a prospective student 46% 41% 36%

Providing a blog or contributing to social media 27% 28% 31%

Other 4% 1% 3%


0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Base 710 302 425 154 74

Cost of participation 57% 53% 43% 34% 34%Distance from the university 62% 67% 62% 71% 73%

Time constraints 63% 67% 66% 68% 57%

Family or job commitments 60% 61% 65% 54% 37%Possibility of not knowing anyone 29% 28% 27% 31% 34%


0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Base 717 305 432 158 79Interested in donating money 12% 11% 6% 9% 10%

Not interested in donating money 77% 54% 56% 55% 47%


Table W: Reasons for Not Donating Time and/or Money to the University by Graduation Year Group

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0-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30+

Base 389 159 236 85 35I’m not sure where my contributions would go or how they would be used

40% 34% 26% 20% 11%

I prefer to give to other organisations which I am personally involved with

34% 31% 50% 47% 49%

I’m not sure how donating a gift benefits me now 23% 23% 22% 11% 17%

I object to certain policies or decisions the university has made

18% 6% 9% 6% 6%

Other 32% 33% 27% 38% 34%

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