Student recruitment, graduate employability and the student experience are strategic priorities for almost every university, with competition to recruit students as tight as ever.
The 758,000 applications for full-time undergraduate places through the UK’s Ucas in 2024 were still below the record level from 2022, according to figures from the House of Commons Library. So, universities need all available means to recruit students in a persistently competitive market, from strategic marketing campaigns to promoting excellence in research.
But what about one of their most impactful tools: their alumni?
Alumni’s influence must not be underestimated. Over a quarter of student offer holders at the University of Southampton for 2024-25 interacted with an alumnus, for example, and 90 per cent of these interactions had a positive impact on their application.
Who are graduate ambassadors?
One way to harness the power of alumni is through a graduate ambassador programme, where recent graduates are matched with volunteering opportunities across the university community. They can provide practical advice on career panels to anxious final-year students, lead employability workshops with real-life up-to-date industry insights, and give guest talks to help prospective students understand the impact of higher education. Their stories and industry insights inspire current and future students, while reassuring them that it’s OK to not have it all figured out and helping them prepare for university life and beyond.
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Recent graduates make relatable advocates and can support student recruitment. They provide aspirational stories of their evolving career paths as well as their experiences of studying, from making friends in societies to accessing student support services. These stories can be shared across social media, prospectuses and web pages to show what life as a university student and graduate looks like, providing insights that go beyond the academic experience.
How the graduate ambassador scheme works in practice
Our 23 graduate ambassadors who were invited to apply to volunteer live a commutable distance from campus and graduated within the past three years. Successful applicants then attended a short webinar where they learned more about the types of opportunities they might be invited to, how this would be communicated with them and the university’s expectations, as well as hearing advice from an experienced graduate ambassador.
These recent graduates then join forces with student-facing university colleagues once the Office of Development and Alumni Relations matches them with a volunteering opportunity. In the process, they receive support from student-inclusion teams, employability professionals and student recruitment officers across the university.
When matching alumni volunteers to an opportunity, the alumni office considers their needs and experience, the requirements of the requestor and students, and wider university strategies, so everyone involved has a positive experience. Considerations may include the graduate’s academic or industry experience, their interests and skills, and their characteristics. Facilitators should work closely with colleagues who request the support of alumni volunteers to understand these requirements and their rationale, offering guidance where appropriate, and how engagement from alumni will add value.
With this understanding, the alumni relations office contacts graduates who match the criteria and requirements and gives them the details of the volunteering opportunity, including the time, location, format, expected guests and any questions they may be asked in advance. If applicable, we also disclose why they have been invited to a particular opportunity as this helps the graduate to understand how sharing their own experiences will bring value to their university community.
Support for volunteering opportunities
To remain engaged with the programme, graduate ambassadors need regular and impactful volunteering opportunities. This can be achieved by increasing support for the programme and boosting its visibility across the institution. At Southampton, we have shared internal news items and social media posts introducing each graduate ambassador, built a web page with pictures and short biographies, presented to student-facing teams across the university, and even invited ambassadors to introduce themselves in our departmental meetings. This has increased the programme’s impact, resulting in more diverse requests for support from the graduate ambassadors.
“When I was deciding where my year in employment would take me, I attended a presentation by a graduate who had just completed their placement in a role in clinical trials. This led me into research outside a laboratory environment (the norm for biomedical sciences students). Opportunities like this are invaluable to students who do not know which doors exist, let alone which are open to them.”
Jessica Boxall
The challenge of building a community of graduates
A small proportion of the 5,000 students who graduate from the University of Southampton each year, the graduate ambassadors are loyal, engaged and authentic advocates, qualities that can be cultivated through strong stewardship, regular engagement opportunities and a sense of community. As a result, these graduate ambassadors’ relationship with their university is as warm as ever, and they want to share their positive experiences with future and current students, whose shoes they were once in.
As higher education professionals, we can further our own strategic priorities in collaboration with recent graduates while providing them with public-speaking and leadership skills development and the opportunity to develop their professional networks and stay connected with their university community.
Nonetheless, we must remain conscious that these volunteers are busy building their own careers and may have many other commitments. Where possible, we must encourage colleagues to plan engagement opportunities outside office hours, so the graduate ambassadors don’t have to take time off work, and to offer to cover reasonable travel expenses. Facilitators should be sure to keep an accurate record of volunteering activity.
Similarly, organisers should consider why recent graduates might volunteer their time, such as career progression, networking and skills development. Simple measures like sharing pictures of graduate ambassadors in action on LinkedIn can help demonstrate the benefit of volunteering. To maintain engagement with the scheme, organisers should work with colleagues across the university to source regular and meaningful volunteer opportunities.
Just as companies use influencers to amplify the benefits of their products, universities can turn to their most authentic and trusted advocates: their alumni community. While seeing ambassadors in graduate jobs might reassure parents of prospective students that a degree will boost their child’s career readiness, graduate ambassadors can also give future freshmen a real insight into what studying at a certain university in a particular city can look like, and current students a glimpse into their post-graduation future.
Nicole Chapman is an alumni and supporter engagement officer and Jessica Boxall is a research fellow and registered associate nutritionist, both at the University of Southampton.
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