| |9 JULY 2021HIGHERReviewis also a need for more formal communication, such as lecture schedules, examination schedules, examination results, changes in courses, coursework details, finance issues and so on. This is not particularly difficult as they are now a paying customer, so you will have their latest details. But, is email the best way to disseminate this information and even if it is, can it be supported by other mechanisms such as SMS/WhatsApp messages to flag that there is an important email waiting to be read?Alumni: Once students have graduated they become an important resource for the university. Many would equate this to seeking financial support but there are many other ways that alumni can support their alma mater. Examples include mentoring, guest lectures, facilitating student intern opportunities, playing an advocacy role and more.The challenges in maintaining a relationship with the alumni are many and varied. Not only do you need to keep track of them as their circumstances changes, not least of all ensuring that their contact details are up to date. Moreover, you need to maintain their interest in the university without spamming them so that they just switch off from any engagement that they may have had. The fact that you need to communicate for, perhaps, 50 years or more presents additional challenges.This is just one of the issues among many, faced by the Higher Education sector in terms of communicating with its key stakeholder. If somebody can provide a solution that is able to address this issue, across all student bodies, it could have a significant advantage in the market and could be a game changer. The risks are high though, as the landscape is constantly changing. Just allocating an email address is easy, but staying ahead of the new technologies requires a more agile, flexible platform.There is still a need to communicate on an informal basis, to provide information, success stories, items of potential interest etc
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