JISC

This project will embed an innovative, interactive web 2.0 technology called Tinychat into our website, with links to our Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter feeds. This novel arrangement will deliver a structured programme of real-time, web-based, global networking sessions and immediate follow-up activities (at minimal cost) designed to increase engagement of targeted groups of alumni and students and add value to their relationship with the University. The programme will create inclusiveness and a sense of belonging and increased penetration into our contemporary student community and will give our stakeholders (alumni, students, academics) access to knowledge exchange with influential people from related or unrelated fields; academic research; opportunities for career enhancement, motivation, mentoring and recruitment and re-engagement with the University. It will create further separation from the perception that Alumni Relations is merely a fundraising activity. Two specific cohorts will be independently evaluated by Curtis and Cartwright, namely MBA graduates and the STEM subject of Civil Engineering. The former tend to be more mature and through the nature of their course are more isolated and less cohesive. The latter have a high profile being involved in the provision of safe water and sanitation for disaster relief and collaboration with NGOs, and access to the visual media, and will provide a model to capture interest that will be translated to the Business cohort.