Strategic HIGHLIGHTS
ceremonies in 2021 realised a 42% reduction in expenditure compared with the previous year and a more than 60% reduction when compared to 2019—the last series of physical ceremonies held before the pandemic. Student Recruitment Open Days On 14 June 2022 the Hilton Trinidad & Conference Centre partly sponsored and hosted the Campus’s first Postgraduate Experience, a student recruitment event that attracted more than 700 postgraduate prospects, many of whom were working professionals. A month later, the Campus welcomed thousands of undergraduate and postgraduate prospects and their supporters to a three-day Open Day event from 8 to 10 July in the JFK Quadrangle, Lecture Theatre and Auditorium. These Open Days were supported by corporate sponsors and featured giveaways, tours of the halls of residence, and short presentations by each Faculty. Both events gave prospects an opportunity to speak one- on-one with Campus representatives about the programmes of interest to them, and to learn about how to finance their degrees. Positive Internal Engagement Employee knowledge and engagement on safety and security have shown a marked improvement, due in large part to the efforts of the internal communications team which has worked assiduously to disseminate information such as COVID statistics, health and safety guidelines, and security tips to build safety awareness in the work and home environments. Some 50 editions of the weekly eNews magazine were shared to inform the Campus community and other stakeholders about activities on campus, and another 100 e-blasts were circulated with various calls to action. Subscription to a new platform for email templates resulted in a faster, more effective, consistent format for media releases, invitations, and advisories.
the app was also used by the Campus Web Team to create a new programme search feature which is an important part of the redesigned Campus website. Increased Media Coverage Media mentions during the period totalled 11,300, with television and radio broadcasts, blogs, and Instagram all recording increases in coverage. The sentiments shown toward the stories earning these mentions has ranged from neutral (54.7%) to positive (32.9%), and 29 unique sites have reported content from the Campus—an increase of 3.6% compared to the previous reporting period. One hundred and one media releases earned 549 mentions among press, broadcast, and online sources. The traction in traditional media alone had an estimated advertising value worth TT$747,000—a 50% increase over the previous period. Wider Reach with Virtual Engagements and Events As the pandemic continued to rage, the Campus Outreach Officer participated in 12 career and university fairs—eight of which were virtual events—reaching close to 8,800 prospects. The events team facilitated more than 150 events including public lectures, research symposia, open days, webinars, and panel discussions as well as the Campus’s signature annual events: Matriculation, Welcome, and Graduation ceremonies. Over 45% of the events were virtual or hybrid events resulting in wider audiences and optimised spend . Media coverage of virtual events has also tended to be higher than that of face- to-face events. M&C will, however, continue to monitor the trade-offs between virtual and in-person events given the overwhelming response to the resumption of the physical signature events mentioned above. Virtual events also often result in lower costs. For example, the virtual graduation
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