Results of the 51ԹϺ Alumni Attitude Survey are in, offering insights into former and current students’ perceptions, attitudes, experiences, and opinions of their alma mater.
The Alumni Attitude Study is part of national, multicollege research study. Over 250 universities and colleges have conducted this study with their alumni, providing a rich database of comparable data. Results were presented to campus leadership, communicators, and broadly to campus.
"This survey made it clear to us you care about 51ԹϺ. We’re sharing your feedback across campus so we can improve programs for both current students and our alumni,” said Chad Warren, senior associate vice president of 51ԹϺ alumni engagement and annual giving and executive director of the 51ԹϺ Alumni Association.
General Findings
Below are excerpts provided by Performance Enhancement Group to 51ԹϺ.
- Alumni are proud of 51ԹϺ and promote the university when speaking with prospective students and peers.
- Alumni are most loyal to the university as a whole followed by loyalty to their college/school.
- Alumni want to hear news about scholarship awards, accomplishments of students, the university’s engagement with the community, and upcoming alumni events.
- Alumni feel like attending 51ԹϺ was a good choice.
- Alumni want access to Career Services after graduation.
- Alumni want to mentor students.
- Alumni want to know that the value of their degree is greater today than the day they graduated and they want to understand what the university is doing to increase that value.
- Alumni are focused on how their degree helped them in their lives and particularly how the degree is an enhancement to their career.
- Alumni want diverse events with more emphasis on career development and community service. Events offer an interesting dilemma for 51ԹϺ. We know that many will never attend an event. Despite this, the survey shows that they still want to know that their university is having events and that important things are happening at them. Therefore, communications about successful outcomes of events can be an important gauge of success, possibly more so than the number of attendees.
About the Study
Thanks to the financial support of the Division of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement, the Alumni Association was able to conduct a comprehensive alumni study at the end of 2017. 51ԹϺ previously conducted this study was in 2007. The results of the 2017 study were compiled from respondents.
There were three groups of survey questions that rate specific items based on both importance and performance:
- Questions about the student experience of the alumnus/a.
- Questions about what alumni should do (the proper role of an alumnus/a) and how well the university or alumni association supports alumni in doing those things.
- Questions on the importance of various methods of communications and how effective the university is at providing that communication.
The association welcomes more feedback from alumni. Fill out the or directly email Chad Warren.
