Yesterday UCOL Te Pūkenga won an Australasian Excellence Award in the Alumni and Community Campaign category at the Educate Plus International Conference in Auckland. Educate Plus has more than 1800 members from the education sector including primary, secondary and tertiary institutions across Australasia, in the fields of Admission, Alumni and Community Relations, Fundraising, Marketing and Communications.
Neil McWhannell Educate Plus CEO said “This year we had record numbers for our Awards Program with over 80 entries. A group of our esteemed Fellows had a challenging task of judging these entries, with the judges noting that the standard of this year’s entries was outstanding. We congratulate all award recipients across the categories.”
Since 1902 UCOL Te Pūkenga has had more than 140,000 students come through its campuses. In 2017 the institution launched an alumni programme with a three year plan and range of activities to keep the momentum flowing, and now the Communications and Public Relations team at UCOL Te Pūkenga are proud of the recognition received.
“We know that former students and UCOL Te Pūkenga alumni are really engaged with what we are doing. It is really fulfilling to see results lead to an award so early into launching the programme. It really highlights the strong connections and relationships UCOL Te Pūkenga forms with students, while they are with us on campus,” comments Jasmine Groves, Senior Communications Advisor at UCOL Te Pūkenga.
“I have been building alumni communities for more than eight years, and I am very proud of that the team and I have received this award, and it’s for engagement with alumni of my own Alma Mata,” reflects Jasmine.
“Until now the programmes I have worked on have been within universities, but whether it be school, university or a polytechnic, the student lifecycle and graduate profiles have similarities, so UCOL Te Pūkenga branching into Alumni Relations was a natural fit and the award reflects our success to date”.
As well as a schedule of regular communications and events, UCOL Te Pūkenga is also committed to recognising the success of its graduates and have just opened nominations for its inaugural Alumni Awards which will be presented in 2019.
UCOL Te Pūkenga Director of Communications and Public Relations Christine Beech, who was in Auckland to accept the award, says, “UCOL Te Pūkenga has always been committed to producing great graduates who make a difference wherever they go in the world and our alumni program is one way of formalising our commitment and encourages our alumni to stay connected and to be more involved.”
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