Higher and Further Education User Group

"I don't think there is much room for improvement - I would just say that the project case study was so useful. I think this should be an ongoing feature - very interesting this is perfect for 'building a case' to put to college decision-makers." Colin Howarth, Royal Forest of Dean College.

On a sunny day in Berkshire ACTIVE recently held the latest in a series of user groups dedicated to the education sector. Overlooking the prestigious Madejski Stadium thirty representatives from higher and further education organisations gathered in the director's lounge at Reading football club to share and discuss ideas. The theme of the day was an evidence based approach to sales and marketing to achieve measurable benefits and gain support from the senior management team.

After a brief introduction Trevor Thorne, Director of Marketing and Communication services at Southampton Solent University delivered a presentation discussing the use of geo-demographics for student recruitment in a broad context before focusing more on school liaison planning, targeting feeder colleges and alumni development. Trevor also referred to a recent paper he delivered in Portugal based on how a market research data cycle can assist in the development of more effective strategic planning. This has been made available to all those who attended.

Next Julian Willians, Marketing Manager at Southampton City College gave a very well received presentation from the point of view of a first time user of Total Solution Mapping (TSM). In his conclusion he described how work completed in an hour helped reduce costs, deliver over £54,000 in revenue and strengthen links with local outreach centres.

Just before lunch a group workshop took place to allow the exchange of ideas on how best to use the system and embed TSM across an organisation. The results highlighted some very innovative approaches for the use of the system and the results were presented back to the group by Andy Durman, Business Development Manager for ACTIVE in education.

Feedback from the day has been extremely positive and as a result each attendee has been given exclusive access to the presentations and whitepapers used during the day as well as a full delegate contact list. Due to their continued success the number of user groups being held by ACTIVE will continue to increase with some already planned for August and November this year.