Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL), gives student ambassadors a platform for their voice

Challenge: Increase access to student ambassadors for higher student engagement 

Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL), wanted to provide more ways for prospective students to engage with their enrollment team. As a higher ed institution that prided itself on its reputation as being an open and accessible school, they were looking for ways to further differentiate themselves from their competitors. Since they’d already had success with their student ambassadors at Open Days, school visits, and UCAS fairs, QMUL wanted to increase access to them via digital means. 

In terms of a solution, QMUL was looking for a platform which gave their student ambassadors a digital voice and made them more approachable. In terms of impact, the school was looking for a quantifiable impact on every prospective student journey – in terms of numbers of applicants and subsequent acceptances of offers of admission. 

Solution: Unibuddy enabled more conversations between prospective students and student ambassadors

When QMUL launched Unibuddy, they chose 30 student ambassadors from their established program to pilot the platform. They embedded Unibuddy on their website, putting clear and high-profile traffic drivers to help raise awareness.  

Then the conversations started: questions from students making their final UCAS choices; students who had accepted their place, looking for support and reassurance with their preparations to come to London to study; and students from across the world starting to make their first enquiries about studying at QMUL.

Conversation topics were extensive and wide-ranging; detailed questions about the course content and teaching style, chats about the accommodation, and discussions on life in East London.

What they all had in common was a focus on the real student experience. Prospective students, regardless of where they were located, wanted to know what life and study was actually like at QMUL. And there was true value brought by student ambassadors, people who were experiencing QMUL firsthand. 

Results: Prospective students who engaged through Unibuddy were 35% more likely to enroll 

In the first six months of their Unibuddy pilot, nearly 800 students engaged through the platform. While 31% were existing applicants, the remainder of those who connected through Unibuddy were new enquirers to the QMUL. Some came to ask a question or two, while others stayed, chatted, and developed a fantastic dialogue with student ambassadors.

The impact on enrollment was significant. QMUL found that prospective students who engaged through Unibuddy, and had accepted their offer, were 35% more likely to enrolll than those who did not.

Perhaps most importantly, students loved using the platform. In a survey of users, 100% said that using Unibuddy made them feel more positively about QMUL.