UMBC Creates a Secure and Engaging Student Community with Unibuddy

Challenge: An Influx of International Student Applications

University of Maryland Baltimore County, a renowned research Institution recognized for national leadership in teaching, innovation, and diversity, serves nearly 14,000 students and counting. With a glowing reputation, international student applications have been on the rise since 2018, drastically increasing the admitted student population. Similar to many schools, UMBC found it challenging to offer a personalized, engaging journey for each of their admitted students, and near impossible to answer thousands of inquiries with limited staff and resources. In order to help this fluctuation and ensure international students felt supported and heard, UMBC pursued a new strategy.

“We needed a platform that could leverage our student voice, where admitted students could get to know one another before they arrived on campus; look for housing, build relationships, and find resources to help them build confidence,” says Sarah Wong, International Student Support Manager at UMBC. “The freedom to connect comfortably and safely with peers was the most important factor we considered in a platform, and when we looked into pre-existing options, those didn’t offer enough quality control and privacy for what we wanted.”

Solution: A Secure Hub for Peer-to-Peer Connections

As early adopters of Unibuddy Chat, Sarah and her team were eager to integrate Unibuddy Community into their enrollment strategy when it launched in 2022. “Community provided everything we were looking for; a place for our students to feel welcomed, understood and informed,” Wong shares.

Due to the success with Unibuddy Chat and the increase in their international student population, UMBC was more than willing to make funds and resources available to support Community. With the help of Unibuddy’s dedicated onboarding specialist and Customer Success Manager, the international recruitment team was up and running with Community in under a week. “The setup process was really easy, due in large part to the personalized support Unibuddy provides. We receive regular best practice resources, demo videos and reminder emails to ensure our Community is healthy and thriving. I was even able to create a new community cohort for fall 2023 in less than an hour and begin inviting students.”

The international recruitment team found immediate ease knowing their students were getting answers to their questions, with the support of the peers, while connecting in a secure environment. “The interface is extremely easy to use and offers the privacy our students deserve; I don’t see everyone’s chats, I can’t see specific messages, but our students have a way to ask for help and have autonomy over their conversations,” Wong states.

Result: 1000 Student Users are Actively Engaged

Since implementing Unibuddy Community and leveraging the newest capabilities, UMBC has over 1000 active student users, and exchanged nearly 5,000 messages. 87% of their peer-to-peer communication has been through secure direct messaging, indicating it’s the most popular method of connecting. “We’re seeing a lot of personal messages being sent between students, and I personally believe they’re bonding and forming friendships before they arrive on campus. I’ve even been in webinars with students who said Unibuddy helped them build a relationship, meet-up and coordinate flights to our school.”

Wong has also noticed that admitted students are thoroughly engaged with the app, especially since the launch of new interactive features such as emoji reactions and PDF sharing. “We really love the new Updates feature in Community. With all the info sessions and training we do pre departure, I can push all the resources and details needed for those through that channel, which is a really convenient and effective way to reach them,” Wong shares. “We even tested new initiatives to increase overall attendance at our informational webinars. When simultaneously posting in the Updates channel and sending a reminder email, the attendance from one session to the next roughly doubled.”

Unibuddy has played a major role in UMBC’s international recruitment efforts by providing a “strong, safe, healthy platform for students to connect.” In fact, Wong and her team decided to keep the staff function turned off, so students can focus on connecting with like-minded peers and contact staff through preferred channels. This authenticity is extremely important to Wong, and “vital to students’ enjoyment, experience and enrollment with us.”