A presentation made to the IEEE MGA MRR Committee in 2013 to address the IEEE Student Member Retention Problem in India.

1. Student Retention –a deeper look
Jaison AbeySabu
jaison_sabu@ieee.org

2. % of student members to total membership
1970 : 14.6%
1980 : 16.3%
1990 : 15.9%
2000 : 15.9%
2005 : 21.5%
2010 : 25.2%
Note the increase in % of students over the past 10 years
Numbers include both Undergraduate and Graduate Student MembershipIEEE Student Membership107,812

3. Student/GSM Since 2007
Note: 2007 was first year for GSM membership grade
Slide 32011 student member retention :
Graduate students 67.9% ; Undergraduate students 32.4%

4. IEEE Membership Retention Rates (%’s)
82.8
83.7
82.882.983.1
84.2
84.581.684.084.885.8
87.5
88.3
50.5
47.353.5
54.4
56.5
61.163.757.8
62.2
63.166.169.372.476.1
76.2
76.8
77.0
78.080.1
80.9
77.3
80.381.683.0
85.1
86.42010200920082007
2006
2005
2004
20032002
2001
2000
19991998Higher Grade Members
Student MembersOverallSlide 4

5. Zoom In –R10 and IndiaHG58% GSM12%
StM30%
Region 10HG76% GSM10%
StM14%
Overall IEEEHG30%
GSM11%
StM59%
India# Members: 379,266
84,254
33,947(July 2011) Courtesy: India Students Research Project by Dr. Mini S Thomas, Former MELCC Chair

6. *Past statistics required us to use the Level Data
Ten Year Membership Totals in Top Countries
-Higher Grade Membership (no GSM) -
Slide 60
50,000
100,000150,000200,000250,000
USA
Canada
Japan
IndiaUK&RI*
Australia
ChinaGermany
Italy
Taiwan2000 HG Members
2010 HG Members02,0004,0006,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000Zoom in on Rank 2-10Courtesy: India Students Research Project by Dr. Mini S Thomas, Former MELCC Chair

7. 0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,00025,00030,00035,0002000 STU
2010 STU
*Past statistics required us to use the Level DataSlide 7
Ten Year Membership Totals in Top Countries
-Student Membership (w/ GSM) - Zoom in on Rank 3-150
500
1,0001,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,5004,000
Courtesy: India Students Research Project by Dr. Mini S Thomas, Former MELCC Chair

8. Zoom In -India
Retention through July 2012 -India is the second largest country for student membership-India has the lowest retention for student members
Total StudentRetention
UndergradStudent Retention
Graduate Student Retention
India
20%
18.1%
31.1%
Region 10 w/out India
49.7%
36.4%
58%
Regions 1-9
58.8%
41.8%
76.1%
Courtesy: India Students Research Project by Dr. Mini S Thomas, Former MELCC Chair

9. What do we know? Year after year, this is what the membership in India looks like0
2000
40006000
8000
1000012000
14000
1600018000200001
2
3
4
56
7
89
10
1112
13
1415+ STU-STUSTU-HG
HG-STUHG-HG
AF-STUAF-HGStartGrade- Current Grade
IEEE Membership in India by Years of Service (14 Aug 2009)
Years of Service
Number of Members
Something is wrong with First Year student retention in IndiaCourtesy: India Students Research Project by Dr. Mini S Thomas, Former MELCC Chair

10. Root Cause Analysis
•Benefits not available in India
•Benefits that only regional volunteers get (international travel funding)
Overselling IEEE Benefits
•Fresher's (18 years) don’t really know what they want
•Easily coaxed into joining IEEE based on flowery promises
Catching them young
•The first year costs only halfHigh price of membership

11. Zoom In –Section (Kerala Section, India –Case Study) 0
50
100150200250
300Total 2010Renewed 2010
Dropped 2010
DROP RATE
-Large vibrant branches have high drop rates
-New young branches have better retention

12. Root Cause Analysis
•Experienced volunteers know better how to sell IEEE (even using unrealistic benefits)
•Large number of students attend mass campaigning sessions
Aggressive Marketing
•Branches with high membership (50+) find it difficult to ensure reach of benefits to all volunteers
•Young volunteers (20 -22 years) may not be experienced enough to manage programs that benefit a large number of members
Problems of Scale
•Faculty and Management in several colleges are not genuinely interested in the growth of the student branchFaculty and Management Involvement

13. General FindingsIt is difficult to find general strategies that work across regions / countriesWe may need to engage individual volunteer teams to devise strategies for student retention specific to Regions / CountriesGeneral Action Items that MGA can take up are proposed below
12/16/2012
13

14. Suggestions for the MGA
•Currently rebates are tied to membership strength
•Suggested scenario (for a 4 year course)
•1 USD per new member
•2 USD for every member renewing second year
•3 USD for every member renewing third year
•4 USD for every member renewing fourth year
•Different rules may have to be applied for GSMTie Student Branch Rebates to Retention
•Outstanding Section Award (student retention added as a criteria in 2013)
•Regional Outstanding Student Branch Award (Plan to add retention as a criteria for 2014)
•Tie Retention as a criteria to Larry K. Wilson award (optional) and Outstanding Student Branch Counselor Award
•Significant cash award (USD 2000?) for every student branch achieving 100% retention for two consecutive years ( is this financially viable ? ) Tie Retention to Awards

15. Suggestions for the MGA (cont.)
•Successful model in R10
•IEEE-USA student congress in the pipeline
•Support for congresses (funding and speakers) Regional / National Student Congresses
•Provide more frequent, easy to interpret reports to student activities volunteers
•Classified by Regions / Countries / Sections / SBs
•Access to Section Chairs / SACs / Branch Counselors, SB Chairs and other national and regional volunteersAccess to Membership and Retention Data