This document provides a qualitative analysis of alumni platforms and websites of various universities. It analyzes features of SHMS, Cornell, Stanford, and other universities' alumni websites and platforms. Key findings include that multimedia content, personalized stories, and geo-bundling concepts are lacking and could be improved. Survey results for GIHE and LRB are also presented, showing what information students want to see improved on the websites, such as more pictures, lifestyle details, and career opportunities.

1. Laureate International Universities is a registered trademark of Laureate Education, Inc.
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Alumni Platforms Benchmark
Qualitative Analysis
Carolina Pastor Carceller
Digital Marketing Specialist
November 2013

2. Contents
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3. SHMS – Alumni website homepage*
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Social media
Chapter map:
locations and
names and
contact info of
chapters’
presidents.
Industry partners
(sliding banner)
Login needed to
access job offers
Sliding
banner
*Common alumni website for all the group’s schools

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SHMS – Alumni website
PUBLIC ACCESS PRIVATE ACCESS
Alumni chapters – location &
contact details
Gossip
Alumni written testimonials Job postings
Welcome message from the
Dean
Member search
Multimedia: magazine,
brochure, school news
Multimedia: photos & videos,
yearbooks
Who is who: SEG Executive
team
Industry links
Events
Transcript request
Merchandising: coming soon

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SHMS – Alumni social media
FACEBOOK
Used to promote events.
LINKEDIN
No official LinkedIn group. The widget on
the website is linked
to a personal profile called SEG Alumni
Group

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Cornell – Alumni page*
*Alumni page on the main Cornell’s website
Events and
chapters locator
Sliding banner to the
quarterly’s magazine news

7. Student Life Information
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Undergraduate
admissions page:
video on banner,
completely focused on
student life rather than
programs and
qualifications.
Life on campus page:
example of holistic view of
what’s like the life on
campus.
About Stanford page:
Slideshow – Stanford
in pictures.

8. Student Life Information
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The year in Pictures
Academic and
university calendar:
shows social events,
exhibits, sports, etc.
Facebook
Photo
Journals
Demographics, class
profiles and students
profiles: excellent way
to better know the
student community.

9. Student Life Information
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PROMOTING THE LOCATION:
Nice ways to present the
locations’ attractiveness
Video and
photogallery landing
page: links the
location with 5
concepts.
Geo-bundling
example: promotion of
5 branch campuses.
Clear navigation.
Targeted promotional
video included on each
of the cities’ banner
image and Global
campus rotation video
displayed on all the
programs’ pages.
London Highlights

10. Virtual Tours
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Freedom Tour
divided into 3
sections: our people,
our place and our
mission.
Around the Quad
Tour: sample the
diverse opportunities
at Stanford from a
snapshot of fellow
students passing
through the quad.
Simple virtual tours, based on images
and text descriptions. Very nicely
presented. Offer a very complete view
of what’s like studying at Stanford. The
content itself transmits the feeling of a
university that endorses the values of
freedom, diversity, entrepreneurship,
and intellectualism.
Residence Hall Tour

11. Virtual Tours
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Other original ways to present campus tours.
Mobile and audio
tours: Apps, Itunes
podcast tours and
audio tracks.
Google Earth 3D model
YOUniversity TV
Tour: colleges and
careers portal

12. Admissions & Applications
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FIND YOUR PROGRAM
Find your Master LinkedIn app: compares your LinkedIn profile
information (work, experience, seniority, etc..) with IE records
and determine the Masters that suit you best. At the end it
displays a list of personal contacts who have studied at IE as well
as the contacts of the IE team.

13. Admissions & Applications
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ONLINE APPLICATION FORMS: 21 out of the 22 schools analysed use online forms.
Application platform used by universities such as
Cornell, Stanford, and Harvard. Available for
schools with American accreditation and members
of the Council of International Schools.
Used by Harvard.

14. Admissions & Applications
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“APPLY NOW” CTAs: need to be visible
throughout the navigation.

15. Admissions & Applications
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USEFUL INFORMATION FOR
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Nice static banner with direct links
to useful information for prospects
as well as currency converter and
dictionary.
International Agents Directory: possibility to filter by
country or name to contact your closest agent.
Special menu for international students
where they can select the region and
country they come from and specific
requirements are displayed as well as
contacts.

16. Admissions & Applications
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STUDENT LIFE CONTENT ALSO PLACED ON
ADMISSIONS’ PAGES: Good practices on utilizing
multimedia content.
Dynamic slideshow banner: displays pictures
of student life.
Links to recent students' blog updates with the
bloggers' pictures.
Pages full of student testimonial videos about
live on campus, roommates and diversity,
freshman year, learning at Harvard, etc.
Also useful information about admission
statistics, preparing from college, taking time
off, visit Harvard, etc.

17. Admissions & Applications
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A MORE
PERSONAL
APPROACH
Nice slideshow banner
displaying links to
admissions staff,
students and
scholarships’ videos.
Pictures of educational
counsellors and admissions team
“See yourself here”:
video library with
mosaic-design and
menu to filter videos
by type of content.
The Admissions
process in videos.

18. Information for accepted students
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Very complete page about
housing services and options for
different kinds of students.
FIRST STEPS & STUDENT RESOURCES
Nice monthly expenses
chart

19. Information for accepted students
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Nice icon menu with useful links
to departments and student
services.
Next steps after receiving the
offer of admission. Very clearly
structured and straightforward.

20. Information for accepted students
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Reports about Post-Graduate employment based on a survey the school
conducts with students. The reports highlight industry segments, job
functions, and salaries students accept following graduation. Current
students find the information in these reports helpful as they conduct their
permanent or summer job searches.
Careers and jobs services for
current students: something we
can include for Glion London
students.
CAREERS AND EMPLOYMENT
Statistics about graduate
destinations by department and
institute, destination of graduates.

21. Information for parents/families
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Whole section devoted to parents with
targeted information for them such as
the invitation to the "Parents
weekend", counselling on handling
students' transition to university,
FAQs for parents, Parents Fund
Committee, financial aid, events
calendar, local weather, travel, etc.
PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN STUDENT LIFE
Parents Ambassador Program

22. Information for parents/families
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Compilation of school’s website
links useful for parents such as
information sessions, application
process, financial aid, fees, the
first-year experience, diversity,
and campus visits.
RESOURCES FOR PARENTS
In general this information is placed on the undergraduates’ pages/sections.

23. Information for UGs vs. PGs
• The majority of the schools analyzed just display targeted sections when it comes to admissions.
Some others have specific schools for undergraduate and graduate students which have their
specific websites.
• Examples:
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24. Alumni section
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Very complete website that brings together alumni from the
4 SEG Group schools.
Harvard puts a great emphasis on university news on its
alumni page, as well as promoting volunteer opportunities
among alumni to support prospective and current students.
Alumni also organize trips around the world (some of them
co-sponsored by other universities) generally leaded by a
Harvard professor.
*LRB alumni website lacks social media links to alumni pages.

25. Alumni section
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Nice alumni page layout: dynamic slideshow
banner with pictures of alumni events and a video
where alumni talk about their life mottos.
Hult’s Alumni app consolidates all the social media
alumni networks (developed by EverTrue).

26. Multimedia Galleries
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Examples of best practices on how to present a multimedia gallery: Hult, Harvard,
and Boston University.

27. General trends and conclusions:
• Almost the 100% of schools use online application forms. We need to find a way to
implement it as a more effective way to convert leads and process applications.
• Information for parents and families is mainly included in pages addressed for
undergraduate students.
• Graduate students’ pages put more emphasis on people (student and alumni
profiles) than on student life.
• We are lacking more multimedia content, need to incorporate videos/pictures not
only on a gallery but to integrate it on the website’s sections.
– Boston University, Stanford, and Harvard are excellent examples of engaging, dynamic, and
interesting content for different audiences (prospects, current students, alumni, and
families).
– We have to find ways to transmit individual stories, put faces and names on the contents we
are displaying, making them more personal and easy to connect with.
• Hult can be taken as a example to re-design the website around the geo-bundling
concept.
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28. Survey Results: GIHE
2010.1 2010.2 2011.1 2011.2 2012.1 2012.2
Heard about GIHE from website 12.30% 17.75% 15.70% n/a 16% 11%
Clear info 3.2 3.1 3 n/a 3.1 3.3
Clear admission requirements 3.2 3.4 3.3 n/a 3.5 3.4
Clear fees info 3.3 3.3 3.3 n/a 3.4 3.4
Well explained applic. Procedure 3.3 3.3 3.3 n/a 3.4 3.4
Info about career opportunities 3.2 3 3 n/a 3 3.1
Realistic picture of the school 3.2 3.2 3.2 n/a 3.2 3.2
Info about lifestyle 3.2 2.9 2.9 n/a 2.9 3
Info about leisure activ. 3.1 3 3 n/a 3 3
website easy to use 3.1 3.2 3.2 n/a 3.3 n/a
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What do students want to see on Glion’s website?
1. Pictures of the different accommodation.
2. More information about campus activities, sports, lifestyle, student experiences…
3. More information about career opportunities, and internships,
4. Access to the academic calendar from the website.

29. Survey Results: LRB
Les Roches
2010.1 2010.2 2011.1 2011.2 2012.1 2012.2
Heard about GIHE from website 16% 15% 18% 15% 20% 16%
Clear info 3 3.1 3 n/a 3.2 3.3
Clear admission requirements 3.2 3.1 3.1 n/a 3.3 3.4
Clear fees info 3.1 3.1 3.1 n/a 3.4 3.4
Well explained applic. Procedure 3.6 3.1 3.1 n/a 3.4 3.3
Info about career opportunities 3.6 2.9 2.9 n/a 3.1 3.1
Realistic picture of the school 2.7 2.9 2.9 n/a 3.2 3.1
Realistic picture of the area 2.7 2.9 2.9 n/a 3.1 3
Info about lifestyle 2.6 2.7 2.7 n/a 3 2.9
Info about leisure activ. 2.7 2.8 2.8 n/a 3 2.9
website easy to use 3 3 3.1 n/a 3.4 3.2
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What do students want to see on Les Roches’ website?
1.More information about campus activities, sports, lifestyle, student experiences…
2.More information about accommodation and food.
3.More information about career opportunities.
4.Alumni and internship experiences.