Canadian universities struggle to convert young alumni into positive assets.  And the reasons for this are gatekeeping and territoriality.

Prior to graduation, student contact data is in the hands of departments who, for the most part, report to the Provost/VP Academic (primarily Registrars and/or Institutional Research Offices).  While they are students, universities ask students a lot of questions.  They get surveyed so frequently that survey fatigue and response rates are a major issue. The thing is, though, that asking students questions about their education while they are still in the middle of it tends to generate sets of answers which are only so valuable.  They can generate some important insights into things like student satisfaction and engagement, but they cannot tell you much in terms of the value of the education itself.  For that, you really need to talk to graduates.

But here’s the problem: the instant that students graduate, two things happen.  One, in most of the country the institution hands over a copy of graduating student contact data to provincial governments and Statistics Canada so that they can do graduate surveys, most of which ask about post-graduation labour market experiences, but almost never about how they were shaped by what happened during studies.  And second, within the institution, custody of the data passes from people who report to the Provost/VPA over to the alumni/advancement part of the house. 

Now, this first element is a problem because institutions are routinely missing fantastic chances to gather information about what their graduates think about their programs once they hit the labour market.  Just knowing that x% of them have jobs and their average income is $Y is, frankly, utterly unimportant.  What matters – or what should matter, anyway – are student reflections on the value of different experiences.  Which of the skills they acquired do they use the most in their jobs.  Which do they use the least?  What skills did they not acquire that they wish they had (we did this question at a Fine Arts School a few years ago and overwhelmingly, they told us they wish they had acquired simple business and accounting skills because – surprise! – Fine Arts grads are among the most likely to end up running their own enterprises).  Even asking basic questions about which professors were most memorable and the relative importance of student experience and student extracurricular activities with respect to later career success would be important.  And you can ask these questions multiple times!  The answers graduates give you a year or two out might be quite different than the ones they give you five years out.

So, we know universities are missing a great chance to get valuable feedback at a very granular level, feedback which could be hugely important in revising programs and curricula or even in developing new program offerings.  But why can’t they just fix it?  Why not just start asking these questions?  Well, remember that second bit: once students cross the stage at graduation, their contact data effectively becomes the property of the alumni/advancement team.  And if there is one thing the academic side of the house will not accept it is the alumni/advancement team asking questions about curricula.

This is silly because there is a massive win-win available here.  Alumni/advancement frankly aren’t always that good engaging with graduates in their first few years after graduating.  That’s because alumni relations are, at the end of the day, about fundraising, and if there’s one thing young graduates are missing, it’s spare cash for philanthropy.  But what they do have, and in my experience, they are desperate to share it, is a lot of thoughts about their education. I am fairly sure they would be delighted if someone from their department or faculty came along and asked them.  The evidence they provide could make a real difference to institutional programming, if an institution was minded towards taking advantage of it.  And evidence of an institution paying attention to recent graduates and acting on their views and experiences?  It might even make them more likely to stay attached to the university in the long-term, which is of course what every Alumni office strives for. 

As I say, having alumni offices ask recent graduates to give back the gift of experience should be a no-brainer for everyone in a university.  Obviously, the nature of the questions posed and the way they get used needs to remain in academic hands, but that’s easily handled.  There are only two barriers: academic departments’ willingness to listen to graduates, and their willingness to let alumni offices be the conduit for asking these questions. 

Simple, right?

(If anyone is interested in sharing thoughts on this, or wants to think through how to ask questions on such surveys, drop me a note at president at higheredstrategy dot com)