See: www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Mature_Students
The then Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) teamed up with DirectGov and The Student Room (TSR) – a privately owned, community moderated website – to create a resource for those returning to education after a lengthy gap. With over 60% of the student population aged over 21 years, the creation of an integrated information source is considered vital, providing a way of ensuring that mature students have access to the appropriate resources and support. This needed to cover both the hard facts about the student finance package available, and the softer information from peers to reassure potential applicants that they would fit in and to find a suitable institution – which government is often not best placed to provide directly.
Potential students can use the site to seek information at a local/institutional level, or via their academic discipline. In addition, they have a sustainable source of support, discussion and advice. The website contains:
- Information about funding and courses – linking to the official source on Directgov;
- A map linking to specific university and college pages about support for mature students;
- Links to other relevant agencies and information sources;
- First-person accounts sourced via The Student Room’s forum and written by those studying particular subjects who are current members of TSR;
- Case study videos (prepared by a PR agency in support of the campaign);
- Online discussions amongst site visitors within the existing forum for mature students; and
- Specialist articles.
Each of the partners collaborating in this initiative had their specific kinds of experience and knowledge:
- DirectGov is at the forefront of streamlining government information sources and making them accessible to citizens;
- TSR has experience of running and moderating forums for students, and of building user communities;
- DIUS is responsible for student finance policy and is a keen pioneer of innovative engagement practices and the need to build links with communities online where these exist already.
The combined experience of the three partners helped to ensure that responsibilities were clearly identified during the planning stage, and gaps in capacity filled. For example, a PR (public relations) agency was appointed to produce video content for the website, featuring mature students who could talk about their experience of returning to education and setting up offline activity to drive traffic to the campaign sites. In addition, a community manager was appointed on a short-term basis to boost public awareness of the Mature Students campaign on The Student Room, providing links via a wide range of relevant websites (including online communities, news sites and information hubs) and deploying website optimisation techniques.
These external appointments meant that the partners could develop an integrated site for mature students, which balances official information with peer support in a credible way. Moderation was managed in-house by TSR, which appoints its own community managers who are usually members of the site. Relationships between government departments and stakeholder communities were managed by DIUS, while the DIUS-managed Student Finance team for DirectGov ensured that the appropriate information was aggregated on the website, alongside other relevant material and linking to The Student Room for further discussion and comment.
Early marketing and relationship management have ensured that the volume of traffic to the Mature Students campaign on The Student Room doubled in the short-term.
From the perspective of DIUS and DirectGov, the collaboration has provided a means of building links with a key online community and deepening the engagement between government departments and stakeholders. From the perspective of TSR, the collaboration helps them to build relationships between communities of interest, and to target specific sources of information that may not have previously been available.
Students benefit from having an online resource that enables them to access both official information and informal testimony from other students, find out about other sources of information and join communities around lifestyle or academic interests.
The Mature Students campaign on The Student Room was set up in January 2009 and continues to be well populated with regularly updated information. Because links to the site are well embedded within other websites, it attracts a large volume of new traffic. However, the strength of the resource is its sustained user-base which continues to generate regular discussion and interest about topical matters, as term-calendars dictate. The high levels of activity on the website are a testament to the partnership’s ability to build communities and provide information and support.
