Student Ambassador Programme – Pre-Entry Support

Main idea

Outline

• UCD Student Ambassador are recruited and trained to:
• Provide campus tours of the UCD Belfield campus to prospective students from around the world, visiting academic staff, UCD alumni and other visitors to the university.
• Assist with Student Recruitment led events on the Belfield campus such as the UCD Open Day, UCD Summer School, UCD Graduate Open Day and other information evenings and events.
• Represent UCD at large external events such as Higher Options, the National Ploughing Championships, Regional Careers Fairs and more.
• Provide support to university led events and campaigns while working with units from across UCD.
• Act as a point of contact for prospective students looking for information about studying in UCD.
• Provide content for the MyUCD Student Blog and Student Recruitment Social Media Accounts.
• Student Ambassadors represent UCD through our Chat with Students website which allows for rapid and direct interaction with prospective students.

• It is a casual part-time paid position in the university.
• Students who complete the programme receive a certificate of participation and letter of reference.
• Students who meet all the requirements of the programme at the end of the year can have their involvement recorded on their diploma supplement.
• It is also a leadership role, allowing students to grow both personally and professionally while developing transferable skills like teamwork, event management and public speaking, which will help with their future career progression.
• It is also a great way for students to meet new people from different Stages/Courses of Study

Goals

To have students at the front and centre of our student recruitment – current students best placed to showcase the university. The goal of the programme is also to develop the leadership and communication skills of our Student Ambassadors while also providing them with transferable skills that they can lean on in the future.

Students involvement

Students are recruited and trained to be Student Ambassadors.

Inspiration and evidence

The Student Ambassador concept came about on an ideas sharing trip to colleges/universities in the United States some years ago.

Success criteria

• That it is student centered. 
• With each passing year, we are attempting to develop a culture of high standards which is passed down through the groups of ambassadors. This allows newly recruited SAs to immediately understand the levels which they need to perform at with campus tours/event support.
• The ability to provide constructive feedback on individual campus tours would allow us to increase the quality of the tours.
• The success of the programme is dependent on effective management of the group. The expectations of what is required needs to be set out early and adhered to straight away. Good habits need to be established from the outset and monitored consistently throughout the year.

Effectiveness

• Applicant numbers to be a Student Ambassador 
• Feedback gathered after events
• Well established and running for a long time.
• Improvement in recruitment since the establishment of the programme

Do you feel you can effectively provide the support that students require?

Would you recommend this to other institutions?

strongly agree

Evaluation

• Quality Review every 5 years. 
• We never request feedback from stakeholders directly but take any feedback received very seriously in shaping the programme.
• The Student Ambassadors themselves are evaluated in an ongoing manner on their conduct and professionalism to keep standards high. We also keep track of their overall statistics when it comes to contributions made over the course of the year. In December every year, we hand out awards to the Student Ambassadors who have thrived in a variety of areas.

Communication

• Marketing Managers/College Office recommendations
• Word of mouth through current ambassadors
• Social Media
• Through the website 
• Student E-zine 
• Lecture presentations 
• Poster Campaign
• At Orientation

The first two are our primary recruiting resources though all other options have also been used in the past.

Timing

Student Ambassadors have a role to play all year round and are paid for their services. Recruitment and training of new student ambassadors takes place in trimester 2 of the academic year.

Resources

• Dedicated staff (Student Ambassador Coordinator)
• Dedicated budget to co-ordinate the programme, train the students, manage the events and schedule, pay the students and provide administrative support

Extra information

Training is a once off session which takes approximately 3 hours. It consists of a mixture of peer to peer rapport building between the returning and new ambassadors as well as basic information and standards to discuss. The returners also take the new ambassadors on a campus tour to outline what has been effective for them in the past.

Transferability

We think it is quite easily transferable to other contexts or groups.

Success would certainly be dependent on a strong initial group of Student Ambassadors as well as concrete implementation of expectations/standards from the outset.