Background: IE University

Empowering Education: The IE University Experience

IE University is renowned for its commitment to providing an educational environment that fosters a lifelong approach to learning. A vibrant community, characterized by close interaction between students and faculty, forms the cornerstone of the university experience. Representing over 130 nationalities, IE University boasts a diverse student body, with more than 75% hailing from outside Spain.

Recognized globally and by prestigious associations, IE University is lauded for its excellence in teaching. With an emphasis on innovation, entrepreneurship, and a dedication to humanities and academic rigor, the university is dedicated to shaping professionals who will drive positive change in society. Through a practice-based learning approach, students are equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in an international context.

For those seeking an education that inspires and challenges, IE University offers a transformative experience. By broadening horizons, fostering connections worldwide, and providing personalized guidance, IE University empowers students to achieve their aspirations and shape their futures.

Challenges

Unifying Alumni Engagement and Resources

Since 2013, IE University has used an experience platform for students and alumni. Initially, it was mostly used for event and club management. However, as the university experienced significant growth, in 2021 it upgraded the platform to a true enterprise solution and rebranded it as “IE Connects”. To better meet the needs of its global community of 8,000 students and 75,000 alumni professionals, IE Connects offers many value-add features. This includes a dedicated Alumni Community Hub within the wider platform. Having a dedicated hub resolves the following challenges for the alumni community:

• Absence of a Central Place for Alumni Activities, Resources, and Engagement - Having disparate systems requires complex messaging to the alumni community and creates a barrier to alumni engagement. This is why IE wanted to implement a dedicated alumni platform that unifies multiple value-add services in one space.
  
  
• Inconsistent Uptake and Experience as Students Transition to Alumni - Considering the entire lifecycle - from student to alumni - IE recognized that system adoption would be higher by leveraging an existing and healthy system. Having one system for students and alumni contributes to higher adoption and engagement rates. Users keep the same app and password. Relationships built on campus remain within the portal. Department-centric information structures led to fragmentation and inconsistency.
  
  
• Inability to Generate Valuable Engagement Data - With disparate systems, tracking and reporting alumni engagement is decentralized and therefore not interlinked. Having a centralized tool offers numerous possibilities for more precise tracking and reporting of alumni engagement. The prior system had evolved organically over time, resulting in unwieldy complexity. Duplication of information compounded management difficulties.

The Ready Education Solution

Empowering IE Alumni: The Benefits of IE Connects Hub

IE Global Alumni Relations wanted an experience that specifically catered to their alumni’s needs. It also sought to foster an engagement culture built on the campus experience. Having a dedicated hub within IE Connects provides the following benefits to alumni:

• A one-stop shop for Alumni Engagement - “IE Connects” bundles a suite of resources into a single digital platform. Alumni benefits include: alumni events, career workshops, alumni clubs, alumni directory, on-demand videos, career
  advisory sessions, and job vacancies.
  
  
• A Customized & Personalized Experience - IE’s alumni hub and personalized mobile app provide custom experiences as the needs for each community member is distinct. Relevant content is delivered based on alumni preferences (events by geography, by clubs membership and/or interest). Exclusive content is also available to a membership-based community.
  
  
• Robust Tracking & Reporting Features - The ability to access alumni and clubs involvement data makes engagement strategies more informed, purposeful, and effective. With “IE Connects” all data feeds into an analytics and reporting
  dashboard. Metrics include event data (check-in, registration) club and paid-dues membership, targeted communication open rates, and mentorship connections.

Outcomes

Inspiring Global Leaders

Alumni engagement has significantly increased with IE Connects. This is reflected in the following user stats for the first month of use, which continue to grow:

• A multi-channel alumni campaign to show how the app elevates alumni engagement.
• 4,000 app downloads following the alumni campaign.
• A 71% increase in unique monthly logins.