Help make October Open Day a hit
Published: 18 September 2013
As part of the University’s on-going development of recruitment activity, a new Saturday Open Day is being introduced next month. Saturday 26 October is the date for your diary. Writes RIO's Jonathan Jones
As part of the University’s on-going development of recruitment activity, a new Saturday Open Day is being introduced next month. Saturday 26 October is the date for your diary, writes RIO's Jonathan Jones.
In Spring 2012, research commissioned by the Recruitment and International Office from Ipsos Mori stressed the importance of Open Days in applicant decision making amidst an increasingly competitive market.
The same report highlighted the need to increase awareness and improve perception of both the city and university across the rest of the UK (RUK).
Since then, together with other recruitment initiatives, investment from existing RIO funds has been made to improve the June and September 2013 Open Day experience. Pre-Open Day events for visitors have been introduced combined with new activities to showcase the welcoming and vibrant student life here at Glasgow, accompanying the traditional focus on academic excellence and student support.
Despite this, we still lag behind our peers in providing opportunities for potential undergraduate applicants to visit and consequently, senior management agreed last year to add a Saturday Open Day, the first of which is Saturday 26 October.
By adding a Saturday event we are moving closer to the standard Russell Group model of best practice, including our key competitors of Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle. Most of these universities have four Open Days for prospective students per annum, two of which typically fall on Saturdays. Prior to this change, Glasgow was only offering two mid-week Open Days.
| Russel Group/Scottish | University | No. of Open Days | Saturday Open Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| RG | Durham | 3 | 2 |
| RG | Liverpool | 4 | 3 |
| RG | Manchester | 3 | 2 |
| RG | Newcastle | 3 | 2 |
| RG | Nottingham | 4 | 2 |
| RG | Sheffield | 4 | 2 |
| RG | Southampton | 4 | 2 |
| RG/Scottish | Edinburgh | 3 | 1 |
| Scottish | Dundee | 1 | 1 |
| Scottish | Heriot Watt | 2 | 1 |
| Scottish | Stirling | 2 | 2 |
| Scottish | Glasgow | 3 | 1 |
The new Saturday Open Day replaces the October Visit Day that has run the last couple of years, the date coinciding with an English holiday so it is a good opportunity for us to attract RUK visitors as well as providing a further option for prospective Scottish and International students to visit.
The final factor in the decision making was to reduce the pressure on our main September event. Feedback from visitors in 2012, whilst mainly positive, also indicated that stresses in some of the busier venues and talks meant that some left without all the necessary information, detracting from their experience. By adding the new event, which already has over 3000 registrations, we were able to reduce the attendance at the September 2013 Open Day from an excessive 11,500 registrations to a more manageable 8,700.
The organisation of the October Open Day will be led by the UK Recruitment Team and your support will be vital in helping it be a success. To find out more, please contact your own, local Open Day Coordinator or the UK Recruitment team at opendays@glasgow.ac.uk
Thank you to all who help make our Open Days great events.
First published: 18 September 2013
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