2008 alumni survey
From 15,500 surveys sent to NSW based Alumni we received 119 responses online and 844 responses by post paid mail: 936 in total. The return rate was approximately 6% which is considered positive by accepted industry standards.
Because alumni were able to provide multiple answers for certain questions some results yielded higher numbers of responses than respondents.
Survey results
1. What information would you like the Faculty to communicate (total responses = 866)?
 | Faculty research updates and information about campus life accounted for almost three quarters of the total responses. |
2. How would you like to be contacted (total responses = 936)?
 | More than half of respondents preferred to be contacted by email, with the majority of the remainder preferring contact by post. |
3. What type of benefits would be of interest? (total responses = 870)?
 | Access to library resources was the most popular benefit of interest to respondents. Online community and short courses also scored highly. |
4. What kind of event would you most likely attend (total responses = 881)?
 | The most popular event respondents were most likely to attend is presentation by a leading expert, followed by Faculty speaker/lecture series and class reunion. |
5. Who would you like to hear speak as part of a lecture series (total responses of 2 or more per response = 210)?
 | The most popular requested speaker was Professor Archer (24 requests), followed by Dr Tim Flannery and Professor Matt England (both scoring 6 requests). |
6. If you could help the Faculty how would you do so (total responses = 617)?
 | The most popular preferences for ways in which to help the Faculty were presentation to students, followed by chance to mentor and then to be interviewed by Faculty. |
Summary of the major outcomes of the survey
- More communication from the Faculty, via email or post
- Access to the UNSW Library and online journals
- Networking either face to face or via an online community
- An interest in professional short courses
- Interest in research updates and campus life (eg. Building updates, academic programs, student projects etc.)
- Invitations to Faculty events. Either presentations by leading experts or a Faculty lecture series
- An interested in a mixture of signature events and regular/casual events
- Assisting the Faculty they would prefer to be interviewed, mentor a student or give a presentation rather than contribute financially
Interest in School updates as well as Faculty updates
Action taken by Faculty in response to survey
- A Faculty Lecture Series - "At the Edge"
- Producing an Enewsletter
- Contacting Alumni for interviews/prof
iles for the website and other marketing/adver tising collateral - Encouraging Schools to hold Alumni events
- Exploring professional development course ideas
- UNSW Central Alumni office is producing an online Social Networking site which the Faculty has input into.
