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Winner: London School of Economics and Political Science
Project: LSE IQ podcast
In April 2017 LSE launched LSE IQ, a monthly podcast where LSE academics, and other experts, answer one pressing, intelligent question about economics, politics or society. The podcast brings together academics from different disciplines, and aims to highlight the relevance of academic research to wider society.
The podcast is especially keen to promote research from the social science, which tends to get far less coverage in the media.
A small team of originally five (now seven) people have produced 11 half hour episodes, using a limited budget and working around their day jobs. Recent issues that have been discussed include: “Why haven’t we won the war on drugs?”, “Why is social mobility declining?”, “What makes a great leader?” and “What’s the secret to happiness?”
The series is aimed non-experts who are already interested in societal issues, including students, potential students and people from outside LSE who may work in relevant sectors.
When launching the podcast the university hoped that it would achieve 2,500 downloads for each new episode in the first month after its launch – an ambition it has exceeded. The entire catalogue of LSE IQ podcasts have now been downloaded more than 113,000 times, and the series is consistently in the top ten of the higher education chart on Apple Podcasts.
The series is hosted on the LSE website, iTunes and RSS, SoundCloud, YouTube and all the popular podcast apps.
Runner up: De Montfort University Leicester
Project: #LoveInternational
Following the EU referendum vote, De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) launched #LoveInternational, a campaign to petition for the residency rights of EU staff and students at DMU. The campaign also set out to counter discrimination and prejudice, and to demonstrate that DMU is welcoming to and supportive of international students and staff.
The campaign launched with a university petition, which received 1,000 signatures in two days. Within a week, DMU’s vice-chancellor, Dominic Shellard, delivered a letter arguing for the protection of residency rights to 10 Downing Street.
The university held events in cities including Warsaw, Stockholm, Vilnius and Berlin, which were covered widely by the international and UK media, and featured presentations from DMU alumni. These were delivered with the Great campaign, the government’s initiative to promote the UK to the world, which appointed DMU as its lead representative for higher education.
By January 2017, DMU’s undergraduate EU applications had risen 29%, bucking a national decline in numbers. Applications from Poland grew more than fivefold. In 2017, DMU became the fastest-growing university in the UK for EU applicants, as measured by UCAS acceptances.
The university expanded its work further, and held a visit to New York with more than 1,000 students and staff, the largest ever DMU trip. These events, known as mass trips, have now become an key part of the DMU calendar.
Runner up: Loughborough University
Project: Good Luck from Loughborough
In the run up to the summer exam period, Loughborough sent good luck cards to students. These were timed to arrive at a crucial time: just as students had received their university offers and were deciding which places to accept.
More than 5,000 cards were posted in early June 2017, each containing a personalised, handwritten message linking the student to a university club or society, based on the information they supplied on their Ucas personal statement. The cards also featured a combined message from the vice-chancellor and the students’ union president.
The university aimed to use the cards to improve conversions from Ucas offers to acceptances by 2% in 2017 - a target they exceeded. The university also saw an increase in applicants’ grades.
The campaign generated a buzz online, with a video showing the card making process receiving more than 10,000 views.
The campaign motivated students and built loyalty. It also demonstrated the university’s commitment to its students among applicants, their peers, teachers and parents.
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