The University of California, Irvine’s Summer Session is one of the largest Summer Session units in the entire UC system. On average, UCI Summer Session enrolls more than 40% of the student population (approximately 13,000-14,000 students), and generates between $9 and $10 million of net revenue for the campus.
However, in the unprecedented time of COVID, UCI Summer Session had to quickly adjust and develop a new way of reaching students. Because UCI went fully remote in response to COVID, the Summer Session team didn't have access to our usual environmental advertising. This included banners and ads that would normally be displayed across campus, printed materials that could be physically distributed on campus, and in-person outreach and recruitment events. What made the transition to online even more difficult was the fact that we did not have access to our colleagues across campus who would typically promote Summer Session courses when meeting with students in-person for class advising. This additional challenge put extra pressure on the team to deliver information directly in a variety of formats to students, rather than having our campus partners do it.
However, the team rose to the challenge and, within two-three weeks, developed various digital outreach strategies to ensure that Summer Session promotions proceeded on schedule. In fact, our revamped communications strategies were so successful that UCI’s Summer Session saw 20% increased enrollment—an impressive feat made even more remarkable by the fact that this growth occurred during a global pandemic.
