When it comes to educational marketing, universities and independent schools can seem worlds apart. But today they face similar challenges—competition for students, the need to demonstrate value, and the pressure to stand out in a crowded market. By recognizing each other’s strengths and learning from different approaches, universities and independent schools can enhance their marketing strategies, create stronger student connections, and remain competitive in an evolving, and often challenging, educational landscape. 

University recruitment videos tend to follow a similar formula—but Leeds Beckett University had other ideas. In 2022, the institution took a different, cinematic approach to capture arts students and alumni performing original pieces in a newly opened arts facility on the U.K. university’s campus.

Six 2023 Circle of Excellence Awards went to end-of-year video holiday messages, including the Dragon School’s “A Present from the Past.” Find out more about this Grand Gold Award-winning film here and watch the other five award-winning videos.

Read what members have to say regarding dollar-level thresholds for publicizing gifts and reworking alumni newsletters in the increasingly digital world.

How can small teams accomplish great things, even with tight budgets? Here’s how four small teams accomplished award-winning work in communications, fundraising, events, and recruitment—and key takeaways on how teams of any size or context can work resourcefully.

What is race equity as it applies to education institutions? How are advancement teams approaching this work, which experts say involves a wholesale transformation of organizational cultures? How are institutions and individuals moving forward in the name of equity? 

How advancement draws on athletics to communicate with constituents, motivate alumni, and speak to a greater mission—even in an era when the sports environment has changed radically

The digital divide has been adversely affecting low-income, minority, and rural students for decades. How has increased reliance on remote learning, forced by the coronavirus pandemic, further exposed the divide for those in higher education and how are advancement personnel helping to solve this problem?

Activity page downloads for alumni and their families, St. Anne’s-Belfield School's Maroon & White Week, Three Minute Thesis competitions, and more.

Alumni engagement metrics have come a long way in a short time and are proving to be crucial to advancement teams. With years of solid data under their belts, many in alumni relations are finding significant results from building systems around these metrics, altering their actions in response, and displaying the value of their work to constituents, institutional leadership, and board members.