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. 

Four technical universities in the Netherlands pooled their international alumni efforts and ended up with a world-class network. Now in its 10th year, 4TU encompasses more than 30 alumni communities in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Nordics, Spain, Switzerland, and the U.S. as it continues to extend its global reach.

Public regional universities are becoming a popular choice for college students because they are accessible both geographically and financially. They are located across all 50 states, and while we may not hear much about these institutions in the national media, they are more than meeting the mission of higher education with cutting-edge pathways for diverse student populations. Find out how four of them are doing it.

Across Circle of Excellence Awards categories, women-focused themes emerged. Here are five winning entries that highlight, uplift, and celebrate women through compelling storytelling.

The most recent classes of graduates, shaped by pandemic interruptions to their campus experiences, present a unique set of challenges when it comes to reconnecting with their alma maters. Find out how alumni relations teams are rising to the challenge, with innovative programs and strategies for engaging their newest young alumni.

Institutions’ Circle of Excellence Award-winning projects used nostalgia to engage alumni in fun, new ways. Explore how advancement teams broadly balance looking back and looking forward, why nostalgia works well to engage alumni, and what takeaways advancement teams can apply to their own work.

In fall of 2016, the CASE Commission on Alumni Relations created the Alumni Engagement Metrics Task Force to address the need for an industry-wide framework to measure alumni engagement. The result was the Alumni Engagement Metrics survey, CASE’s first truly global survey. Now, with results from three years of AEM, advancement professionals who work in alumni relations are benefiting from measuring their results in four areas: volunteerism, experiential, philanthropic, and communication. The ability to document positive outcomes is already elevating the profession. In this article, we hear from CASE members who participated in AEM and how it is changing their work for the better. 

Rates of mental health issues among college students have been rising for a nearly a decade—made worse by the pandemic. Now, more colleges and universities are discussing, focusing on, and prioritizing mental health initiatives. Here’s how advancement teams are working to support students’ mental health today, by raising awareness and sharing information, mobilizing donor and alumni support, and promoting wellness campuswide.

How should development and alumni relations best work together? It’s an age-old question for advancement—more relevant now than ever, as institutions grapple with constant change. Ultimately, the fundraising cycle works best when it’s a shared responsibility: when both alumni relations and development teams work together to ensure the greatest potential for success.

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.