Lifelong Learning at the University of Leeds: Being Open, Reaching Out

An illustrating of a student engaging in lifelong learning.

Central to the ethos of the Lifelong Learning Centre at the University of Leeds (LLC) is being as accessible as possible to mature learners who fall within our ‘widening participation’ (WP) remit – principally individuals from backgrounds that are under-represented in HE, or who don’t hold ‘typical’ entry qualifications.

This means a number of things in practice – foremost, maintaining high standards around customer service. Telephone and email enquiries are handled proactively and empathetically, there are clear and well-thought-out processes for responding to the different issues that mature learners present with, and we’re open to the public (welcoming ‘drop-ins’ as well as people with prearranged appointments) throughout the week.

We don’t just wait for people to contact us, however. A core component of the Centre’s work, coordinated by the Communities and Partnerships (C&P) team of which I’m a member, is collaborative outreach activity with local educational, statutory and third sector organisations. This work is driven by a particular desire to connect with adults belonging to groups that are under-represented in HE, and encourage them to aim higher in their educational aspirations.

Responding to (and creating demand for) lifelong learning

The LLC is a specialist service for adult learners within the University. It’s also a teaching school which needs to be sustainable in the long term, yet we aim for a scrupulously impartial approach towards helping people make informed decisions about their next steps.

There are very understandable reasons why adults decide not to pursue HE. The situations they find themselves in are as varied as the individuals themselves, and we have years of experience working with WP cohorts which have enabled us to draw well-evidenced conclusions about the kinds of interventions that can encourage people to move forward with their learning.

Recruitment challenges have intensified during the pandemic and its aftermath, and one of our responses has been to extend this proactive approach to engaging with adult learners more into the online space. Alongside the continuation of our traditional in-person outreach activities, on the University campus and in the local community, it’s been necessary for us to approach this aspect of our work with more of an eye to digital communications and marketing techniques.

Aligning marketing and outreach strategies: questions and challenges

From a personal perspective this has meant my role has taken a turn more towards my strengths and interests. Realising how closely many of the activities I was now involved with mapped onto those of a digital marketer, I was grateful to the LLC for enabling me to upskill in these disciplines and eventually qualify as a Certified Digital Marketing Professional (accredited by the Digital Marketing Institute).

This has left me well-placed to make constructive contributions to areas of work led on by colleagues in the University’s central Marketing and Communications teams, drawing on an understanding of good practice that I picked up through the CDMP qualification alongside my years of experience working with adult learners.

For example, I liaise between LLC stakeholders and colleagues based centrally around the optimisation of content on our departmental website, paid social campaigns to stimulate recruitment to our accredited programmes, email marketing campaigns to encourage ‘conversion’ by applicants holding offers for our full-time Foundation Years, and ‘content marketing’ assets such as our contributions to the University’s Medium publication.

There are perhaps unavoidable difficulties associated with working as part of a large organisation and across disparate teams, who have little to no contact day-to-day and sometimes a limited understanding of each other’s work. I wouldn’t want to claim that the LLC has ‘cracked the code’ of how best to communicate with mature learners, but our approach is informed by a wealth of collective experience interacting with them both pre-entry and on-course.

There are aesthetic and technical questions to consider too, when developing - for example - engaging audiovisual assets for publication on social media, the written copy and visual elements for physical flyers, posters and banners, online resources like Sway presentations and Google sites, and an appropriate vocabulary and ‘tone of voice’ to convey key messages which resonate with the thousands of diverse learners currently subscribed to our pre-entry mailing list.

Looking forward: a culture of continuous improvement

The nature of our outreach provision is that it can be accessed by individuals with wildly differing levels of readiness for university study – it's not unusual for people to be ‘on the books’ with us for years before they apply, and to that extent we’re used to (and quite happy) being patient. But there’s arguably a balance to be struck between supporting people to overcome the barriers they undoubtedly often face, whilst at the same time being realistic about what we can provide.

These are the questions we’re grappling with right now, as we consider reconfiguring our pre-entry support post-Covid. I’m proud to work for an organisation with a culture of continuous improvement, where the rationale for the work being done is regularly re-examined, and ways are sought for us to more effectively fulfil our remit. I’m looking forward to seeing what else I can learn about how to reach out and engage the diverse cohorts of learners we’re here to serve.

If you’re considering how you or your team go about trying to engage with learners from diverse backgrounds, it might be worth giving some thought to the following:

Are you getting the basics right? Can people expect a reasonably prompt response to email enquiries? Do you have a telephone number they can ring and expect that call to be answered by somebody with the knowledge and training to assist them, or at least signpost them effectively? Do you have an accessible, physical location they can visit in person, with or without an appointment?
Are you clear about what you’re offering – and what you’re not? For example, at the LLC we give a lot of thought to how to effectively redirect enquiries from individuals who fall outside of our remit – perhaps because they’re interested in postgraduate study, or because they’re looking for careers-oriented advice that doesn’t necessarily bear on HE – in ways that save staff time whilst still providing good customer service.
How embedded are you and your team in local community networks? Are you working proactively to establish and maintain good relationships with educational, statutory and third sector organisations in your region? Are you willing to work in partnership, directing time and resources towards shared projects of mutual benefit?
Do you have an ethic of impartiality which enables you to act as an honest broker between partners, learners and your institution, allowing your team to build a reputation for trustworthiness?
Have you considered how to engender excitement about the possibilities opened up by HE without ‘overpromising’?
Are you prepared to meet people where they are, to speak to them in accessible, jargon-free ways and to reflect this in your promotional materials and marketing assets?
Are you prepared to be patient with people, to not expect them to immediately conform to your institution’s systems and processes, and to spend time and energy helping them to navigate these?