The Importance of Collective Storytelling in Higher Education: UUKi’s #TwinForHope Campaign
A key part of the purpose of UK universities is to transform lives and change the world for the better. The UK to Ukraine university twinning initiative is an incredibly impactful example of universities truly living this purpose – showing significant solidarity along the way.
When Vivienne Stern, the then Director of Universities UK International (UUKi) – now CEO of the wider organisation, Universities UK (UUK) – told me President Zelensky’s office had been in touch, I didn’t quite know how to react. He was requesting an opportunity to thank the UK universities providing support to their Ukrainian counterparts through the twinning scheme, which had around 20 UK universities participating at this point in time. My reactions were instinctive – what an opportunity to start telling an incredible, emotive story, so true to our purpose as a higher education sector!
Following the invasion of Ukraine, the UK higher education sector stepped up to provide support, with the most significant development being the twinning initiative. Developed by UUKi and Cormack Consultancy Group, twinning has enabled UK universities to help their Ukrainian colleagues through short-term aid and longer-term, reciprocal, strategic activity, via institution-to-institution collaboration.
Twinning has seen the University of Sheffield help to rebuild air raid shelters at their twin, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic’s campus, facilitating the return of in-person teaching; the University of Glasgow fully fund 100 students from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy to study with them, empowering those students to continue their education; and the University of Liverpool provide an extensive database of online learning materials through a purpose-built platform for over 100 academics at their twin, Sumy State University, so they can continue to teach. UK universities have played a pivotal role in helping to support Ukraine, and the impact on transforming Ukrainian lives is evident.
“I have a feeling that our people have started to breathe again. They’re getting hope. It’s because of your university that they start to smile again,” said Tetyana Kaganovska, President at Karazin Kharkiv National University, addressing a colleague at their UK twin, the University of York, several months ago. These are words that have stayed with me ever since.
But has the work of UK universities brought other impact, impact that has enhanced our own reputation as a sector, for example? In my view, the best way to maintain and enhance reputation is to tell a story that is true to our mission and purpose – one that demonstrates we really live it. Enter the #TwinForHope campaign, designed to open a window into the extraordinary things that are happening right across the universities involved in the initiative.
The #TwinForHope story
In terms of developing the campaign, our key objectives were to celebrate the story of the twinning initiative to inspire at least 80 of our UUKi member universities to join; we wanted to attract funding to support the scheme and ensure we could deliver it in a financially sustainable way, aiming to raise at least £500,000 to ensure we could do that; and we wanted to improve the UK public’s perceptions of UK universities along the way, ideally looking to deliver a 10% uplift in positive sentiment.
Our strategy aimed to connect with our key audiences in different ways:
The general public through press coverage and social media activity.
Potential funders in government via events and briefings to politicians.
UK universities through UUKi communications to its members, such as network meetings and events, case studies and press releases that publicly championed early adopting twins.
Working with a small budget and a small team, we knew creativity was going to be key in terms of delivering something that would raise significant awareness. Therefore, we decided to make it a core part of our strategy to provide a framework and toolkit to enable UK universities to all tell the story of their twinning partnerships. We wanted to see everyone jumping up and down together as a higher education sector – national, regionally, and locally – speaking with one voice. This was central to the reach we achieved, and we contracted a brilliant agency, Waterfall, to produce the campaign brand, video content and toolkit.
For the campaign we created:
#TwinForHope – a clear hashtag to provide a strong focus for the campaign and enable all participating universities to get involved and contribute.
A hero video - at the heart of the campaign is a powerful, inspiring film that tells the wider story through the voices of university staff in Ukraine and the UK. In the film they talk about the initiative, their twins, the shocking devastation; Zoom calls interrupted by air raids and their hopes and ambitions for the future. By filming colleagues from twinned institutions, side-by-side on Zoom, we captured authentic accounts of how the initiative was delivering hope, belief and support. We also created shorter video edits for social media.
A branded toolkit of assets for UK universities – this included template press releases, social media content, video start and end frames, and email templates so universities could collectively promote #TwinForHope in a consistent brand style and shout about their own unique twinning stories. Everything was embargoed until after the launch event to amplify the noise.
A launch event - #TwinForHope was launched at an event run by UUKi in a room full of higher education leaders, politicians and media, with a live address from the Ukrainian Minister for Education.
The #TwinForHope campaign and initiative has driven 100 UK universities to help their Ukrainian colleagues, supported by attracting over £5m of funding. This is having a profound impact on the Ukrainian higher education community, from rebuilding campuses destroyed in the war, through to the sharing of resources to enable teaching and research activities to continue.
The campaign has driven a 36% uplift in positive public perceptions towards UK universities - from a general population sample of 1,000 courtesy of Red Brick, an independent market research agency. Through the successful development and delivery of an impactful PR and communications strategy, we successfully raised the reputation of the UK higher education sector, UUKi and its members.
The #TwinForHope campaign has exceeded all its objectives, but the impact is much, much greater – the campaign has given hope to universities in Ukraine during the war and has told the beautiful story of how education has the most incredible power to transform lives and change the world for the better, even in the face of terrible adversity.
Why we must speak with one voice more often
With all the criticisms levelled at universities, it would have been a tremendous shame if no-one saw the wonderful way in which they have stepped up to work with Ukrainian colleagues. In fact, there has perhaps never been a better time to openly live our purpose and share, proactively and collectively, the positive and powerful stories of just how UK universities can best serve society.
Storytelling is a powerful tool for brand building, and a compelling story, done right, can set you apart from the competition and resonate deeply with your target audiences. In a world where universities are facing constant criticism, storytelling in higher education has never been more important. It transcends cultures and generations, enabling us to share experiences and connect with others; through storytelling we can empower the voices of those at the heart of what we do, informing and inspiring; and it can build a sense of camaraderie, pride and community. We need that more than ever.
And we should not limit storytelling to schemes such as twinning – there are so many stories about how universities are changing the world for the better; stories that we can come together as a sector to speak about. From universities developing cures for cancer, and treatments for many other illnesses, as global health becomes a significant challenge for governments around the world; to developing technologies that will enable us to move toward a more sustainable future, aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals; and UUKi’s latest campaign, #WeAreInternational: Transforming Lives, which is working to arrest and reverse the decline in how welcoming a study destination the UK is perceived to be, by empower the voices of current international students to tell their stories.
We need to be bold enough, collectively working together and speaking with one voice, to tell our story with conviction, impact and cut through. Let’s remember our true purpose, focus on championing the work we do to live it, an communicate to the wider world what we already know – that higher education has the power to transform lives.
About the author
Andy Howells is the Chief Marketing Officer at NCUK, a leading global pathway provider in the sector, founded by universities, for universities, and committed to preparing international students to succeed at university. From September 2019 to November 2023, Andy was the Assistant Director of External Affairs at Universities UK International (UUKi) and he led the development and delivery of the multi-award winning #TwinForHope campaign.
