In the first session for new PR students we talk generally about reputation and relationships, and about how people find out about things. I usually ask about what brought them to Sunderland, how they heard about the course, and what had attracted them to it. A reasonable number of Sunderland students come from the North East so word of mouth and teacher recommendations play a big part. For those coming from further afield, UCAS and our website are more important, and it was interesting to hear that although overseas students generally have little idea about the city, they are impressed by our state of the art, £10m media centre.
But there is always scope for innovation and new thinking. One guy explained that he was playing football with friends and they used a pile of prospectuses for goalposts. The game was going badly, he was in goal, he happened to pick up on of the booklets and saw our course. The rest, as they say, is history...
I was in the first year of a four year sport science degree at Peterlee College. My friend happened to have a prospectus for Sunderland uni. I asked him for a quick look and saw the PR degree.
Maybe if he didn't have a copy or I wasn't with him at the time I wouldn't be sitting here in work (on a Saturday!) now.
Posted by: Stephen Davies | September 30, 2006 at 02:22 PM
And the rest is history!
Posted by: Philip Young | September 30, 2006 at 02:52 PM