54 | LEGAL ADVICE | F INANCE AND MARKETS
students may have exaggerated the demise of conventional electronic communications within higher education, but it did signal the extent to which social media has now permeated the sector. It has been clear for some time that the
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opportunities created by social media for universities and students alike are legion. Information dissemination, opinion generation and community creation are all activities that have been enhanced through the use of a range of platforms including Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Flickr and of course Twiter. More recently, atention has turned to using social media for more novel and academic purposes including the promotion and testing of pre-publication research and developing the process of teaching.
“It has been clear for some time that the opportunities created by social media for universities and students alike are legion”
Irrespective of how social media is
perceived, it cannot be ignored as an increasingly important part of the evolving dynamic between universities and their clientele. Full understanding of the student experience today cannot be achieved without appreciating the importance of social media in students’ daily lives and the difference it makes, and could make, to their academic development and even their prospects after graduation.
Social Media and the Student Experience
By Kris Robbets, Senior Associate, Veale Wasbrough Vizards LLP
Student comment Students at university now have been exposed to mobile technology and social media for a large proportion of their lives. They are also, as stakeholders in higher education required to invest in their studies through tuition fees, part of a less deferential generation whose expectation of student life differs markedly from their predecessors. Many comment on their higher education experience using social media and this has obvious reputational significance for universities. Listening to what online communities
are saying about a university generally or a faculty or course particularly, is an obvious way that institutions can benefit from social media without necessarily expending the resources necessary to engage with it. Gauging positive and negative feelings towards an institution generally or particular aspects of its facilities or provision can provide useful
recent newspaper article proclaiming the Twiter-induced death of email amongst university
Main image: © Kamil Macniak |
Dreamstime.com
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