To help new undergraduate students joining the University of Sussex Business School this September, our Student Ambassadors have been giving them a phone call before they arrive to welcome them to Sussex and answer their questions about what to expect as they settle into life at the University.
Heading to university for the first time can be an exciting but daunting time for many new students. With this in mind, the Business School Student Experience team introduced an ambitious new initiative this year to help our new students feel at home at Sussex before they've even arrived.
Over 400 students agreed to be contacted by our pre-arrival call centre, with our team of Student Ambassadors speaking to around 250 incoming undergraduate students between Wednesday 5 September and Wednesday 12 September. Students who couldn't take the call didn't miss out, with a voicemail welcome message and invitation to join our Facebook group for new students being left for anybody who missed our calls.
The aim of the pre-arrivals call centre was to welcome our new students and help ease any nerves they may be having before joining the University, as well as answering any questions they had. Many of the students took advantage of the opportunity to speak to an older student doing the same course as them, to ask for advice and any top tips for approaching their course and University life.
Each Student Ambassador was given a list of useful contacts to direct the new students to if they were unable to answer any questions themselves or if the new student wanted to find out more about the services that the University provides.
Feedback from our Student Ambassadors has been overwhelmingly positive, with Economics finalist Alicia Briedis commenting: "It was a great experience being involved in the call centre... coming to university and moving out can be a really nerve-wracking experience, so it’s great to know that we were able to provide reassurance to a lot of new students and hopefully help them feel more prepared and excited!"