“Working with Purlos has enabled us to gain insight into the early destinations of our graduates, allowing us to tailor and target our graduate support activity. Their team have been supportive in helping us deliver engaging campaigns to our graduates”
Introduction to Bath Spa University
Bath Spa University, renowned for its professional creativity, is committed to challenging students and staff to realise their talents and thrive for their own benefit and the wider good. The university supports students and graduates in exploring, experiencing, and progressing into successful futures by delivering careers and employability activities designed to prepare them for a dynamic and uncertain world. These activities equip students with the skills, attributes, and resilience needed to succeed in any career path they choose.
Faced with a growing need to understand early graduate destinations and provide tailored interventions, Bath Spa’s Careers and Employability Team chose Purlos to optimize engagement with graduates and simplify data collection on their post-graduation outcomes.
The Challenge
Before partnering with Purlos, the Careers and Employability (C&E) team at Bath Spa University faced challenges in efficiently tracking the post-graduation progress of its students. Traditional communication methods, such as email and phone calls, resulted in low engagement and demanded significant staff time. C&E needed an engaging communication solution that would support their goal of providing targeted and personalised career support to their graduates.
Why Bath Spa University Decided to Partner with Purlos
Recognizing the limitations of calling campaigns, the university sought a streamlined, data-driven solution to capture insight on graduate destinations. They were drawn to Purlos for its automated WhatsApp-based data collection (Purlos Destinations) and its managed communication service (Purlos Engage), both designed to minimise manual work while maximising engagement.
How Purlos Responded
Purlos implemented two key solutions for Bath Spa:
Purlos Destinations: To automate the collection of post-graduation data through WhatsApp, reducing the reliance on less effective communication methods and enabling Bath Spa to understand where students progressed post-graduation.
Purlos Engage: To create meaningful communication with learners, promoting graduate support opportunities, and directing graduates to resources using a personalised LinkTree. Purlos Engage also created a managed service for Bath Spa that minimised manual work, replacing older engagement methods with efficient, automated outreach.
The Results
Purlos’ engagement strategy led to impressive outcomes:
- Careers Support: 254 learners expressed interest in career support, and 147 accessed the personalised LinkTree, with 66 viewing specific career support pages.
- Tailored Support: For learners identified through the initial survey, Purlos provided ongoing support options. This included promoting graduate-level placement programs and offering funding information.
- 6 learners expressed interest in a graduate placement program
- 5 learners secured graduate-level employment following support
- 5 learners requested more details on enterprise funding opportunities
Promoting Graduate Opportunities
Purlos helped Bath Spa promote specific roles, such as a Creative Research Role, to learners:
- 6 learners confirmed interest, with 2 intending to apply immediately.
Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS)
Purlos also supported the Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS), encouraging learners to participate and providing guidance on accessing further career support.
Table of Results:
| Metric | Result |
| Career Support | 254 Learners |
| Linktree Access | 147 Learners |
| Grad Placement Interest | 6 Learners |
Conclusion
Bath Spa University partnered with Purlos to address the challenges of understanding student outcomes and offering tailored career support. With Purlos Destinations and Purlos Engage, the university gained a clearer picture of graduate destinations and created a responsive, supportive engagement framework. This partnership has not only improved operational efficiency but has enabled the C&E to target career support to graduates most in need.