Activate Learning launches first personalised digital prospectus in technology and sustainability drive

Activate Learning has launched the first personalised digital prospectus in the Further Education sector to prospective students in a pioneering move to make the way we recruit new learners more environmentally sustainable.   

Prospective students and their parents or guardians will now be able to download the prospectus directly from their local Activate Learning colleges’ website.  

As one of the first FE colleges to offer this, students will now be able to personalise the content of their digital prospectus based on their study preferences and download a customised document at the end.  

The move comes as part of Activate Learning’s drive to be more sustainable and use technology in a more innovative way, as outlined in their Empowering Learning strategy.  

The digital prospectus will be easily accessible through QR codes at events or via Activate Learning’s websites.

Gary Headland, Chief Executive of Activate Learning, said:

“We’ve sought and listened to feedback from our learners, who said they wanted organisations to be more environmentally focused and put sustainability front and centre in their decision making.

“We looked at our prospectus and we felt that it was something that we could do differently, using technology to create a meaningful digital document for prospective learners that allows us to reduce our use of paper copies.  

“Another exciting aspect to this project is that we are also pledging to plant new trees when people opt to download our digital prospectus.

This will be done via our selected community partner, which will see native species being planted as part of ongoing projects in critically important conservation projects in parts of Madagascar, Kenya and Haiti.” 

For every five prospectuses downloaded, Activate Learning will plant a sapling via their partner more:trees and its sustainability scheme.  

Peter Reynolds, Director of Communications and Marketing at Activate Learning, said:

“Historically we have printed 25,000 plus hard copy prospectuses a year that we give out to schools and as part of our Open Events.  

“This year we were determined to do things differently and create something that is different to what others in the sector are doing and which has real-world benefits for our environment. 

“We will still have small numbers of physical copies due to accessibility needs, available via our college campuses, but for the majority of learners I believe they will find the customisable option of the digital prospectus a much better user experience.” 

To qualify to take part in the Activate Learning, tree planting scheme, participants must download a digital prospectus from an Activate Learning website and will only be open to residents in the UK.  

Activate Learning will pledge to plant one tree for every five downloads. For more information, please visit the Activate Learning website for more information about this project in Berkshire.