IEEE Education Partners
Strategic Program Assessment
Chris Salicco and Douglas Gorham
IEEE Educational Activities
21 June 2008
EAB meeting, Denver, CO
1
IEEE Education Partners Program

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Program offers IEEE members a 10%
discount on courses through
partnerships with academia and
industry
The program is offered as a Member
benefit.
2
IEEE Education Partners
Why are we doing this?

Aligns with the IEEE Core Value: Professional Growth


Aligns with the IEEE’s Long Range Plan Goal B



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IEEE Education Partners Program contributes to the professional growth of
engineers, scientists, and technologists
“The IEEE will improve professional competencies through shaping the
education of students and professionals”
 Expand and promote IEEE’s continuing education products
(Objective # 1)
 Increase the breadth and market penetration of IEEE products and
services that use new education delivery methods (Objective # 7)
Addresses the IEEE Member Satisfaction Survey results
identifying continuing education as an area of high interest
To promote the IEEE brand
To serve as a membership recruitment and development tool
3
Partners History
40
35
30
US Partners
25
20
International
Partners
Total# of Partners
15
10
5
0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
4
Number of Members who have taken
Courses through the Partners Program

450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
2002
Members
2005
2008
5

2002-2006 the Partners
program was managed by
the honor system so we do
not have statistics for
these years
In 2007 we implemented
tracking procedures for
the partners to follow to
provide us feedback
including how many
members have taken
courses
Number of Courses taken through
the Partners Program

2002-2006 the Partners
program was managed by
the honor system so we do
not have statistics for
these years
700
600
500
400

In 2007 we implemented
tracking procedures for
the partners to follow to
provide us feedback
including how many
members have taken
courses
# of
Courses
300
200
100
0
2002 2005
6
2008
Partners that offered IEEE CEU’s

12
10
8
6
Partners
In 2007, we encouraged
our current partners and
required our new partners
to offer IEEE CEU’s as a
way to enhance their
visibility to the IEEE
members.
4

2
0
2002
2005
2008
7
To date in 2008 the
partners have generated
$5K in revenue for the
IEEE CEU program
Partners Program –
Revenue & Expenses
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Revenue
Expenses
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008*
* 2008 revenue and expenses reflected through 1 June 2008
8
Partners Program – CPEC role

The Continuing Professional Education
Committee (CPEC) is the committee that
oversees the program as follows:



Vetting of all partner applications (3 members
review 2 from academia and one from industry)
Sun setting of partners that are ineffective and do
not serve the IEEE members needs
Act as an advisory body to identify how to expand
the program, recruitment of partners, marketing of
the program and development and oversight of the
overall business plan
9
Partners Program
Strategic Program Assessment

The assessment pointed out the follow
areas of weakness:




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The partners are US centric
The partners are US East Coast centric
The awareness of the program to the IEEE
members is very low
Who is our competition
Market research was needed
10
Partners Program
Strategic Program Assessment

The assessment pointed out the
following positives:



The 10% discount to the members
5 partners outside of the US
Members can earn Degrees and
Certificates
11
Partners Program
Market Research Findings

The partners are US centric and East Coast
centric


The market research agrees that we need to add
International partners, as well as Partners from the
Central and Western US
The awareness of the program to the IEEE
members is very low

The market research for both members who have taken
courses and those who have not confirm that the
program needs to be more visible to the membership
12
Partners Program
Market Research Findings

Who is our competition


Our members have confirmed in the research that all
other professional associations offer courses for
continuing education in various forms of partnerships
with academia and industry for their members.
Should we continue to have this program

According to the 50 members that participated in the
market research who have taken courses and who have
not taken courses they all feel that the program is a
benefit worth having, but needs additional quality
universities and industry partners both in the US and
Internationally
13
Partners Program
Market Research Findings

The 10% discount to the members


The market research shows various examples from our
members that the 10% discount on continuing education
courses is a valuable benefit and in some cases was the
reason why they joined, renewed or are IEEE members
Members can earn Degrees and Certificates

This was confirmed by some of the members that this
has helped them get Master degrees and certificates for
licensure purposes
14
Partners Program – Plans Moving Forward

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We have created a marketing plan to increase
awareness
The Business plan will be updated based on the
findings of the market research
A recruitment plan for partners will be created
and implemented
A searchable database is being created to allow
members to find courses more easily
15
Partners Program – Future Direction

Discussion
16
Thank You!
Questions and Comments
17
Partners Program – Other information







The following Partners contacted the IEEE in
order to join the program:
Rutgers University
University of Michigan
EnginZone (from Lima Peru)
EdistaLearning (from India)
General Electric (GE)
International University of Florida
18
IEEE Education Partners Program
2008 Program Highlights




Drexel University has renewed because it
has seen increased IEEE registrations
Members have started to email us directly
asking for courses
To date 20 members have written in asking
for courses which were forwarded to our
partners and of the 20, 10 of them were
converted into registrations
Partners such as Inquestra, Purdue
University, Pace University, Practising Law
Institute have begun to see registrations
19
IEEE Education Partners Program
Marketing Plan

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Tool Kit - in production
Sales Brochure - in production
Member Take One Postcard - in production
Banner and Button ads - in production (to place
them throughout the IEEE website)
Virtual Trade Show - booked for October
Set up special partner rates for IEEE.tv
productions and ads - to be used for negotiating
contracts with prospective partners.
Collecting testimonials, articles and other blurbs
for placement through IEEE news wire.
Articles will be placed in on-line vehicles mid
summer.
New collateral pieces (tri-fold brochure) to be
redesigned.
20