A revamped student recruitment program at UVic is being credited for the dramatic jump in admission applications last year.

Undergraduate applications from graduating high school students shot up 2.6 per cent over the previous year while applications to graduate programs rose by more than 17 per cent.

Student Recruitment Communications Officer Matt Stiegemeyer said that UVic has been making a concerted effort to increase interest in the university and has been using new methods to attract more prospective students.

“Basically, we’re trying to capitalize on the interest people have in UVic,” said Stiegemeyer. “In the last few years, recruitment has been focusing on following up with people who have previously expressed an interest in the university.”

According to the university’s Accountability Plan, student recruitment is becoming increasingly competitive as the traditional “university aged” demographic of 18 to 24-year-olds is expected to grow only slightly in the province while the number of funded university spaces is rapidly increasing.

According to the Ministry of Advanced Education, more than 25,000 new post-secondary education spaces have been created in the province since 2001, with at least 2,500 more expected to be created over the next four years.

To remedy the so-called “under enrollment,” UVic has been recording the names and e-mails of all those who have either submitted an application in the past or have at least expressed an interest in the university.

UVic has also set up a contest where prospective students can enter into a draw for an iPhone with three years service in exchange for information like their name and email address.

Once prospective students are in the system, UVic has been doing follow-ups through e-mail and phone to encourage them to apply, or at least find out why they decided to stay away.

Stiegemeyer said that the feedback from those who chose not to attend UVic most often cited a poorly designed website and their distance from Victoria.

To combat the perceived shortcomings, the university has since revamped its website in an attempt to make it more accessible to prospective students and has begun a program to help cover the cost of moving to Victoria.

The “Come to Campus” grant gives a one-time $500 bursary for high-achieving students who live north of Duncan, and $1,000 for those who do not live on the Island.

Stiegemeyer points to the rising number of applications submitted last year as a sign of progress in recruitment.

“So far, we’ve been getting very good feedback and we’ve seen a great deal of growth in applications,” said Stiegemeyer. “We’re hoping to build on that.”

Stiegemeyer said that over 14,000 applications were submitted in 2008 for admission into undergraduate, graduate and continuing studies programs, and that no applicants to undergraduate programs that met the minimum requirements for admission were turned away.

UVic, which is devoting $175,000 this year to recruitment, also has 10 full-time recruiters touring high schools around Canada, and has started an advertising campaign on TV, in movie theatres, in print and on social networking sites like Facebook.

The Facebook advertisements alone garnered over 10,000 hits in first six weeks of the UVic recruitment campaign.