www.fco.gov.uk

Challenge:

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) runs a prestigious Scholarship programme called Chevening. Chevening enables talented graduates and young professionals from over 150 countries to study in the UK and gain skills which will benefit their countries and enable the FCO to build lasting relationships between the UK and other countries. Fundamental to the success of the programme is a strong, supporting website that adds value to the programme and enables all country offices to stay in touch with new scholars and alumni.

Solution:

A vibrant social networking and online community website that supports all stages of a scholar's journey through the Chevening - from application to UK student support to alumni networking. The site includes a raft of social networking features including searchable member directory, blogs, virtual think tank areas and Expert Answers. This, combined with high quality content on everything from travel to arts and culture, aims to help current scholars make the best use of their time in the UK. Sift has assisted FCO to develop its community management expertise, managed by the British Council, and to ensure that success of the online programme can be measured.

Testimonial:

'The Chevening Online project is hugely influential in building a positive impression of the UK amongst overseas business and political leaders. For this reason we were looking for a partner that not only had the right technology, but also the experience and expertise required to ensure its success. We felt Sift's track record of building and running major online communities was the perfect match.'

Lyn Bennett, Programme Director, FCO