De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is more popular than ever, rated by UCAS as the UK’s sixth fastest-growing university for home and EU students, and our new advert showcases some of the many reasons that students continue to choose us.
To demonstrate how we told the DMU story in a 60-second advert we have broken each story down to show how it relates to life at DMU.
The dance scene
Scenes featuring a dancer provide a striking start and conclusion for both the 30-second TV advert and the full 60-second advert.
These scenes with the dancer represent DMU's creativity and focus on student experience.
Students are encouraged to pursue creative paths through their studies, where they are encouraged to think outside of the box to find exciting and innovative opportunities.
DMU offers outstanding creative courses, from our world-renowned Contour Fashion degree to Game Art Design, the first industry accredited game art course in England.
Students are encouraged to get involved with De Montfort Students Union (DSU) sports teams, societies and volunteering opportunities.
As part of these scenes we also show our fantastic facilities including the PACE building, home to the UK’s first higher education Centre for Excellence in Performance Arts, and DMU’s Gateway House is the location for the final scenes as the sun set on campus and the Leicester city centre skyline.
We are continuing our investment in the DMU campus to provide a modern, inspiring environment our students deserve as part of a £136 million transformation of our city centre site.
The dancer is DMU student Wes who is studying dance and choreographed the routine in the video with the support of academics on his course.
The speaker
DMU was rated as number 1 for graduate employability and in the top three for teaching excellence in a preliminary study of teaching quality by Times Higher Education magazine and this scene shows a young woman stepping in to the professional environment.
We encourage students to defy convention and to be entrepreneurial through designated support for start-up businesses and funding opportunities for those who want to develop their own business, such as our Innovation Centre and regular Pitch2Win competition.
Although it isn’t clear in the advert, the talk is about dyslexia, a personal challenge that Jessica, the student starring in the scene, has faced. She was diagnosed with dyslexia while studying at DMU and has received support throughout her studies.
DMU has a dedicated student support team to provide academic support, disability support and advice on a range of topics including health and wellbeing.
Our Centre for Accessibility Needs has recently been launched help with the Disabled Students’ Allowance process and our support services have been commended by students.
The India experience
Throughout the India scenes there are stark representations of the poverty in the slums, which DMU aims to help through our pioneering Square Mile India project, which mirrors our charitable project in Leicester, DMU Square Mile.
The children in the advert are from the ashram that DMU supports with the skills of students and academic staff. Our students have helped to provide the children with an education, created microbial cushions for the children to sleep on and will help to provide healthcare support as part of the ongoing work with the ashram.
The student in this scene is DMU History graduate Tom who was genuinely experiencing the slum of Ramapir No Tekro in Ahmedabad for the first time.
The scenes also show the opportunities available through #DMUglobal, our international experience programme designed to provide students with opportunities to visit and learn from other cultures as part of their studies.
The football team
DMU's men's football team star in the 30-second and the 60-second adverts, demonstrating the pride, passion and team spirit of competing for the university.
These scenes showcase DMU's longstanding partnership with Premier League football champions Leicester City, a deal which brings hundreds of opportunities for students, including the opportunity to win free tickets to see Premier League games. Students have also been able to take advantage of work placement opportunities and a chance to meet their football heroes.
At DMU we believe in the value of sporting experiences and the importance of participation. It helps to support education and develop important life skills, which is why we work closely with DSU on opportunities for students to participate in a wide range of sport, social and volunteering activities.
We are investing in funding and coaching for our sports teams, and we have developed some exciting sports scholarship opportunities for future students to pursue.
Our #DMUglobal programme offers a number of opportunities for sports teams to take part in valuable international visits including recent trips by the hockey team to Barcelona and a cricket team visit to Barbados.
The scientist
We also see a scientist performing an important experiment in the advert. This shows our commitment to research and academic excellence, as demonstrated by DMU teacher Momodou Salleh, who was named most innovative in the country at the 2015 Times Higher Education Awards.
Our academic staff have earned 18 National Teaching Fellowships in recognition of the high standard of their teaching, making DMU one of the top three universities in the UK for teaching excellence.
DMU is also home to Professor Joan Taylor who created an artificial pancreas to revolutionise the treatment of diabetes, and Professor Subhes Bhattacharyya who led an award-winning project to transform lives for thousands of villagers in remote parts of South Asia.
The university’s Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development is leading an international project to tackle global water issues and DMU research on the ‘healthiest' cooking oils was revealed on BBC's Trust Me, I'm a Doctor.
The student who appears in the advert, Shivani, recently graduated from a Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Science degree, which included a work placement helping to recreate the Ebola vaccine.
The artist
Shots from the paint scene can be seen throughout the 60-second version of the advert, representing the creativity and talent at DMU, as well as opportunities available to creative students.
One of our Game Art Design students landed a job working on one of the eagerly-awaited games of 2016, Contour Fashion students show their designs on a London catwalk and one of our Product Design graduates recently won a British Council competition in Korea.
In the 60-second advert we see DMU graduate Marcus preparing to throw paint as part of a piece of art. Marcus was originally working with the director to find an innovative way to propel the paint and being a part of a creative university has led to several opportunities for Marcus, including creating a piece of artwork to commemorate Baroness Lawrence’s appointment as Chancellor of DMU.
The business pitch
These scenes from the 60-second advert further showcase our commitment to employability and even reference an innovative module from our business course – the Fox’s Lair. This module gives business students the opportunity to pitch their ideas to real-life entrepreneurs as part of a competition to win support.
In fact, the DMU student in the scenes is Freddie, who pitched a business idea with his team and won the competition this year.
Aspiring business students can even study at our Leicester Castle Business School where they will enjoy an inspiring learning environment as part of a transformational experience including exciting new postgraduate and undergraduate courses, scholarship opportunities and networking, mentoring and one-to-one support from leading academics.
Posted on Friday 2 September 2016