Title: Strathmore University General Communications Policy
Number: CUR-02-01-00-H
Revision Date:
Approval Date: University Council 16th December 2013.
Update Date:
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Version Change / Version Date / Change/s madeVer.01 / 5th December 2013 / New Policy
List of Abbreviations
SU / Strathmore UniversityCUR / Communications & University Relations
CO / Communications Officer
ICTD / Information communications and Technology Department
SEO / Search Engine Optimization
SLS / Strathmore Law School
SBS / Strathmore Business School
CMS / Content Management System
URL / Universal Resource Locator
www / World Wide Web
Administration of the Policy
This policy will be administered by the Communication and University Relations Department.
Policy Review
The policy will be reviewed every 3 years.
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- Introduction
1.1Effective communication is an integral part of Strathmore University’s brand promise. This policy document is intended to provide broad guidelines to staff and students of Strathmore University regarding various aspects of communication. The policy covers email communication, branding policy, internal communication channels such as notice boards and newsletters, website design and website communication, among others.
1.2In the 21st Century, communication is a ubiquitous activity, dynamic in nature and contextual. Its importance and complexity has been heightened by communication through electronic means such as emails, and social media. Lack of a policy to guide effective use of communication, can affect the reputation and image of the University.
2. Definitions
2.1 Communications & University Relations Office: The office under which all communication policies and strategy documents are domiciled.
2.2 The Strathmore University/SU: Refers to Strathmore University
2.3 Management Board: Refers to the senior management team of SU
2.4 SU staff: Refers to members of staff working in Strathmore. Staff members can be part- time, full-time or consultants.
2.5 ICTD: The department of Information Communication Technology Department
2.6 Administrative Services department: Department in charge of Administration
2.7 SU Brand manual: Booklet, (soft and hard copy) that details the SU brand guidelines.
2.8 Students: Current students undertaking courses in SU, alumni members who participate in SU activities after completion of studies.
The execution of this policy is reliant of existing legal statutes of the country, Strathmore University Statutes and other policies within the University. It is expected that staff and students are conversant with the following relevant laws:
2.8.1 Constitution: The Constitution guarantees individuals freedom of expression and access to information
2.8.2 Kenya Communication Act, 1998 – Contains some relevant provisions with regard to: -
2.8.2.1 sending of electronic messages that are offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing
2.8.2.2 sending false messages for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needles anxiety to the other person
2.8.3 Kenya Communication (Amendment) Act 2008 – Contains further provisions aimed at regulating electronic messages
2.8.4 Kenya Information & communications Act, Cap. 411A – Relevant provisions include electronic messages
2.8.5 Defamation Act
2.8.6 Penal Code
- SU BRANDING GUIDELINES
3.1The University has come up with a unified brand to guide its corporate image and identity to its intended targets, be they students, parents, staff, alumni, prospective students, donors, corporate organizations, media or even government. The brand guidelines serve to guide all the graphic presentations of the University, logos, colours, style, font, messages, on any given medium of communication. It also guides how the University crest and schools logos are applied in any communication materials produced for the University and clearly outlines the dos and don’ts.
3.2SU brand identity has been developed with a view to communicate a unified, consistent identity of SU for all its audiences. If used correctly, SU can reap the benefits of marketing under a strong corporate brand, which will stand out among its competitors.
Internally, SU departments should guard against overuse of the departmental brands, by watering down the SU corporate brand. SU branded materials are accessible online to all staff in the intranet; sagana/brand
The SU branding materials consist of letterheads, PPT templates, posters, fliers, school colours, schools logos, branding of merchandise etc.
3.3 Adherence to the brand guidelines
3.3.1 The Communications & University Relations office is the department whose responsibility is to monitor, cascade and ensure conformity to the SU Corporate brand guidelines.
3.3.2 The Communications office will be consulted whenever the need arises to add a new school, research centre or department to the branding guidelines.
3.3.3 The Communications office shall in liaison with a branding consultant advice how best to cater for the expansion of the University, whenever new schools start operations.
3.3.4 The brand guidelines booklet gives guidelines specific to various media channels be it print, web, etc. Users are encouraged to seek guidance where they are not sure.
3.3.5 Departments are urged to desist from deviating from the laid down guidelines so as to protect the SU Corporate brand.
3.3.6 Any signage within the University will be branded in conformity with the guidelines; execution of signage is the responsibility of the Administrative services.
3.3.7 Press advertisements from all departments within the University that are to be placed in media must be approved by the Communications office.
3.3.8 Images used in press ads should conform to the dress code and other related policies. Selected photos of students within the University can be used for these advertisements.
3.3.9 Selection of media channels and media houses for publicity campaigns shall also be guided by the Communications office. A section stipulating more guidelines is available in the External Relations policy.
3.3.10 Research centres manage their own branding, but guidance can be given when required.
4 EMAIL COMMUNICATION
4.1Email communication remains the most common channel of official communication within the university, both for staff and students.
All staff members are encouraged to observe to basic rules of email communication etiquette which includes, polite language, correct grammar, correct spelling, having the correct addresses, and are urged to avoid using place of work email address for personal businesses, among others.
A few pointers regarding email communication:
4.1.1 ICTD department assigns email addresses to all staff and students when they join and become part of the Strathmore community.
4.1.2 Upon leaving employment at Strathmore, the staff email is disabled after the stipulated period of time. For sensitive offices, and to ensure business continuity, this period varies from person to person
4.1.3 Depending on need to communicate to groups of staff members, rights are assigned to certain staff members; the responsible use of these rights constitutes conduct of staff as outlined in the staff handbook.
4.2 The SU alumni office handles communication to alumni members through email. Alumni members may sometimes use the Strathmore email address.
4.3 Weekly communiqué detailing ongoing activities is sent out once a week, on a designated day, through email to all staff by the Communications office. The purpose of weekly news is to provide information of on-going activities to all.
4.4 Departments are encouraged to keep the Strathmore community informed of their activities, and are required to share this information through the Communications office beforehand.
4.5 The Weekly news template should be branded accordingly.
4.6 The Communications office also manages ‘The Strathmore Gazette’, a webpage on the Sagana intranet. The Strathmore Gazette is the official channel through which policies and directives are communicated to staff internally.
5 NOTICE BOARDS & DISPLAYS, ROLL-UP BANNERS
Strathmore University campus has notice boards and areas designated for display of information for students, staff and visitors of SU Community. Currently, some schools including SLS & SBS manage their own areas, leaving the common areas to be managed by the offices of Dean of Students, Communications department & Administration Services offices. It is foreseen that, displays may soon include digital screens within the buildings.
Occasionally, external companies seek to carry out product activations and to create awareness of new products/services to the university community with the intention of persuading potential consumers of these products.
5.1 Procedure for internal members to put up notices on the notice boards
5.1.1 Prepare the poster with information required as per required branding guidelines
5.1.2 Seek required approvals from the Dean of students office
5.1.3 Pin up the notice for the time allowed, after which it should be removed.
5.2 Procedure for external companies to carry out a publicity campaign within campus
5.2.1 Payment of required fee to gain access to the campus facilities is made to the cashiers’ office.
5.2.2 Approvals by the either the following offices; Dean of Students, Communications and Administrative Services
5.2.3 Adherence to laid down protocol regarding size of tent, location to place the tent, number of staff manning the tent, adherence to dress code of SU by those manning the tent, use of music for the activation etc
5.2.4 Any activations and publicity campaigns must be carried out with moderation and cannot disrupt teaching or other activities within the campus.
5.3 Roll-Up banners
The Students’ Centre building also acts as a business center. Within the Students’ Centre there are external companies with leasing arrangements. As part of the leasing agreement, these companies are allowed to use roll-up banners to advertise their services. Roll-up banners can also be placed on the ground floor of the Students Floor for a limited period of time. Messages and images used on the banners must be of an acceptable standard in keeping to the lease agreement.
N.B. Administration Services department retains the right to allow displays in the grounds at Students’ Centre Building.
6 WEBSITE MANAGEMENT
Strathmore University has a main website for communication to the outside audience as well as an intranet, Sagana, where internal documents are hosted. Further to this, each of the schools, research centres and faculty of IT, all have websites that specify their activities.
The overall responsibility and management of SU websites falls under Communications office, and the webmaster is responsible for both the web content posting and back-end management to ensure links are working properly. This policy outlines important details to provide guidance for the websites:
6.1 Website hosting:
6.1.1 The Strathmore University website is hosted by blue host, with details of negotiating space and price managed by ICTD department.
6.1.2 The webmaster in liaison with ICTD is responsible for providing backups of all website folders and information in case of any hacking threats.
6.1.3 The ICTD department also ensures and monitors and also advises on any security threats that may be attempted by malicious people or software.
6.1.4 Backups serve to ensure that SU can recover and reconstruct contents in case security of the site is compromised.
6.1.5 The domain name of Strathmore University is www.strathmore.edu
6.1.6 All schools and research centres under Strathmore University should ideally be hosted under the same domain to consolidate traffic to the Strathmore domain.
6.1.7 New schools and research centres will be assigned a URL, abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator, the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web.
6.1.8 The SU standard is, name of school.strathmore.edu e.g. sls.strathmore.edu
7 Website design
7.1 Whereas schools and centres are allowed to get their sites designed externally, the Communications office retains the right to approve the design created to ensure brand alignment and brand adherence.
7.2 The Communications Office in liaison with ICTD will carry out the testing of any website before hosting can be done. This will ensure no errors and cleanliness of the site.
7.3 The website design must use a CMS- Content Management System.
7.4 The security features incorporated in any website should be adequate to guard against hacking and other security threats.
7.5 Images used in departmental sites must represent the SU brand in aspects such as dressing, etc.
7.6 Images used must be optimized for web design, not to be too large or too heavy
7.7 Any website that requires access of internal databases such as AMS should be hosted locally to safeguard security of information held by the University.
7.8 SEO must be carried out for any website being hosted under the SU domain.
7.9 The Communications department will monitor traffic and interest of the SU sites to be aware of any out of the ordinary statistics and trends.
8 Website management
8.1 Communications and University Relations Office has overall responsibility of any material on schools’ websites at Strathmore University, while research centres retain the rights of the materials to their websites.
8.2 Whereas some departments such as SBS manage the Business school website, it is necessary to ensure close working with SBS, or any other department for that matter; to mitigate against any unforeseen circumstances, such as negative media publicity, emerging crisis etc.
8.3 Regular updates and generation of content is the responsibility of the Communications department in close liaison with departments’ communications person, who ensures that the Communications office is informed of all ongoing activities and plans within the schools.
8.4 Efforts to keep websites current cannot be overemphasized.
8.5 Any information being posted on the university website must be accurate, well written and of an acceptable standard, as it reflects on SU brand.
8.6 Whereas articles posted by SU do represent views of SU as an entity, views on blogs or comments on articles are those of individuals and not the organization.
8.7 The decision to share website content from another site should be considered prudently. For example, when staff members’ articles are published in local media, where the articles refer to SU staff or students etc. These can be reposted, after weighing carefully the value-add to SU brand.
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Document written or revised by: Approved by: Head of Department:
Name:…………………….Signature:……… Name:………………….Signature:………….
Date:……………………… Date:……….
Checked by Quality Assurance Office:
Name:……………………Signature: ……….
Date:………………………..
Updated in Strathmore University Quality Manual by ICTD
Name:……………………….Signature:…………….
Date:…………………………
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