The process of beginning college education in the UAE always begins with an introductory activity: orientation day, a new ID card, a campus tour, a schedule, some branded items and, obviously, a welcome pack.
Indeed, for many students, the first welcome pack becomes the starting point of university life. It is designed to provide them with a feeling of being part of the community before they even start attending classes. There is one important question that universities should ask themselves when assembling these welcome packs:
Do our students need the items that we provide after orientation week?
Notebooks, pens, lanyards, tote bags, and info cards can all be useful. However, in a country where students spend long days going from lecture halls to libraries, from cafes to gyms, from residence halls to outdoors, there is one important thing that should always find its place in the university: welcome pack a reusable water bottle.
Not just any old bottle. A good design and an indestructible bottle can be an item that students will use every day, and at the same time serve as a reminder of the university brand.
The UAE Student Experience is Constantly Moving
The student experience at universities in the UAE does not include being at one place the whole day long.
The student could have a morning lecture and then go to the library; grab lunch from the canteen, catch up with his/her friends at the café on campus, go for a club meeting in the afternoon and end his day at the sports center. In cases when a student is staying at the residences, campus could be the place where he spends all day long.
This way, the items that students get during the orientation program should be more than a short-term product.
More Than a Giveaway: A Daily Reminder of Campus Life
The best welcome-pack items aren't just marked by a logo; they come to represent memories.
Imagine that.
A student will drink out of the bottle for their first lecture, for their first society meeting, for their first week of exams and finally for their graduation ceremony.
This creates something even more valuable than conventional promotional items: longevity.
Each time a student drinks out of the bottle, they think of the university name. Each time they fill up the bottle, they remember the campus community that they are part of.
In the eyes of the universities, this makes one welcome-pack item into something that may become a constant reminder of their time at university.
It provides universities with an opportunity to shift away from disposable promotional items and towards items that encourage healthy habits.
Sustainability Should Begin on the First Day
Sustainability is now becoming part of the discussion happening in the universities' campuses in UAE.
With recycling programs and water refill stations, as well as campaigns against single-use plastics, universities are providing ways to students and faculty members to become more sustainable in their actions.
NYU Abu Dhabi, for instance, has stopped selling 500 ml bottled water within the university and offers water refill stations as part of the reduction in plastic consumption.
Abu Dhabi University also encourages the use of reusable bottles, mugs and boxes together with refillable water dispensers, among other actions to reduce plastic consumption in campus.
The reusable bottle is thus no longer just an extra component of the welcome package.
It can be used in the wider context of the campus sustainability efforts.
Rather than instructing the students on how to reduce single-use plastic during the orientation program, the universities can provide them with tools for this behavior.
The message is simple: fill up, re-use and repeat.
Make the Bottle a Part of the University's Brand
There is a second factor that makes reusable bottles especially suitable as part of student welcome packs branding.
While most university merchandise is about adding the university logo to whatever merchandise is available, the bottle can be personalized to reflect the identity of the institution itself.
Imagine a bottle for the university with the university's colors or logo or identity.
Imagine students getting a chance to engrave their names onto their bottles.
Immediately, the product changes from being the university bottle to being just my bottle.
Personalization allows a welcome gift to feel more intentional and allows students to get something that is their own but still connects to the university brand.
In cases where the school has faculties or houses or other student groupings, such as for separate campuses of universities, there is an option to personalize bottles for particular programs or events.
Welcome Packs Should Address the Needs of Students Properly
One tends to enlarge the welcome packs in order to add additional items.
Additional stationery. Additional leaflets. Additional promotional materials. Additional branded accessories.
However, larger does not always mean better.
Proper welcome packs should include products that students really need to use.
The University Preparation Guide typically recommends useful products for students attending university in Dubai, including laptops, stationery, headphones, water bottles and travel cards.
This is an essential point to make.
Students do not require an additional product to be included in their welcome pack just because it looks good. Instead, they require those products which can easily become part of their daily routine.
A reusable water bottle fits into this category perfectly.
And unlike a disposable bottle, it doesn’t require a replacement after being used once.
From an Orientation Gift to Sustainability Culture at a University
Using a bottle may assist in developing a more profound sustainability culture among university students as well.
Consider a university giving out bottles to its students at orientation time and then linking its initiative to refill stations on campus.
Students are not only provided with a product.
They are provided with a system of sustainable practices.
The bottle is merely a component of a much bigger message of waste reduction, reuse, and responsible choice that goes along with the university’s sustainability program.
Ajman University, for example, has introduced a concept of sustainability, implemented initiatives aimed at reduction of the plastic consumption, whereas sustainability programs there include reusable bottles.
This approach turns sustainability into something practical.
And Indeed, Students Have Their Bottles With Them
Indeed, there is one very pragmatic advantage.
Students always bring bags with them.
Their laptops are placed inside their backpacks. Their notebooks accompany them during classes. Headphones are taken from class to class. Coffee cups are left next to laptops.
A bottle is simply a part of this process.
Students do not need to invent an entirely new tradition. Instead, they just change one thing that they were doing anyway, like buying a disposable bottle between classes.
And an excellent quality reusable bottle will last much longer than a year at the university, which means that the university can design its present without thinking about the short-term period.
The idea is not to invent something that students will use once.
The idea is to invent something that students will continue using.
The Missing Element in the Ideal UAE Welcome Pack for Students
The best possible student welcome pack may not be the one packed with many items.
It is the one where all the items serve a certain purpose.
A student ID card can help them enter campus premises.
A notebook can help them organize their study routine.
A tote bag can carry their necessities.
And a water bottle can keep them hydrated while promoting sustainability on the campus.
All these elements combined create a very functional and not a promotional welcome pack for students.
In the case of UAE universities, there comes an added benefit of bringing together the three elements that are important for today's generation of students: functionality, identity and sustainability.
That is where the concept of a reusable LOCH bottle comes in.
A bottle can be personalized and branded to turn it from being simply an item of university merchandise into an item that keeps reminding the students about their beginnings.
Your Welcome Pack Should Last Longer Than Welcome Week
Welcome week lasts for just a few days.
University education lasts for a number of years.
Why is it that the products that students get when they join the university last so little time?
The future UAE student welcome packs will be more thoughtful and functional and will better represent the universities they represent.
A reusable bottle is a small addition, but a very long-lasting one.
It can sit on a student's desk during an all-night study session, travel to their first university event, join them at the gym and eventually become one of those objects they keep long after graduation.
Because a welcome pack shouldn't just welcome students to campus.
It should give them something worth carrying with them.
