LinkedIn introduces pages for universities globally

Landing strong and firm into the education space, LinkedIn today has announced University Pages within the professional social networking website. Using these pages, universities will be able to connect with potential students, alumni, teachers and parents.

In a blog post announcing the launch, Christina Allen, Director of Project Management at LinkedIn, wrote that these pages will form one cornerstone of the social networking website’s strategy to “help students at every critical milestone from campus to fulfilling, successful careers.”

Connect with your future university or alma mater on LinkedIn

She explained that the idea to have a page for universities to dispense information came from watching her daughter and her friends struggle with selecting the right college with not enough details. These new pages will enable Universities to update details about itself, pretty much like a Facebook page. Current and potential students will be able to engage in conversations and ask relevant questions on these university pages and get replies from the staff themselves. They will also be able to check out alumni produced by these universities and maybe even interact with them.

Most importantly, these pages have a huge international connect since universities the world over will be able to create a page for themselves. Students will therefore be able to explore opportunities abroad. Of course, the whole idea here is to build a professional network strong enough to last these students beyond college as well.

LinkedIn is going to make its website available to high school students starting September 12 to help them use the site in order to explore schools worldwide. As of now, 200 universities in the US and abroad like  INSEAD, New York University, University of California San Diego, Fundação Getúlio Vargas, University of Michigan, Villanova, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Illinois and more have already adopted their pages and are connecting with their students.