Memorial Universitys instant chat service gets national award

Three units within Memorial University have been honoured with a national award for their online collaboration that makes access to the university instantaneous.
The Academic Advising Centre, the Office of Student Recruitment and the School of Graduate Studies have been awarded a 2009 Prix d'excellence silver medal for Best New Idea: Creativity on a Shoestring by the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education for their online chat service MUNlive.
"We're very happy to hear about the award," said Andrew Kim, graduate enrolment manager with the School of Graduate Studies.
"We're hoping some of the recognition from the silver medal win will lead to recognition of our other marketing initiatives as well - most notably our current Graduates on the Edge campaign."
MUNlive is a free instant chat service that allows new and prospective students to connect with a Memorial representative live on the Internet. Students can instantly learn about particular programs and areas of study without having to pick up the telephone, send an e-mail or mail a letter.
The instant messaging initiative has garnered big results for a small investment, with more than 1,700 chats - or four to five per day - from prospective students from 100 different countries.