Life after Graduation

Engaging Alumni in University Development

Ioana Mureşan, Alumni Association

Cătălina Amihăiesi, Fund Raising Office

Babeş – Bolyai University, Danube Rectors’ Conference – Cluj, November 2010

Presentation Outline

Interest for alumni engagement & current actions of public universities

Babeş – Bolyai Alumni:• available resources• objectives • projects• communication plan

Conclusions

National focus on graduate employability

European funds used at national level to measure graduates’ employability through a national survey conducted by the Executive Agency for Higher Education and Research Funding (UEFISCSU)

Current focus on employability only

Out of 50 Romanian public universities...

35 have no special section for/about graduates on their website

9 have some dedicated section, but no relevant/updated content

4 have a dedicated section (including membership) with more activities and news

2 have dedicated sections, updated and relevant content for their graduates

Source: Authors’ own research, October 2010

Forget me not: alumni do come back

informal alumni groups using social media

occasional visits to faculties and former teachers

alumni reunions (often without the faculties’ contribution)

voluntary course evaluation & feedback

What can alumni offer?

Time – volunteer for faculty programmes

Talent – course feedback, career counselling

Treasure – donate for faculty programmes

employability

Time

Talent

Treasure

Myths & excuses

no alumni culture no giving culture alumni too busy,

too far, not interested

no money for education

too expensive to engage alumni

informal online groups

willingness to give reunions student

organizations alumni’s role in

course evaluations and curricula improvement

Facts & opportunities

Objectives

from 300 to 3000 members (1 year time) awareness and internal support from

faculties – at least 3 alumni networks started at faculty level

run a first fundraising campaign helping faculties create alumni networks develop projects that best suit our needs and

current resources, based on voluntary implication, reciprocity and common interests

alumni + students = long – term relationship

Projects

alumni mentoring

webinars

alumni activities and clubs

communication plan (offline and online)

Alumni Mentoring

matching a student and a graduate to achieve some of the student’s professional objectives

pilot edition – involved one faculty and 12 mentor-mentee pairs over a three – month period with good results

current edition: dedicated domain, web platform, partners

Webinars

5 online seminars5 alumni speakersOver 80 student & young alumni

participants General themes that engage a large

number of graduates Graduates from all over the world can

easily contribute

Communication plan

Easy reachable for UBB graduates from all around the world – user friendly website

Relevant basic resources available for immediate use – contact information&structure, news about faculties, other graduates

Go where our graduates are (Facebook, LinkedIn)

Communication plan (2)

http://alumni.ubbcluj.ro – open source CMS & open source apps

Facebook & LinkedIn groups – more than 2800 members, average number of 30 new members/week

E-newsletters (faculty driven)

Alumni activites & clubs

Don’t assume – test!Start from current faculty activities

around the university Help alumni find what best suits them, at

no extra costs for the universityProvide every graduate with an online

activity calendar at his/her disposal May start from lecture clubs and end up

having hiking clubs

Conclusions

Never take anything for granted – test!Use every resource at hand (open

licenses, open ommunities, reciprocity)

Creatively engage alumni resources to improve current university services and develop new ones – start small, with on-hand resources

Contact

Babeş – Bolyai Alumni Association• Ioana Mureşan ioanamuresan@ubbcluj.ro

Fund Raising Office• Cătălina Amihăiesi• catalina.amihaiesi@ubbcluj.ro