Your students are gonna be students only for a while, but they remain alumni for life. So, building a strong relationship with your alumni will be beneficial on multiple fronts for your institution. They can bring in placements, improve student enrollment rates, donate funds, and raise scholarships for your college or university. But how do we engage them so they will always be encouraged to contribute to their alma mater’s development? Enter: Alumni Engagement.
What is Alumni Engagement?
Alumni engagement can be defined as creating a lifelong connection between the alumni and the alma mater. Your institution can engage alumni by organizing alumni reunions and networking events, establishing constant communication via newsletters and social media, and providing career support through mentoring, job boards, and upskilling sessions. You can also drive targeted engagement through special interest groups and chapters (location-based alumni communities). All the engagement activities are designed to strengthen the bond between alumni and their alma mater, reminding them of their lasting connection to the institution.
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Outcomes of Alumni Engagement
A well-crafted alumni engagement strategy enables your institution to fully leverage alumni. When engaged properly, alumni will give back to their alma mater. Here’s why alumni engagement matters to the institutions:
1. Branding for the Institution
Branding is the most powerful way for your institution to boost reach, visibility, and credibility in the education sector. One of the easiest ways to gain popularity is to encourage your alumni to be brand ambassadors for their alma mater. With vast connections, your alumni can spread the word about the institution at professional gatherings and social events.
Regularly highlighting your institution’s top alumni’s accomplishments on the website, alumni portal, and social media will strengthen your institution’s brand identity. Celebrating alumni’s achievements by hosting alumni awards and felicitation ceremonies will make alumni feel heard. Hosting webinars and interviews with alumni entrepreneurs will reinforce your institution’s standing in the market.
Your institution can ask top alumni to make a short video on the alma mater and use their testimonials during admissions for social proof. Branding is a continuous cycle; it boosts the institution’s presence, and so does alumni pride, encouraging them to promote their alma mater further.
2. Generate Financial Support
Alumni eagerly look forward to giving back to the alma mater that shaped their lives. Through active alumni engagement, you can encourage alumni to contribute financially to the institution’s development. Be it individual or collective donations, endowment funds, or scholarships for students, alumni can be encouraged to contribute through strong alumni engagement.
Sending regular newsletters and emails to the alumni about the latest developments at the institution will help alumni understand how their alma mater is functioning. You can mention new educational initiatives, research programs, and various extracurricular activities being undertaken.
Segment alumni data for tailored communication and to maintain relevancy. An alumni portal automatically categorizes alumni based on batch and department. Financial support from alumni can help institutions grow, and alumni engagement will play a crucial role in achieving this.
3. Career Growth for Students
One of the most significant advantages institutions derive from alumni engagement is to provide career development opportunities for students. Alumni can be leveraged to mentor students and alumni for interviews through resume reviews and interview training.
Institutions can also rope in alumni for mentoring and upskilling sessions where students can learn about current industry trends, required skills and how to break into competitive job markets. Younger alumni can guide students on industrial projects, thesis writing and scientific research.
Alumni CXOs, HRs, and alumni entrepreneurs can recruit students from the alma mater as they trust in the quality of its graduates. They can provide placements and internship opportunities for the students. For instance, if your alumni has 10 alumni entrepreneurs and 15 CXOs, and each of them offers two job opportunities, you have 50 placements already.
4. Driving Institutional Growth
Alumni engagement can help drive academic progress and innovation. By serving on advisory boards, alumni provide valuable industry insights that help institutions keep their curricula updated and relevant to evolving market demands. Their involvement also fosters research collaborations that may lead to groundbreaking academic initiatives. Engaged alumni help improve rankings and accreditation through feedback and testimonials.
Beyond academics, engaged alumni inspire a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. They mentor students on how to establish and run a startup, invest in startups, and support innovation hubs. As guest lecturers, they bring real-world expertise to classrooms, bridging the gap between theory and practice. These efforts enhance the student experience and highlight alumni’s vital role in shaping the institution’s success.
In a Nutshell
Alumni engagement is about so much more than just staying in touch; it’s about building a lasting relationship that benefits everyone involved. When alumni feel genuinely connected to their alma mater, they will give back in ways that truly matter.
By fostering these bonds, institutions create a supportive community where alumni feel proud to contribute, and students gain the tools and opportunities they need to succeed. This partnership not only celebrates the past but also drives the future forward, ensuring the institution’s legacy continues to thrive.
