1. 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

2. Presentation Outline
Interest for alumni engagement &
current actions of public universities
Babeş – Bolyai Alumni:
• available resources
• objectives
• projects
• communication plan
Conclusions

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. What can alumni offer?
 Time – volunteer for
faculty programmes
 Talent – course
feedback, career
counselling
 Treasure – donate
for faculty
programmes
employability
Time
Talent
Treasure

7. 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

8. 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

9. Projects
alumni mentoring
webinars
alumni activities and clubs
communication plan (offline and
online)

10. 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

11. Webinars
5 online seminars
5 alumni speakers
Over 80 student & young alumni
participants
General themes that engage a large
number of graduates
Graduates from all over the world can
easily contribute

12. 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)

13. 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)

14. Alumni activities & 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 university
 Provide every graduate with an online
activity calendar at his/her disposal
 May start from lecture clubs and end up
having hiking clubs

15. Conclusions
Never take anything for granted – test!
Use every resource at hand (open
licenses, open communities,
reciprocity)
Creatively engage alumni resources to
improve current university services
and develop new ones – start small,
with on-hand resources