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 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 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

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) – open source CMS & open source appshttp://alumni.ubbcluj.ro 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 university Provide 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 Fund Raising Office Cătălina Amihăiesi