How to get the faculties of your university engaged in Alumni Relations? This is a challenged shared by many Alumni officers! On this session Claire O’Sullivan, head of alumni relations, University of Birmingham; Darren Griffin, professor of genetics, School of Biosciences, University of Kent; Jade Bressington, University of Birmingham shared their experiences and different perspectives on the matter.
The main advice were “Understand your faculty objectives and figure out ways in which alumni could deliver these”.
Make sure that when you make your case to the faculty on why they should invest time in their alumni relations to:
– Add value to the faculty
– Tailor opportunities for alumnus
– Bring alumni engagement closer to students
– Get to know your institution better
– Focus on key people in the faculty
So – build from the needs of the faculty – every faculty is unique – and let it grow over time and eventually you’ll have a alumni programme of value both to the faculty and to the alumni!