Alumni Engagement Platform – Importance of Alumni in our Education System

Alumni Engagement Platform – Importance of Alumni in our Education System 

Offering an interactive, supportive alumni engagement platform to the student is crucial to institutional success. It is a good practice for the universities to stay connected with the graduates even after completing their graduation. Your ex-students should be kept informed about the university events and happenings so that they too can remain engaged and keep abreast on its progress.

Building relationships through alumni networking is beneficial to all those who are associated with it – the institution, current students and the alumni. Here’s how an alumni engagement platform plays a significant role for the education system.

Blends Expertise

It is quite obvious for the talented alumni to gain a wealth of experience in their industry as well as life and have abundance of skills to share with the current students through talks and newsletters. This experience can support the current students in learning about the industry trends, job opportunities and help them start their careers under guidance. Peter Lock, Alumni Relations Officer at Bournemouth University says, “Creating an engaged alumni network is beneficial for us because engaged graduates are much more likely to want to “give back” to the University; that could be, for example, by coming back and sharing their experiences with prospective and current students.”

Employability

Practically, alumni engagement platforms have immense benefits for current students in their real life: Alumni contribute their valuable time to provide careers guidance and support to the current students in various ways, like professional networking opportunities. Networking and exposure enhance the students’ experience and offer them the competitive edge to take their stand in today’s tough jobs market.

Financial Support

Alumni networking is a great medium for those alumni that want to express their gratitude towards their university and colleges. Hence, they are often generous with fundraising efforts. Financial donations by alumni enable universities to provide life-changing scholarships to the talented students who are financially unstable and find it difficult to pursue their higher studies. In addition, universities can also offer students with advanced facilities and resources for teaching and research with adequate funding.

Personal development

Alumni engagement program not only benefits the institution and the current students, it is also significant for the alumni themselves. As it is said, “learning has no boundaries”, alumni networking helps ex-graduates to learn and grow as a professional as well as an individual. And again, alumni platforms are a great way to enhance one’s networking.

Loyal Support

Being the graduates of the institution, ex-graduates have a special connection with the university. As a result, they are likely to more loyal supporters. Molly Southwood, Head of Alumni Relations at the University of Bath explains, “An engaged alumni network allows the University to benefit from the skills and experience of its graduates, by offering their support to the students, to the institution and to each other. If we keep them properly informed and engaged, alumni are our most loyal supporters and our best ambassadors, offering invaluable marketing and promotion across their personal and professional networks.”

To conclude, it can be said that an alumni engagement networking is a great medium to gain immense knowledge, stay updated and grow and evolve in personal, social and professional aspects of life.

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