Alumni Engagement
Multipurpose Giving Demands from institutions are growing—they are expected to stay informed about latest industry trends, design industry-relevant curricula, provide students live projects to work on and call in specialists to conduct mock interviews for students. Adjunct faculty is playing a greater role in institutions. Students are increasingly conscious of the quality of placements offered. Faculty needs for funds to participate in conferences to update their knowledge and conduct research work are rising. Students need mentors, especially now that more are bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, observes Dr Gupta. Who better than alumni to guide youngsters in this path fraught with challenges? Guest lectures by well placed alumni are a big draw. Alumni can provide resources and services to fulfil all these needs. At IIT-B, alumni sponsor programmes with social implications as well. Bhattacharya explains how: “More and more students from humble backgrounds are making it to IIT-B. Many can’t arrange their tuition and mess fees. GoI norms stipulate that all IIT-B students are entitled to student loans from banks. In practice, many students are denied loans on some flimsy pretext or other when banks cannot establish their credit worthiness. Hard-pressed students often turn to private moneylenders charging exorbitant interest rates.” A highly successful and innovative financial aid programme funded by alumni has been supporting students providing them with loans at low rates of interest to meet their tuition and living expenses. More then 500 economically underprivileged students have been supported in the past four years. Most students repay the loan within 12 to 18 months of graduating and so far there has not been a single defaulter.
Key to Success: Communication “Communication is the key to successful alumni engagement,” says Dr Singla. Institutions must adopt communication
channels that appeal most to alumni. Bhattacharya points out, “Younger alumni are tech savvy and appreciate electronic communication. But some older alumni are kept in the loop with snail mail.” A rethink of communication strategies may show that current methods could be improved. John Cherian, Founder, enParadigm Knowledge Solutions, and secretary of the IIM Ahmedabad Alumni Association, Ahmedabad, is of the opinion that standalone portals are outdated because alumni do not login and update them. Instead, he advocates a userfriendly resource connecting directly with LinkedIn profiles and Facebook pages, essentially pages individuals feel utility in updating. One technology tool being used by Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH) is a portal where mem-
elps “Viburnix hociation alumni assner more portals garan simple traction th t facilitates websites. I tact and alumni conns to the contributior” alma mate ni hik Bellha logies, o —Kausia n c nce Te
CEO, Sav y behind Viburnix an the comp
strategy
bers register themselves and connect with each other with the institution staying in the loop as the common thread between alumni. BIMTECH and FMS’s portals (to name two institutions) are powered by Viburnix, technology that combines the power of a portal with an e-commerce facility, nifty communication features, and links to social media— LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook Events pages. “Viburnix helps alumni association portals garner more traction than simple websites. It facilitates alumni contact and contributions to the alma mater, the creation of content, and encourages collaboration. Viburnix being a Saas (software-as-a service) offering, can be accessed from anywhere, on any device. We are looking at adding special benefits in the form of applications to run on handheld devices and iPads in the near future,” describes Kaushik Bellani, CEO, Saviance Technologies, the company behind Viburnix. “Alumni databases should also facilitate industry-wide searches,” recommends Cherian. That is, the resource should tell a user which alumnus is currently placed in or has ever worked in a certain company. Usage of the resource should be open: “Too many institutions adopt restricting rules about sharing information about alumni, which is counter-productive and discourages alumni from using the databases in the first place. Institutions should simply state the rules of usage and contact to minimise chances of misuse. Students should have access to the resource as well.”
Communication Methods An institution’s direct presence on social media like Facebook pages and Twitter, scores high with alumni. Social media facilitate interactive, ongoing communication, thus enriching alumni experience and engagement. “Social networking sites offer instant connect—pages and groups on social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., form part of our outreach activities,” adds Dr Anshul April 2012 EduTech
29