18 MAY 2019 - ALUMNI CHAPTER EVENT IN ETHIOPIA

ALUMNI IN FOCUS

During their mission in Ethiopia Professor Sabine Vercruysse, Vice Campus Chair and Wim Polet, Director International Office of Group T Leuven Campus organized a KU Leuven Alumni Chapter Event on 18 May 2019 in Addis Ababa. Twenty Ethiopian alumni of KU Leuven were welcomed by Dr. Getu Kahsay Weldu, Professor at Mekelle University and Chair of the KU Leuven Alumni Chapter in Ethiopia.

International Alumni Chapters are informal local network. They create opportunities for the alumni to connect with each other and keep in touch with KU Leuven. The Ethiopian Alumni Chapter was the first on the African continent. It marks the growing importance of Ethiopia for KU Leuven.

Along with China, India and the Greater Mekong Area (South- East Asia) Ethiopa is one of the key countries in the international strategy of Group T Leuven Campus. Cooperation agreements have been established with 5 Ethiopian universities. “The cooperation efforts focus on capacity building, institutional support and the exchange of staff and students”, Prof. Vercruysse explains. “Belgian and Ethiopian researchers collaborate on themes such as ecology, sustainability and health”.

“We call upon the chapter for student recruitment and getting in touch with other potential partner universities as well as with the local economy”, Wim Polet continues. “As an embassador of KU Leuven the Alumni Chapter can open new doors to strengthen and expand our network in this promising country in full development”.

Yves Persoons

INTERNATIONAL ALUMNI CHAPTERS: STAY CONNECTED!

In 2013, KU Leuven established its first international alumni chapter in Shanghai, China. Today, the university has thirteen international alumni chapters. Thailand, Ethiopia, Vietnam – all established in 2018 – and Beijing are the most recent additions to the list.

“Alumni chapters are an important asset for KU Leuven”, says Vice-Rector for International Alumni Policy Peter Lievens, who is also responsible for alumni policy. “Internationalisation is very high on the KU Leuven agenda. Two key aspects of our current strategy are recruiting more students from abroad and promoting international mobility. And as more KU Leuven alumni go on to build international careers, we strengthen our global network”.

“This where the international alumni chapters come in”, says Martine Torfs from the Alumni Office at KU Leuven. “They create opportunities for our alumni to connect with each other and constitute a direct link with the alma mater. We also call upon the chapters for cooperation, student recruitment, academic policy, or to establish links with the partner institutes and the local economy. But we engage with our international alumni in other ways as well. We send newsletters, organize alumni trips or invite alumni to join us for education fairs in their country. We also reach out to former PhD students, postdocs, and visiting scholars because they are members of the KU Leuven community as well. They are all ambassadors for our university”.

https://alum.kuleuven.be/eng/

Katrien Bollen