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If you are a school, college or a university who is thinking about starting an alumni engagement program, this article will give plenty of food for thought. 

If you are an institute who has recognised the importance of alumni engagement, however hasn’t taken action, our intent for you is to be inspired and take action. 

If you are an institute who not only recognises the importance of alumni engagement, but has a robust program around it, you can validate the points made here and add your thoughts in comments for every one to learn from your expertise. 

In life, an individual can have multiple careers, working at multiple companies, starting multiple businesses, however their school and college education is a once in a life time experience. While life long learning continues, where we go to school and college has as a special place in our hearts. 

We reviewed the Mission and Vision statements of 100+ premiere educational institutes across India. The central idea can be summarised as:

The Power of Merchandise: Why you should consider using it for brand building

Merchandise is one of the most interactive forms of branding. People relate to the ideology of “You wear what you believe reflects who you are.” Where you goto school or college has a defining impact on who you are.

You can't buy your way into an education, nor the learnings & the network that comes from it. This creates a strong brand connect among the students & alumni of premier institutes. Every time you come across your school name/crest, nostalgia is triggered. Merchandise brings that trigger in your everyday life & keeps you close to the good ol days on campus.

 Social Media platforms have taken the game to another level. Each platform has a preference on the type of content it likes to reward with max reach. Merchandise is primed to be a highly engaging content across the board.

The emotional connection with your alma mater is stronger than most brands we consume. Countries like the US & UK have done

Building an engagement with Alumni is gaining traction at Schools, Colleges, and Universities across India. Premiere institutes have made significant traction in building an engaged alumni community. They are an inspiration to the "newer" educators who already have a lot to be proud of with their state of the art facilities, international curriculum and collaborations, et. al.

While awareness to start engaging alumni is gaining traction across the board, it is often full of challenges. Some of these challenges are real, however a lot of them are Myths, which really stop an institute from taking action in building their Alumni Program.

Here are 3 Myths that stop institutes from focusing on alumni engagement.

Myth#1: We are a young institute, Alumni engagement is for Institutes who have been around for ages.

Just like how the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and the 2nd best time is today; the best time to start alumni engagement was 20 years ago, the second best time is today,