3 Myths That Stop Institutes From Focusing on Aumni Engagement

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, you get the drift. 

It doesn't matter if you are a young institute, building engagement with your alumni from the first graduating batch is critical. This will help build recognition of the institute and grow the brand through your alumni as their success will be yours. 

Myth #2: Our alumni don't have a strong emotional connect 

Rome wasn’t built in a day! Building a strong emotional connect among alumni requires consistency of efforts. Institutes need to give value to their alumni. Value comes in different forms, it could be recognition, connecting job seekers with employers within the alumni network, opportunities for business exchanges, etc. 

The more value you give to your alumni, the stronger their emotional connect becomes. Over time, the power of Network Effect triggers, where increasing number of alumni enhances the value of the alumni network. Alumni who were once a beneficiary of the network, over time, start contributing as benefactors of the alumni network. 

Myth #3: We don't have enough resources 

Institutes often mix up not having "enough resources" with not having the "priority" for developing alumni engagement. More often, lack of focus is the deficiency and not funds which differentiates an engaged alumni community from another. 

Alumni engagement is not about spending a lot of money. With the growth of social media, bringing alumni together is a lot more efficient (read cost effective.) Sharing posts about campus activities, current stories of students success in competitions / tournaments is a great way for alumni to get nostalgic about their own time on campus. Invite alumni to write blogs, share their experiences, learnings, success stories during their time at school / college.