Please click on the figures to enlarge them.
Which kinds of networks do you use to stay in touch with international friends, fellow students, colleagues, and business partners?
- Publicly accessible online communities such as Facebook and XING!
- Online alumni platforms provided by academic institutions you attended (universities, colleges, scholarship programmes etc.) or companies you worked for
- Meetings of regional alumni chapters
In which online networks do you participate, if any?
Facebook
XING!
Others
How do you judge the importance of the following means in order to stay in touch with your fellow students from all over the world?
5 = very important ... 1 = not important at all
- Frequent use of publicly accessible online communities such as Facebook and XING!
- Frequent use of online alumni platforms provided by academic institutions or companies
- Regular mail or e-mail contact
- Regular telephone calls
- Annual alumni meetings or conferences
- Other means
I attend events offered by the alumni association
- more than two times per month
- one or two times per month
- more than 6 times a year / every other month
- 1 – 6 times a year
- never
I visit the online platform provided by the alumni association
I actively participate in the organisation of events offered by the network
Which services offered by alumni associations of which you are member do you use, if any?
- Career service to find job and internship offers
- Online community to contact other alumni
- (Online) Newsletter to stay updated
- Trainings / seminars to improve personal and professional skills
- Mentoring programme
- Events organised by regional alumni chapters
- Others
For which main purposes do you use alumni networks of academic institutions you attended or companies you worked for?
- to stay in contact with people you already know
- to actively search for new contacts
- primarily for private purposes (stay in contact with friends etc.)
- primarily for career purposes (information about jobs, to contact firms etc.)
Are you planning to become a member of the alumni association of the university / college you are attending in London?
- Membership is free and I will automatically become a member
- I will become a member as long as the membership is free, after that I will decide
- I am willing to pay for the membership
- I will not become a member
Are you planning to actively use this alumni network to help build your career?
- I will search for and contact alumni who work for interesting companies to get information about the firm, working conditions, useful recommendations for applications
- I will use job offers presented e.g. on an online platform of the association
- I am not planning to use the alumni network for my job search
10 Findings:
1) Public online communities are the most important means of communication among international students (Question 4).
2) All of the interviewees – and a great majority of international students - are registered with Facebook which therefore should be used as a communication channel for alumni relations (Question 5).
3) Business networks such as XING! and Linked In appear only partly suitable for keeping in touch with students and alumni aged younger than 27 (Question 5).
4) Linked In is more important in the United Kingdom than XING! in terms of business networking.
5) Besides public online communities, regular e-mail contact is considered important in order to stay connected to fellow students after graduation (Question 7).
6) Online alumni communities are neither used frequently (Question 10) nor considered essential for staying in touch with former fellow students (Questions 7 and 12).
7) Active participation of members seems to be rare in most of the alumni networks (Question 11).
8) Alumni meetings are deemed more important than online alumni platforms to keep in touch with former fellow students (Question 7).
9) Even though the majority of the interviewees predominantly use alumni networks to stay in contact with people they already know from a private context (Question 13), 85% state that they will actively use alumni networks for their job search (Question 15).
10) The willingness to pay for the membership is limited among the interviewees (Question 14).
5 Conclusions:
1) There is a strong need to integrate social media into a successful alumni relations strategy.
2) An online alumni community needs to offer additional value in comparison to the common social and business networking platforms.
3) Membership in an alumni club should be free - because the willingness to pay is limited- and instead be partly financed through fund-raising activities.
4) Offers related to career issues and regular meetings of regional alumni chapter - which may also be related to a certain relevant topic - must be two key elements of a successful alumni relations strategy.
5) Online alumni platforms appear to serve as platforms for a mixture of social and business networking with a focus on the latter.
Today I’d like to introduce Ben Bommert to you. Ben is an LSE alumni currently working for the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit.
Ben obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Law, Politics and Economics at the University College Maastricht and spent more than a year in Australia and the US during his high school education. After his graduation from the University College Maastricht he decided to gain more professional experience in an international environment through internships with the German-Finnish Chamber of Commerce and a strategy consulting firm in Dubai, after which he worked on a consulting project in Canada.
Having received important insights into professional life, he continued his academic education at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) doing a Master’s course in Public Management and Government. The LSE, as one of Europe’s leading universities, proved to be a good spring board for his career. After his graduation Ben successfully applied for a job in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit.
The Prime Minster’s Strategy Unit consults the British Prime Minster and the British Government in strategic questions. The unit, which is part of the Cabinet Office, comprises about 35 employees including administrative staff, focuses on developing long-term solutions in a variety of political areas, and closely collaborates with the world’s leading academic experts. The Strategy Unit is responsible for the development of strategies rather than their implementation.
There is the possibility to do an internship with the Strategy Unit. For further information please contact me at kis.london.2010@kuwi.de.
Thanks Ben for taking the time to do this interview and all the best to you.
