International students and alumni are increasingly a fact of life for many universities around the world. While these institutions employ different approaches in regards to their international alumni, CEU has garnered increased attention for its unique model of connecting with and engaging its graduates. Four recent publications have cited CEU’s approach as an example to other institutions.
“We’re innovative, and now that is being recognized by others,” said Serge Sych, CEU’s Director of Alumni and Corporate Relations. “This is the biggest acknowledgement you can get.”
Serge recently published an article on the importance of alumni relations and the CEU model. Titled “Evolution of Alumni Relations Professionals,” it was included in the July 2012 edition of Internationalisation of European Higher Education, a professional journal issued by the European Association for International Education (EAIE).
Himself a CEU alumnus, Serge donated his honorarium earned from the article to the university’s Alumni Campaign.
“I’m very proud that our [ARCS] team's efforts have been recognized,” he said, adding that donating the proceeds from the article was intended to give back to the university and to encourage other members of the CEU community—alumni, staff and faculty—to follow his example. Learn more about the alumni campaign here.
Serge has indeed become an expert since first heading CEU’s alumni services back in 1999, but he’s not the only one writing about CEU’s place in the world of alumni relations.
CEU’s four-pillared alumni model—of communication, services, volunteer opportunities and philanthropy—was cited in the article “International Alumni Matter,” in the Spring 2012 issue of EAIE’s Forum magazine.
In her 2011 book Being Global: Making the Case for International Alumni Relations, Gretchen Dobson referred to a number of CEU alumni relations best practices, including the role of alumni in student recruitment and the integration of alumni relations and career services.
In his “Challenges in Global Alumni Relations,” Andrew Shaindlin also spotlighted the utilization of alumni for student recruiting at CEU, where a large percentage of all accepted students are referred by alumni, as well as the university’s practice of employing new graduates.
All of the articles state the importance of alumni as sources of institutional promotion, recruitment and fundraising. Except for very new universities, an institution’s alumni body represents its largest “audience.”
As that “audience” continues to expand for CEU, its model of connecting with and engaging alumni will only become more relevant.