Holland Alumni network: 10,000 participant target
18 May 2010
Nuffic Communications Advisor Suzanne Körmeling is convinced: the number of participants in the Holland Alumni network must rise from 8,000 to 10,000 within the foreseeable future. Nuffic's objective is to link as many alumni as possible to their institutions or an alumni association through the network.
Suzanne believes this can be done, as demonstrated by the recently completed Holland Alumni network project. A permanent link to the Netherlands, the Dutch higher education institution and, most importantly, to one another is a great asset for alumni of the Dutch higher education system.
Colleague Shirley van Maren explains, ‘All international students go through the following phases: orientation, pre-departure, the study period and the alumni phase. Effective international promotion means that they receive the proper support during each phase, including the alumni phase.'
'It is in the Netherlands’ interest to ensure that international students maintain a link with our country, our products and our services after graduating. At the same time, they act as ambassadors for Dutch higher education. Graduates are of course also the perfect guinea pigs for information material.’
Good starting point
‘Some higher education institutions have made major headway in implementing an international alumni policy’, Suzanne adds. ‘For them, the network is a place to exchange knowledge and experience. For those institutions that still have a way to go, our network is an excellent starting point for implementing an alumni policy.
Alumni visit the Holland Alumni network to look for networking opportunities or to find fellow alumni. They are then quickly directed to the alumni association of their former host institution, scholarship programme or country of origin.’
As Shirley explains, ‘The key to supporting these types of networks within the network is manpower. And this is precisely what we will provide. Alumni officers have been appointed at all Nuffic Nesos.’
Alumni officers at institutions
Shirley and Suzanne are not just focusing on the alumni themselves, but also on collaboration with the alumni officers at the institutions. After all, their input will determine whether the Holland Alumni network succeeds or fails.
Suzanne: ‘A feedback group of alumni officers has already been set up. They conducted a review of the entire virtual network last March, leading to many improvements. We will soon be setting up a user group of alumni officers and will be organizing a training day for the group in the autumn to allow them to exchange their knowledge. We will organize the next alumni conference in 2011 in even closer collaboration with the institutions than last year.’
Shirley and Suzanne conclude that the alumni are not Nuffic alumni, but alumni of the institutions. 'The alumni’s main link is to the institution, and that is how it should be.’ The Holland Alumni network therefore has a bright future ahead of it, no longer as a separate project, but rooted in Nuffic’s activities with a guaranteed input from the institutions. For Suzanne Körmeling this is a strong basis for achieving her goal: to reach the 10,000 participants target.