Workshop 6: Strengthening Alumni Networks and Enhancing Graduate Employability

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Target Audience

 International education officers with experience or interest in managing alumni relations and/or providing services to international students and recent graduates from both ASEAN and Australia

 

Rationale

International or global alumni relations is the outreach to and engagement of internationally affiliated alumni—mostly understood as former students and their families around the world. The purpose of this engagement—along with that directed at current and former staff and faculty, as well as community members and key industry/governmental partners with ties to the institution—is to leverage support and advancement of institutional priorities at home and abroad. Each stakeholder shares an ability to influence each other’s engagement and/or the actions of the institution locally and internationally (Dobson, 2016). 

There are a number of challenges in managing international alumni relations, one of which begins with the primary objective of establishing good data and mutually valuable relationships. The distinction between ‘home’ and ‘overseas’ students has become much more blurred as a consequence of transnational education, the proliferation of academic exchange programs and an increasing number of postgraduate students seeking higher qualifications outside their home country. We propose a new definition for today’s global alumni to meet today’s challenges and growing trends. One of those trends is growing interest from international alumni to return to their homeland and/or build transnational careers.

 

Stakeholder relationships are central to strengthening alumni relations within ASEAN and Australia. Alumni, their institutions and their professional affiliations are integral to promoting 21st Century cross-cultural skills and Work Integrated Learning (WIL) opportunities for students (and fellow alumni) grounded in the practical application of academic theories and a successful transfer of the global educational experience to a regional/local context. 

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Workshop Objectives 

 

The Workshop Theme Strengthening Alumni Networks and Enhancing Graduate Employability will explore:

 

Trends and best practices in managing alumni relations programs which identify, track and engage global graduates to invest in their own professional development as well as the early careers of graduates in an ASEAN country. 

 

We will explore people-to-people connections with alumni cohorts including:

 

• alumni returning from Australia to an ASEAN country from both scholarship and private study

• transnational (TNE) program alumni who have attended Australia campuses and programs in ASEAN countries 

• New Colombo Plan Alumni who have been in an ASEAN country and then return to Australia 

• Public-private partnerships between institutions, government, alumni, industry and business organisations.

 

We will also highlight data alumni and graduate employability data specific to ASEAN and the role alumni play as a referral agent and coordinator of short-term internships and job opportunities for students and each other.