Alumni associations: Life after diploma For hundreds of thousands of graduates entering the work force each year, the networking power of alumni can make life after college easier Story by ORATIP NIMKANNON

According to the same report, the renovation project caused more stir among the alumni than among students and faculty members. Although current students will probably be the ones to enjoy the benefits of the new stadium, the project could never have gone ahead without financial contributions from the university's alumni.

In the US, many alumni maintain an active relationship with their university throughout their lives. While the alumni's contributions come in various forms - volunteering, mentoring, giving career advice - the most important is financial.

Compared to the US, the concept of alumni relations is quite new in Thailand. In fact, the oldest university alumni association, at Chulalongkorn University, was established only 60 years ago. Despite this fact, most university alumni associations exist to facilitate communications and networking between its members and the university, mainly through social activities, fund-raising events, and newsletters.

The usual practice is to have an alumni relations section as a communication point on the university's side and a separate juristic body as a gathering point for alumni members. This kind of communications structure can be found in well-established universities, such as Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, and Kasetsart universities, and King Mongkut's University of Technology, Thonburi.

On the other hand, newly-formed alumni groups at some universities prefer to meet informally. In some cases, the structure is loosely organised and requires a strong, pro-active team of leaders to keep the group functioning.

Pioneering changes

In 2002, Dr Stuart Blacksell, an Australian and alumni of University of Queensland (UQ), founded the University of Queensland Alumni Association of Thailand (UQAAT) as an informal group. At that time, Dr Blacksell was stationed in Thailand as a microbiologist at Mahidol University's Faculty of Tropical Medicine.

After attending a local graduation ceremony for UQ graduates in Hong Kong, he started an alumni group in Thailand, so that they too could hold annual local graduation ceremonies. According to Dr Stuart, approximately 100 Thais graduate from the University of Queensland each year. Since 2005, the ceremony has become a focal activity that not only brings together recent and past UQ graduates, but also recruits new members.

"We have a split of about 60 percent living in Bangkok and 40 percent living outside," Dr Blacksell says, referring to the association's 120 members. "Much of this is due to the fact that originally, the university was providing studies in agricultural areas. And the Australian government scholarships were very much focused on agriculture. So, most of those people are in the provinces, working in rice research institutes, local Live Stock Department offices, or universities all over the country," he adds.

Besides the local graduation ceremony, the association exists to provide networking and information support to members and prospective students. Several times each year, the association organises an information afternoon, when alumni would talk to a group of prospective students about the university. The alumni, says Dr Blacksell, are trained by the university to provide local support.

"We tell them about the lifestyle in Australia, things to be careful about, things they need to take and things they don't need to take. And we also talk about study tips," he explains.

For recent graduates, the alumni association provides a focal point for networking. By talking to other alumni, new graduates can benefit from a possible fast track to the right job. "I suppose we are a bit more serious. I think the social side of it is something we should focus more on, but that will come as we get more members," he says.

The ability to recruit new members is essential to the sustainability of every alumni association. Much of this depends on the commitment of its members, the support it receives from the university, and the number of services it can offer to members. Without these crucial elements, the recruitment process may come to a dead end, which is the situation that Silpakorn University Alumni Association is now facing.

Silpakorn University's unique history as a pure arts school makes it different from other universities around the country. "As artists, Silpakorn graduates tend to be independent in the way they think and work," says Gen Seri Phukkaman, current president of Silpakorn University Alumni Association. "If they want to do something, they will do it. But if they are not in the mood, then they won't."

This independent nature, he says, contributes to the fact that the association has only 1,280 members, despite the university's 63-year history, which suggests that there are at least 40,000-50,000 graduates. Rather than joining the alumni association, most graduates prefer to meet in smaller groups, which consist of their former classmates or fellow artists.

With the above predilections, the association finds it difficult to initiate large-scale gatherings, although the two main annual events - the commemorations of the birth and death of the university's founder Professor Silpa Bhirasri (born Corrado Feroci) - draw thousands of alumni each year. Other gatherings tend to be on an ad hoc basis, such as fund-raising events for tsunami victims or for the university's scholarship funds.

If the association can recruit enough members, tens and thousands in number, Gen Seri envisions an influential role it can have in the area of intellectual property protection - such as copyrighted properties that have a commercial, including literary, musical or artistic works - and conservation of cultural artifacts.

"Silpakorn University has many intellectual property rights all over the country; and many graduates also have them," he says. "Now that the university has appointed a deputy director to oversee the intellectual properties, I hope the association will step up and promote this as well."

With some 1,200 members, he adds, the association lacks the kind of influence to initiate such a big and significant change in society. In order to increase membership, Gen Seri has launched a website (www.silpakornalumni.com) where graduates can register themselves and update individual profiles. This membership database, he says, will at least lift the association's status as the centre of communications.

"At the moment, the easiest way an alumni can contribute something to the university is to register themselves via the website. It's that simple. Once they do this, the association will have a better chance to grow," he says.

A growing network

On a different note, the recruitment strategy adopted by King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) allows the network of members to grow to more than 40,000 in about 40 years. The university's alumni relations section is the contact point between the university and King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi's Alumni Association (KMUTTA).

KMUTT has a networking communications model that allows it to extend its reach into every region of the country. Beginning in 1969, the university established local alumni clubs at the regional level to serve as the main communications point. These local clubs communicate directly with the main alumni association in Bangkok.

"We believe our alumni are one of the key groups that can make the university better and stronger," says Ajarn Visut Damapong, advisor to the president of student development. "As a result, the alumni must receive as much news about the university as possible, so that they will remember to support the university and fellow students when they have a chance."

So far, the good relationship between the university and its alumni all over the country has helped in recruiting new students, providing career advice for new graduates, and broadcasting the activities of the university.

During the mudslide disaster in the northern province of Uttradit in May, for example, the university collaborated with its northern alumni club to bring relief efforts to the province in a timely fashion. These local alumni clubs also help in the selection of prospective students under the quota system, in which each university can dictate its own entrance criteria.

Despite a solid communications model and a strong network structure, Ajarn Visut admits that the actual participation rate among members remains quite low. "The actual participation rate remains at about 50 percent. The other 40 percent, I believe, would like to participate, but perhaps our outreach programmes have not reached them yet," he says.

A low participation rate is a common problem shared by many alumni associations in Thailand. "In places like Australia and Thailand, the concept of alumni [participation] is new," Dr Blacksell says. "America is unique in this area. Here, people might think 'ok, we have an alumni association, but why? Why do we have it? Why is it important?'

"So, it's very important for us to have a simple objective that can get people involved but not take too much of their time, and still feel like they are part of something important in their lives," he adds.

This is a small but encouraging move, considering that many alumni associations are still in their infancy. With more participating members, the associations can do more to help the university to expand and grow stronger, not only academically, but also financially. Most importantly, all these benefits will, in the end, go back to supporting both the students and community.