Over twenty attendees of the EAIE In-house training learned about international alumni relations

Lucie Matějková , Study in the Czech Republic

Study in Czechia Vzdělávání

The report from fourth In-House training for representatives of Czech universities working in the field of international relations

The Czech National Agency for International Education (DZS) has prepared the fourth In-House training for representatives of Czech universities who work in the field of international relations and are interested in the further development of internationalization within their institution. 

The educational event happened on 2nd and 3rd December 2020 and was co-organized in cooperation with the European Association for International Education (EAIE), within which the EAIE Academy offers education focused on specific topics in the field of internationalization of higher education. 

The event was built on three previous trainings that dealt with the topics of Basics of Developing a Strategic Internationalization Plan, Internationalization at Home, and Student Recruitment. As with these previous events, this time we tried to cover the general current needs of Czech universities, which resulted from discussions during the regular meetings of the Study in the Czech Republic Contact Network of Czech higher educational institutions. 

4. EAIE IN-HOUSE TRAINING FOCUS  

This year's EAIE in-house training was focused on cooperation with international graduates, as the event title itself suggests - "Alumni relations from A to Z - Integrating alumni relations in your university strategy". The training aimed to achieve the following results: 

• Understanding the origins and evolution of alumni relations in the US, Europe and beyond. 

• Gaining insight into how international alumni relations can contribute to the overall goals of the universities. 

• Learning how to influence decision-makers within the institution to convince them to allocate (more) resources and priority to alumni relations.  

• Developing a portfolio of international alumni activities and projects which contribute to the overall strategy of Czech higher education institutions. 

EAIE 1

DAY 1

13:30–15:35 Introductions to Global alumni relations

The trainers gave a brief intro to alumni relations evolution and industry latest trends, explained why the alumni relations area is of strategic importance to education institutions and introduced the 4 stages of the alumni relationship-building cycle. The first block was followed by a break-out group assignment during which all participants discussed the topic “alumni as a strategic resource for their institutions”.

EAIE 2

15:50–18:00 The alumni relationship building cycle, and virtual networking

The attendees were introduced to the Alumni Relationship Building Cycle and ended the day by virtual networking among all attendees, trainers and organizers via Gatherly platform

EAIE 3

DAY 2

14:00–17:00 Finding ‘silver bullets’, Clinic session: audience of one. 

During the second day, the participants dived further into the Alumni Relationship Building, used the Impact-Effort Matrix and tackled real-life cases and challenges provided by them to the trainers before the event started. By the end of the day, another break-out group session took place, where all participants had a chance to test their individual concepts by addressing simulated senior leadership panel of the university. The session ended up with a group discussion, followed by a final wrap up and goodbye.

EAIE 4

The virtual training was attended by a total of 25 representatives of Czech universities and led by experts from the field, Serge Sych and Jan Geerts. The participants have left the training with many inspiring ideas on preparation and development of their alumni relations at Czech universities.

If you are interested in learning more about alumni engagement, dive into these blog posts by Serge Sych.

We would like to thank everyone for creating a safe learning and knowledge sharing space and to EAIE for adjusting the format of the event from a physical to virtual space. We are looking forward to welcoming first-class international experts and representatives of Czech universities at the EAIE In-house training next year again, hopefully already in the traditional physical format.