Wednesday 25 May 2011

Alumni Perspective

Last Friday I was lucky enough to have a meeting with an Alumnus who is very actively involved with Glasgow University as well as many other universities across the UK. It was a very positive meeting as this Alumnus has a real affinity for Glasgow.

Despite his busy schedule on a flying visit to the city he very kindly let me ask him all sorts of questions on his opinions of alumni volunteering for an hour! This oppertunity gave me some real insights into some of the expectations our alumni would have for the volunteering programme.

The Alumnus was thrilled that Glasgow are doing something to engage with their alumni in this way and is looking forward to seeing the end result, perhaps he may even get involved, if he likes what he sees!

The answers from this meeting have really helped to shape my research. As well as conducting a broad overview of all volunteering activity across the sector, I am now able to focus on specific elements of programmes which Glasgow Alumni may find appealing. Hopefully I can identify and meet a lot more "Key Alumni" in this manor to help shape our programme further.

Firstly however, I am off on some travels all around the country. At the beginning of June I am meeting with various universities in Central and East Scotland and 5 fellow Russell Group universities in England. All have generously agreed to spend some time with me discussing, in depth, their experiences (good and bad) of delivering their volunteering programmes.

These universities were selected for their international volunteering activities, careers networks and in some cases for their innovative overall programmes, so I'm very excited to see what works , what doesn't and what may be possible at Glasgow.

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