The alumni offices of the Dutch technical universities (TU Delft, UTwente and Wageningen University) have been working closely together since 2014. Together we have more than 280,000 alumni out of whom 60,000 live outside of the Netherlands.
By combining forces we achieve the critical mass necessary for keeping in touch with alumni abroad. This is an important group which does a lot in return for our universities in the form of guest lectures, study advice, mentoring, collaboration in research or funding of projects.
Virtual alumni events
If you can’t get together in-person, let’s meet online.
With the emergence of COVID19 worldwide, the need for mutual contact for alumni abroad was evident. That is why DEAN over the past two months has organized virtual alumni event for all active locations (Nordics, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, USA / Canada East and USA / Canada West). The purpose of these events was to help alumni connect with each other as well as strengthen their bonds with the alma mater.
The program consisted of updates from the universities, a keynote from an inspiring alumnus and a virtual BYOB (Bring Your Own Beverage) mixer. In total, more than 500 alumni registered for the 7 events.
With an average rating of 8.5 and a recommendation of over 8.5, we can say that the events were very well received by alumni. This is also evident from the comments from a short survey:
“I thoroughly enjoyed participating, getting to meet others in my area, and meeting everyone else from across the eastern-half of North America and NL! It was a great escape from current times with stay-at-home orders, and not being able to travel. I look forward to participating again in the future”
"Thanks very much. It was a very good experience to be able to link up with a group of people with the same background, same interest in France. Hope we will have more often such an opportunity!
“The event was well organised, dynamic and participative."
"Great job! Unbelievable attention to detail made it better, including the idea/risk-taking of the borrels, the group facilitation, and the comprehensive follow-ups including survey, attendee list and especially WhatsApp local groups. Congrats to all who organized it!"
As a follow-up, a number of thematic online events will be organized after the summer for alumni from different time zones and countries.