Attributes of Alumni Engagement Practices in Universities in Uganda

Abstract

This paper explores alumni engagement practices in three universities in Uganda. Despite the fact that university alumni in Uganda are often well-educated, successful and uniquely strengthened by vast intergenerational social capital networks, a lot still leaves to be desired to inspire their alumni to give back their time wealth and talent. Universities’ alumni engagement programs are largely characterized by money donated and attendance at alumni events. This apparent detachment raises concerns about fundraising and long-term financial sustainability. The study used a multiple case design which relied primarily upon qualitative methods with purposive sampling. Data was collected using interviews and document analysis. The findings of the study identified that reunion events, endowment funds, infrastructure development, fundraising, creation of alumni chapters and giving awards to the best students are the main alumni engagement practices in universities in Uganda. Two major themes were identified from the categorizations and they were discussed as communication and networking. It was concluded that reunion events such as annual alumni dinners, annual general meetings, annual sports days and homecoming events are held to foster or build alumni relationships and to form the goodwill that translates into monetary donations. The endowment fund is aimed at mobilizing funds to invest for the benefit of the university. Such funds are realized from students' contributions and fundraising done on different occasions while alumni chapters are established as networks of alumni in different geographical locations to simplify communication among the alumni living in the same area, they also ease the facilitation of periodical regional alumni meetings for social activities, professional networking and promotion of their universities