In 2017, the University of Liverpool had a global community of over 135,000 contactable alumni (including 11,500 graduates from online programmes), 33,000 students on campus, 10,000 online students, and 6,000 staff.

The Alumni Relations team at the University had a strategic focus to support and enhance brand and reputation, employability and student experience. As part of this, one of their goals was to develop an effective volunteering management process in order to offer meaningful volunteering initiatives, increase the number of volunteers as well as enhance their experience, and to showcase their work and the impacts.

The University of Liverpool and the Liverpool Management School had established and been managing 40 global, professional and academic groups, which help the team to facilitate networking amongst their alumni community, whilst keeping graduates connected back to Liverpool. Groups are led by senior volunteers/alumni ambassadors working alongside the Alumni Relations team, helping to enhance the University’s reputation and generate good will.

The team recognised they needed to identify and focus on relevant and priority groups, whilst supporting the ongoing expansion of their global community, which was growing at a rate of 10,000 graduates year on year. In speaking with their group leaders it was clear to Liverpool that they needed a new solution and online platform to manage their networks and increase engagement. From a discussion with Aluminati, they realised that there may be an opportunity to combine this through their new Aluminate platform, Liverpool Connect, with Aluminati’s new proposal for developing a Groups module.

Aluminati were keen to work alongside the University of Liverpool and the University of Warwick, to bring an online solution that would not only help build stronger relationships internationally and motivate network activity, but that would also assist institutions in:

  • Offering network/group leaders a way to easily connect with other members;
  • Enabling graduates to have a platform to network within a particular location or interest area;
  • Enhancing the visibility and profile of key alumni leaders;
  • Enabling greater interaction and co-ordination of activities between interested parties;
  • Signposting new graduates, or those relocating, to a community they could join;
  • Helping to promote volunteering and events to relevant groups more efficiently.

Aluminati’s new proposal involved creating flexible group pages which would sit within a University-protected online platform, that would allow for exclusive membership and content, whilst being consistent with institutional branding and also easily searchable on the internet. The pages would help graduates maintain their communities beyond graduation, and would be particularly beneficial for online/distance learning students who had developed strong, supportive connections with fellow students that were often in different countries.

The proposal saw positive feedback from Liverpool’s volunteer leaders and Liverpool became the first to launch the new Advanced Chapter Management module on their Aluminate platform in early 2018.

For a demo or to find out more about how this new module can help your institution and your volunteers to manage and enhance your engagement with your international, professional, academic or special interest groups and societies, contact us.