A university has multiple institutes, Should there be different alumni associations?

"You need the right people with you, not the best people."

The above line by Jack Ma is true not just for people but for almost everything in life. We always don't need to unite with the best thing, we need be relevant first and then take things to the best level.

A university has multiple institutes or colleges under it's umbrella.

Some of these colleges could be very old and well established, some could be relatively new. They could be of different disciplines and can be very different from one another in a plethora of aspects.

When there are so many differences in between various colleges under the same university they certainly can exist largely as independent entities. Though, on the contrary, one can say, the slightly less well established colleges can try to work in conjunction with the well established ones in order to grow quickly.

All colleges under a university may or may not have their own separate alumni associations but what should be done ideally is the question.

In this article, we shall look at the various key factors that come into play while deciding whether or not to have a separate alumni association for each college under one university.

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Benefits of having an independent alumni association for every college of a university

Having a separate alumni association for every college of the university could have it's own benefits.

A university can have a lot of colleges under it, it could go up to 12-15 as in the case of Harvard University. Almost every college under Harvard University is specific to a very different discipline and having the same association for 12-15 colleges might not sound such a good idea.

Let's now look at some of the benefits of having an independent alumni association for each college of the university:

1. Attachment: The alumni network of a college grows only when alumni engage and interact with one another. The very basis of engagement stems from attachment of an alumnus to his Alma mater. When a person feels attached to his/her Alma mater then they always love to connect with their college at every opportunity possible. Having a dedicated alumni association for each college helps in enhancing the feeling of attachment that the alumni feels as they are related to their own college only and not some random other colleges from the university with which they don't relate at all.
   

2. Independence: Having a dedicated alumni association gives the governing body of the association complete charge of the decisions. They get the complete control over the finances of the association and they are the key decision makers in all the important issues concerning the association. Any problems arising out of interference from the other colleges of the university are all eliminated. Also, the governing body can run the association in the way they feel is best. ,
   

3. Building an individual brand: As the alumni network and the alumni association of the individual college grows, the image of the college as a strong independent entity also strengthens. If a college has a strong alumni association then definitely it speaks a lot for that college. It opens a lot of doors for the college. If the college is running it's alumni network and association independently then they are solely responsible for their own image. If their are multiple colleges with a common association then the brand name of the college might get diluted if the other colleges aren't performing up to the mark. The progress of it's network depends on the progress of various other colleges in such a case.

The above is specifically true for universities where there are large number of colleges having an affiliation to the university.

To cite an example, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, Lucknow, popularly referred to as AKTU or UPTU (former name) has over 550 colleges affiliated to it. Each of these is located in various different parts of Uttar Pradesh and exist as very different bodies. In such a case having their own independent alumni association is the best. Having a common association for so many varied colleges is not at all relevant.

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Benefits of having a single alumni association for every college of a university

There could be cases when the university feels that a single alumni association for all of it's colleges is sufficient. There could be benefits of a single alumni association too.

Let's take a look at the benefits of the same:

1. A bigger alumni network: If a university is relatively new and the overall alumni strength per college is also less, then a combined alumni association and a combined network makes up a bigger network right from the initial years. The alumni network is significantly bigger than what it would be for the individual college. Also, for colleges where the number of admissions is very less per year, the alumni network is much smaller. In such cases too, having a combined association for all colleges under the university helps in giving a better over all reach to each college. All the colleges can provide their students a big strong alumni network by combining their individual strengths.
   

2. More number of distinguished alumni: If there are multiple colleges under a university having some notable alumni, a common alumni network and association gives the benefits of such alumni to all the colleges of that university rather than that single college to which the alumnus belongs. Having more and more distinguished alumni always helps in boosting the alumni network strength. It gives new students more incentive to join that university in general. It gives a good popularity to the university and all it's colleges too. Thus, the smaller colleges under a university can reap the benefits of connecting with the better colleges of the university.
   

3. One University-One Brand-One Association: A lot of universities have a very strategic plan built for running one alumni association for the entire university. This has worked well for some universities which were established very long back and now have a firm standing with a single alumni association for all of it's colleges. The colleges under a university do have a common thread between them which is their university. There could be some more common points too and while keeping the factor of relevance in mind, there could be a common association for all such colleges under a university. To cite an example, BITS Pilani was established in 1964 and it's Goa and Hyderabad campuses were established much later in 2004 and 2008 respectively. All the three colleges come under the banner of BITS Pilani and have a lot of similarities. They have a very strategically built alumni association and the network has been growing stronger and has helped in the development of the Goa and Hyderabad campus as well. In such cases, if the university has kept the colleges under it bonded well and can build a single alumni association with full effort then a single association could do wonders!

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Let's sum it up!

Just like each coin has two sides to it, similar is the case here. There are pros and cons to having a single alumni association for all the colleges under a university. A lot depends upon the situation of each of the colleges and their current standings.

To summarize, the following can be the deciding factors while considering building a single alumni association for all the colleges under a university:

1. If the colleges are spread out over a vast geographic region and are very different from one another, then having the same association for all of them wouldn't be relevant.

2. If the colleges are affiliated to a university and again, there are numerous colleges under the university and have very little to do with one another then having the same association wouldn't be of much relevance.

3. If a university is not very old and one of it's college is very popular due to some reasons, the other new colleges under the university can benefit from the alumni of the popular college, thus having a common alumni network and association can be of help.

4. If the university is firm and confident about strategically building a single association and a single brand name for all the colleges under it's banner, then building one association is not an issue.

5. If all the colleges under a university have sufficient resources to self sustain their alumni association then going with individual associations will help the college build a brand name for itself.

Thus, analyzing the college and the university situation is very important for deciding whether or not to have a single association for the entire university.

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