“Innovation grows out of membership.”
Before deciding who should and who should not be considered as a member of an alumni association we need to understand what or who exactly an alumnus is.
An alumnus of a college, university, or other school is a former student who has either attended or graduated in some way from the institution.
The definition of an alumni is quite open ended.
Every college offers a plethora of courses for different duration. There could be the following possibilities:
Full time degree courses of three, four or five-year duration.
Short term certificate courses of one-year duration.
Short term certificate courses of less than a year duration.
Exchange program courses of a duration of a year or less.
Online certification programs.
There could be multiple combinations of these courses and hence, it becomes quite difficult to define an alumnus clearly. Different schools, colleges and universities lay down different sets of guidelines on who to call an alumnus. This decides whether or not they will be considered as members of the alumni association.
Now talking about membership in an alumni association. An institute might not always recognize only their graduates or alumni as members of the alumni association.
One other way to look at who can be members of the alumni association is based on the different relationship that an individual has had with the institute. Such as:
Who completed a course/degree
Who worked at the institution
Who are associated in a volunteer capacity
Friends/relatives of people who completed a course/degree
Who are under process to complete a course/degree
Let’s explore how various top universities define their alumni and who they consider as a member of their alumni association.
The Alumni Association constitution of MIT recognizes members as follows:
Alumni Members:
All people who have received a degree from the Institute;
All people who have been registered as students in a degree-granting program at the Institute for:
At least one full term in any undergraduate class which has already graduated;
For at least two full terms as graduate students.
Non-alumni members: These are some special members who aren’t alumni of the college but still are given special privileges and membership to the alumni association:
Honorary members:
Honorary Members shall be persons who, after nomination by an Alumni/ae member, are determined by the Board of Directors to have rendered outstanding service to the Association or the Institute and are then elected Honorary Members by the Board of Directors.
Post doctoral scholars(a type of associate member)
All persons who have held an MIT postdoctoral appointment of nine months or more are considered for the alumni association's membership.
Affiliate members
Affiliate members are considered for alumni membership association too in the following possible way:
At the discretion of the Association Board of Directors, students in an MIT special program that does not meet residency requirements for associate member status can be considered as MIT Alumni Association affiliates.
Determination shall be by groups and not by individual petition.
Alumni Association affiliates will have been participants in a special program with a formal connection with an MIT academic program recognized by an MIT department, the dean and/or the provost. The program must have enrolled students for at least one year.
The Alumni Association assumes that the existence of a formal MIT academic agreement constitutes adequate academic merit of the special program whose participants can be considered Alumni Association affiliates.
There are three types of association memberships at Stanford:
Alumni Membership: To be considered for the alumni membership, the person must have completed a minimum of three academic quarters as a matriculated, degree-seeking student, in a degree-granting program at Stanford.
Affiliate Membership: Open to all Stanford Affiliates including Stanford faculty, staff, interns, residents, fellows, certificate holders, postdocs, travel/study participants and Stanford parents.
Friend of Stanford Membership: Open to non-Stanford Affiliates. A Friend of Stanford membership has identical benefits as an Affiliate Membership, but different pricing.
Harvard University defines its membership as follows:
Alumni (AL) — An alumnus/alumna is defined as an individual who has received a degree from any school at Harvard University or Radcliffe College, including honorary degrees.
HAA Associate Members (AM) — An HAA Associate Member is defined as an individual who has not earned a degree from Harvard University or Radcliffe College but has enrolled in a degree program and completed at least one credit-granting course with a passing grade; or a non-degree individual who has completed a certificate program or programs of at least nine weeks cumulative duration. AM-qualifying programs must also have a qualified admissions process.
Program Participants (PT) — A Program Participant is defined as a non-degree individual who does not meet the University’s criteria for designation as HAA Associate Member, but whom a particular school will be able to designate as a Program Participant under its own defined criteria.
The criteria for being a part of the IIM Ahmedabad alumni association is as follows:
Any person who satisfies the eligibility criteria for alumni status laid down in the alumni status policy from time to time.
Any person who has participated in the programs conducted by the Institute alone or in collaboration with another Institute and in which certificates are not issued, provided further that the Director of the Institute certifies the participants of such programs as eligible for membership of the Association.
The Director and the Chief Administrative Officer of the Institute and the Dean (Alumni and External Relations) are automatically the members of the alumni association.
The Executive Committee may also elect from among present or former members of the permanent and the program faculty of the Institute, donor members of the Institute, and persons outside the Institute, who have rendered service with distinction to the cause of management science development, as honorary members of the Association.
The Association shall have the following categories of members:
Regular Member: An alumnus/alumna, who has received or receives a degree/diploma awarded by the Institute and has not paid any subscription for Life Membership, shall be a Regular Member.
Life Member: The following shall be a Life Member:
An alumnus/alumna, who has received a degree / diploma awarded by the Institute and paid the subscription as prescribed by the Board of Directors of Association for Life Membership.
A faculty, who has served the Institute for at least one year and has paid one-time subscription for Life Membership as prescribed by the Board of Directors of Association.
Honorary Member: The following shall be an honorary member: a. All the past Chairmen of Board of Governors and the Directors of the Institute; b. All retired faculty who have served the Institute for more than ten years, and c. An eminent person honored by the Institute.
The rules for enrollment of members to the association are as follows:
Alumni Members: All individuals who have been conferred a degree or diploma by IIT Madras and whose membership fees have been received by the IIT Madras Alumni Association, upon graduation will be automatically deemed to be a member of the Alumni Association.
Associate Members: Academic Staff, including visiting Academic Staff and the Registrar, who are not alumni of IIT Madras shall be entitled to apply for Registration of Membership in the Form prescribed by the Executive Committee of the Association.
Honorary Members: Eminent persons may be admitted to be Honorary Members, as may be considered by the Executive Committee of the Association, in consultation with the Patron. Ex-Patrons of IITMAA automatically become Honorary Members after they cease to be the Director of IIT Madras.
Conclusion
After going through bylaws of various colleges and universities bylaws, it can be observed that almost any person who is directly or indirectly associated with the institute can be a part of the alumni association.
It could be a student, worker, faculty, employee, family, friends, etc. Almost every Institute divides the members of the alumni association into three categories:
Alumni Members: This include alumni who received a degree or diploma from the university.
Associate Members: Students who dropped out of the college before the completion of the degree or enrolled in a course for at least one term etc. Associate members also include people who work for the institution rather than just enrolled in a degree program including faculty, staff, interns, residents, fellows, certificate holders, postdocs, Travel/Study participants and parents.
Honorary Members: They are the people who are admitted to the alumni association by the committee members or board of directors, it may also include people who served the association remarkably but were not a part of the association before.
When it comes to the power and rights distribution almost every institute gives more power to the people who are directly associated with the institute.
Alumni have the maximum rights to exercise in the association from electing board members to voting on any major issues. This is justified because alumni are the people who have lived in the institute and has a deep knowledge about the culture and norms of the institute, giving them more power will ensure the funds, donations, etc. are utilized in the places where it is needed the most. Also, it will ensure the chapter's clubs etc. that are run follows the culture of the Alma Mater itself.
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