Late last year we asked you to complete the Barometer of Alumni Sentiment survey to tell us what you want from your alumni program. We are extremely grateful that over 1500 alumni took the opportunity to shape the future of the alumni program.
Now that we’ve reviewed the results of the survey, we wanted to share those with you, along with how we intend to respond to this feedback – including some of the programs we have already kicked off.
Of the overall findings of the survey, a few things stood out for us.
There was an overall improvement in alumni sentiment compared with the last time we did this survey in 2015. We are extremely happy to know that the changes we implemented after the previous survey made a difference. It is our intention to continue this trend by introducing and maintaining programs that provide tangible benefits to you.
One of the biggest changes was a 15% jump in the number of alumni who are interested in being involved with the University. If this is you, we have opportunities for you to get involved no matter where you’re located. Some of the programs that may interest you are:
- 51% of respondents said mentoring was their top preference for getting involved. Online mentoring for students – share your career experiences via quick and easy online meetings.
- 48% of respondents said they wanted to share their experience or expertise. The 30 Minutes a Month micro-volunteering program lets you complete small tasks that make a big difference to our students.
- 35% of respondents said they wanted to serve in an advisory capacity. The International Alumni Ambassadors program lets you help us from anywhere in the world.
You also told us that the things you are most interested in include library access, professional development and lifelong learning support, and opportunities to help students. We therefore offer the following carefully selected opportunities to use our resources to build your career and follow your interests.
- The most highly rated benefit requested is Free access to electronic databases. Sign up so you can follow industry journals and keep up-to-date with the latest research in your field. If you’re near a campus, you can also borrow books from our academic reference library.
- The next most popular benefit requested was discounted access to study. Check out the Professional Development short courses through our Centre for Professional Development. There are some free and discounted courses for alumni. As a dual sector university, we also offer subsidised vocational training, and seamless recognition for prior learning for eligible students.
- Another popular request was support for personal development and lifelong learning. The CQUniCares Alumni Development Grant program offers financial support to participate in a personal or professional development activity that will help you make a difference in your career or community.
We also learned that you wanted to hear from us a little more often, so we’re going to be adding in a couple more editions of the Mortar Board E-news, and changing up how we communicate our discipline specific news. Please consider joining our Facebook or LinkedIn Group to hear about the latest news first. As always, send us your requests, feedback, and ideas for how we can continue to offer relevant opportunities to support your life goals.
Thank you to everyone who did the survey – we look forward to hearing from you as we continue to build your alumni program.
