We have engaged Gilles Savary, the head of the German Chapter of the Alumni Association of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (https://www.epflalumni.ch) in a short conversation to gather his insights on structuring a professional Alumni association.
We are very thankful for his time and contribution.
The EPFL association counts over 30.000 members, distributed all over the world and is structured around geographical Chapters, orbiting around a central office in Lausanne, supported and funded by the school.
Q: As a small Alumni reality, we are facing the question of how to deal with the transition of the students at the end of their curriculum into the Alumni organisation. How does the EPFL Alumni association recruit its members?
A: The existence of the Alumni association and the possibility to join it are communicated by the school itself to the students, shortly before their graduation (either bachelor, master or doctoral level). One of the key ingredients of this process is providing the soon-to-be Alumni with a personal alumni email (@alumni.epfl.ch), which can be linked to any existing email provider. This also gives access to an alumni directory where it is possible to update contact information and CV.
Q: Keeping alive the bonds of friendship and camaraderie is one of the aims of most Alumni groups. How does the EPFL Alumni achieve this goal?
A: The EPFL Alumni, given the broad spatial distribution of its members, relies on geographical chapters. They cover different regions and are of heterogeneous sizes. For example, in Switzerland, where the highest concentration of Alumni is present, there are multiple chapters, whereas in Germany, we have one chapter covering the entire country. There are a few hundred EPFL laureates in Germany at the moment.
The key to keep a chapter alive is to organise with a regular periodicity some events. In Germany, given the large geographical extension of the chapter, we organise a a few events per year (3-4) in major cities, rotating. This way, we manage to get together 10-20 people for each event, typically different people for different events. Events can include visits to companies, factories or cultural and scientific institutions.
We also joined forces with the alumni chapter from the MIT, organising common events.
Q: How is the EPFL Alumni association organised at the administrative level? How do you fund your activities?
A: The EPFL Alumni has recently received institutional support from the school: that is, a small administrative staff which coordinates the activities of the various chapters and keeps up to date the databases is paid by the EPFL itself. A proper database of the member, keeping track of updated locations and emails is the key to the success of any Alumni organisation. For us, all this work is done in Lausanne, and the individual chapters receive a list of the active members in their jurisdictions.
