“There was no one else who understood how great this crazy little school in the desert was, so they came back together to meet with these other global nomads.”

Mike Lambert, headmaster of Dubai College, is reflecting on early iterations of the Dubai College Annual Alumni Reunion.

The event, which has been held in London since the 1980s, offers alumni the chance to reminisce about their education experience - something they all felt they needed to retain the connection to their international school.  

“Staff and students would tell tales of their school and nobody could relate,” says Lambert. “It started almost like a survivors’ group. Nobody could quite believe what they were saying.”  

While Lambert’s use of the survivors’ group analogy is meant to be taken with a pinch of salt, there is clearly a sense of shared experience that comes with studying at an international school, especially for those who may have relocated in the process.

On the sidelines

Yet for many years, such networks were only ever created by the former pupils themselves, with the school rarely becoming involved.

“For probably the first 35 years, it was alumni driven and led. We, as the school, got invited as guests,” explains Lambert.

This lack of school-led engagement in alumni activities may sound surprising but, until very recently, this was pretty much standard practice across the sector.

For example, at Aiglon College in Switzerland, one of the world’s most exclusive boarding schools, Alexander Demishin, alumni relations officer, admits that things were decidedly light touch and low tech.

“The network was started by Bibi Parsons, the wife of the former headmaster of the school,” he says.

“She was the first one to start keeping records of alumni phone numbers, emails and addresses back in the 1990s. We still have some of her handwritten records in our school archives.”

It’s a similar tale at St Maur’s International School in Japan, one of the world’s oldest international settings. “The school was founded in 1872, which was about 13 years after Yokohama opened its borders,” explains Christina Fürstenau, who looks after the alumni network. 

“I [used to] get emails from alumni who asked me, ‘Do you know where this person lives? We used to be best friends in 5th grade’. A lot of alumni from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s often contacted us.”

With no real system in place, though, there was little to help them so, over time, organic networks sprang up.

“There were lots of informal groups who made their own databases. Then we had some staff members who took over and used to write it down in little journals and on pieces of paper.”

Taking the initiative 

These ad-hoc arrangements towards alumni networks worked fine for many years but, as international schools matured, many did not realise they needed to take a more proactive approach.

But now there has been a sea change in how many schools are keeping in touch with former students as they come to recognise the numerous benefits that an engaged alumni base can provide.

“A growing number of international schools of all types recognise the importance of their alumni for a range of reasons,” says Nalini Cook, head of global research at ISC Research.

Former students can help with everything from admissions to offering support to current pupils on higher education pathways, she says: “As a result, more international schools are investing time and resources into their alumni engagement.” 

Aiglon College’s experience underlines this. Where, before, the school had an informal pen-and-paper system, it now has its own dedicated in-house team to run its alumni network.

“We are a team of three people, each taking a different side of the programme,” says Demishin. “One leads the mentorship and takes care of the database, one leads the events side of the office and our director leads the philanthropic efforts.”

Meanwhile, Fürstenau says her school has moved to replace the informal arrangements run by former pupils so it can bring more people together and offer greater clarity in alumni work.

“We saw so many unofficial things; different classes getting together and gathering data, and an unofficial Facebook group,” she says.

“We thought, ‘we have to have our own official Facebook group and a way to manage it at school’.”

Laura Tyson, who manages the alumni at Kellett School, Hong Kong, tells a similar tale: “We’ve had informal networks since the school was founded in 1976,” she says.

“We formalised our network when I started working here in 2018. We gave them a name, Old Kellettonians, or OKs for short, and launched a website and newsletter.”

‘Their success is our success’

Of course, stepping in to create your own group could look a little like taking over - but Fürstenau says she made sure she was proactive in engaging those already interested in an alumni network to help bridge this gap.

“I wanted to make sure that our school’s alumni know that I’m interested in their stories and started engaging with them through social media,” she explains.

“For example, in the beginning, I sent out surveys on Facebook asking alumni what kind of content they would like to see in the private alumni Facebook group. As we have quite a high number of staff alumni, I met with them and asked them what kind of events they would like to attend or communications they would like to receive as an alumna/alumnus.”

Tyson says she was not too concerned about infringing on what had gone before as she felt confident that, by enhancing what the alumni were already running themselves, the school’s efforts would be well received.

“We were really just formalising the network with a name, website and newsletter, so I wasn’t worried about stepping on toes as we were giving people more than they had got previously.”

‘It started almost like a survivors’ group. Nobody could quite believe what staff and students were saying’

As noted, some of this involved simply creating Facebook groups and launching newsletters. But managing a busy alumni network sometimes requires dedicated tools and Lambert says this was the case for Dubai College, where a platform called Graduway is now a dedicated alumni portal.

“We get more and more alumni to sign up every year. We get our outgoing Year 13 to log on to it so that we don’t lose them. It’s effectively like a social network,” he adds.

And this sort of work is not just the preserve of long-established institutions - new schools are just as keen to start their alumni networks, as Alison Roberts, head of marketing and admissions at Swiss International Scientific School in Dubai, makes clear.

“As a relatively new school, our focus on alumni is as important as our focus on our current students,” she says.

“We are keen to see how they develop and succeed. They are the next generation of ‘global citizens’ and their success is our success.”

To this end, Roberts says they already have plans for events to be held to help students reconnect and remain in touch with the school.

All told, it’s clear that international schools are waking up to the power of an engaged and active alumni network. Perhaps the only surprise is why it took so long, given the array of benefits it can provide.

Tangible benefits

As the self-starting groups attest, a big attraction is simply for old pupils to keep in touch and reminisce about the school.

“There are few things more inspiring than hearing someone who went to your school who has achieved in their chosen field,” says Nicholas Hammond, headmaster of the British School of Paris.

Meanwhile, at St Maur’s, being able to tap into some of its sizeable history has helped paint a picture of what school life was like more than 80 years ago, says Fürstenau: “We have a member of staff who is writing a book on the foundation [of the school].

“Because we have this big alumni network, we were able to email them and ask them to tell us their story of what it was like to be a student back in the day. The oldest alumnus we reached attended St Maur’s in the 1940s.”

Beyond this, though, there are more tangible benefits in the here and now that come from having engaged alumni.

For example, keeping in contact with past pupils can help make them more likely to recommend the school to others - something that Demishin says results in numerous admissions annually.

“Alumni recommendations provide a great number of applicants to the school each year,” he says.

“By staying connected with past pupils and updating them on the progress of the school, they then share their memories and stories that bring new families.”

Fürstenau paints a similar picture: “Many of our students - about 12 per cent - are related to our alumni, which shows the great impact of nurturing relationships with our alumni community.

“Being the oldest international school in Asia (and third oldest in the world), in a historic area of Yokohama, we find that a high number of applicants tell us that they know our school through word of mouth.”

Tyson also sees her former pupils as a valuable asset when it comes to marketing Kellett to prospective families - one that goes far beyond the reach of any advertising budget.

“An alumnus for any school is an advocate and an advert,” she adds. “No affordable advertising could mirror their contribution to raising our profile and encouraging those relocating to Hong Kong to apply.”

The importance of transitional care 

Building on this and a well-engaged alumni network can also mean there is more support for existing pupils, especially as they embark on the next step of their education at university.

Chris Long, principal at the English International College in Marbella, says this is something that has proved invaluable in helping students to stay the university course.

“One of the things that has alarmed me in the past few years has been the university dropout rate,” says Long.

“We send our students off with fantastic results but I think we’re missing part of the transitional care if we don’t follow through to university.”

‘An alumnus is an advocate and an advert. No affordable advertising could mirror their contribution to raising our profile’

Long explains how the pandemic created an additional barrier between school and university, with visits restricted and the opportunity to leave campus and gain life experience generally reduced to a minimum.

“Students were more naive and just weren’t as well prepared,” he says. “A more extensive and creative use of the alumni was a way to fill in some of the gaps.

“Now, when we go and visit universities, we have alumni guide us around, which has been lovely. I think having a real strong profile of the alumni…it just gives students those aspirations.”

Tyson also stresses the importance of having former students on the ground as Year 13s begin their university journey. “Often, our leavers are moving to a country they are not overly familiar with,” she says.

“It helps to be in contact with someone who has a shared experience of Kellett School, of Hong Kong and moving overseas for university.”

Similarly, former students in Lambert’s network are now able to set a “status” on the online platform they use, which lets others know where they are living or studying and if they are happy to offer advice or meet up.

As well as bringing in new students and helping existing ones, an engaged alumni network can also serve as a valuable recruitment tool for teachers, says Fürstenau.

“We started a LinkedIn group, which is more about professional opportunities,” she explains.

“There, I would post, for example, ‘We’re looking for a new English teacher’ to make sure our alumni are the first ones getting this kind of news. It’s amazing. We have about 10 per cent of staff members who are alumni themselves.”

Tyson, too, says they have had a few teachers come back to work at the school - and that interns are often recent school-leavers as well, who see notes about jobs on alumni networks: “They are great at helping us keep our social media appealing to younger generations,” she adds.

Show me the money 

And just as in the university world, alumni are a good potential source of revenue for a school’s philanthropic efforts.

While there are few reports of science labs bearing the name of a former head boy or girl, many schools have seen bursary funds bolstered by their network.

Fürstenau explains that her school runs an annual Christmas fundraiser, where alumni can donate towards specific areas, such as new musical instruments for students or building new recreation areas.

“Last academic year, we also started a new fundraising campaign to renew our auditorium, which is mainly targeted at our alumni audience,” she adds.

Tyson says Kellett does something similar - and notes that if set up correctly, it can offer financial benefits to alumni, too, making the idea of donating all the more appealing.

“We have a charitable entity in the US through which donations can be channelled and the tax benefits realised,” she says. “We are establishing a similar entity in the UK, where the bulk of our alumni settle.”

Lambert’s school, meanwhile, has gone even further with alumni helping to fund the building of two schools in remote regions - with the second project alone seeking to generate $170,000 (£149,000).

“We built one school in Nepal and we’re just about to start building a second school,” he says.

‘There are few things more inspiring than hearing someone who went to your school who has achieved in their chosen field’

Working alongside United World Schools, the project will allow children in remote locations the chance of a better education, he explains. It will also form the base for the school’s Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions.

“We wanted to create a place where our alumni, parents and students could go and visit, and see the benefits of their philanthropy. The alumni love it.”

Ultimately, through a mix of all these types of benefits, it is clear the international school community is keen to stay connected long after exam results are revealed and final goodbyes are said.

For Fürstenau, the work continues apace, as this November will see alumni from around the world attend a special 150th anniversary celebration of the school’s founding - one she says underlines why an engaged alumni network should now be part and parcel of a thriving international school.

“Our main focus is to continuously give back to our alumni in many different ways to make sure they know that they are highly valued members of our community,” she adds.

Simon Lock is digital editor at Tes