Alumni

What’s an alumni network?

Alumni can build professional and business connections, organise reunions, and serve as shining examples of the kind of graduates that Stellenbosch University produces. It’s very useful for those who are genuinely interested in the lives of their old classmates and former residence mates and like to see what they’re up to. Become part of our worldwide Alumni Network MATIESCONNECT by visiting www.matiesconnect.com or downloading the MatiesConnect App on your mobile device. Sign up in less than two minutes by importing your existing LinkedIn or Facebook profile or email account. You can then find connections through Stellenbosch University’s global community. Reminisce with fellow graduates, see what they have been up to and stay in touch. Moreover, you can introduce, employ and offer to act as a mentor to our graduating students and fellow Maties. Furthermore, you can advance your career through professional networking and leverage your professional network to get introduced to people you should know.

How can I get involved?

Our Matie Alumni Clubs and Hubs groups are a great way to get involved with your alma mater. These groups are headed up by our passionate alumni volunteers globally. How can I benefit? Studying at university can be quite a financial investment and we all know it’s hard work.

So why would you expect to leave all of that behind after graduation?

Alumni networks provide the long-term value to an educational institution by giving alumni the chance to stay in contact and continue to learn from each other long after they have left university. Support networks are hard to come by out there in the world and having a ready-made one full of people with shared experiences just waiting to connect is a massive bonus that few can afford to turn down. What’s more – our alumni engagement programmes aim to put alumni at the centre of a connected global network of people and experiences. Everything that we do revolves around connect our people, past and present, to more opportunities, more knowledge, more resources, and more of the people they would like to know for the future. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship, encouraging alumni to continue to build on the legacy that they created at Stellenbosch University and beyond while helping us to involve alumni in the continued sustainability of this institution.

Alumni Engagement

Your graduation is a momentous occasion and marks the beginning of your continued relationship with your alma mater. As an alumnus of Stellenbosch University, you are our most valuable stakeholder and ambassador. You form part of a global community of more than 200 000 graduates. Your involvement with us ensures that you are kept abreast of developments at SU, that you receive a range of opportunities to remain connected to other alumni and that your degree and alma mater remain relevant.

You could become a hub coordinator

Creating a hub in your area is an excellent way of expanding your “connectedness” to other alumni. As a hub coordinator or hub committee member, your key responsibility would be to:

• Serve as the primary communicator between the local alumni and the Alumni Relations team;
• Help with recruitment of additional volunteers; Make a collective annual gift to SU;
• Reach out to local alumni; asking them to partake in local alumni events and in the annual giving programme; and
• Coordinate alumni events

The Alumni Relations team can assist you in these duties:

• Identifying and approaching active alumni in regions and countries.
• Setting up a local MatiesConnect group, through which the hub can communicate.
• Notifying all alumni in the region of the hub, and:
• Provide them with the coordinators contact details; and
• Invite them to join the local LinkedIn group

Assisting in coordinating local events by:

• Sending out invitations to alumni in the region;
• Managing RSVPs;
• Providing relevant SU marketing material and collateral, including copies of Matieland, etc.

Interested in starting an alumni-hub?

Click here for our Alumni Hub Guidelines. Contact: e-mail: alumni@sun.ac.za, or tel: +27 21 808 9265