Alumni are an invaluable/vital asset to an institution’s brand. When an individual soars high in his or her field or does remarkable things in society, people are often curious about the schools that person attended. Successful, influential people are often associated with their alma mater, and their alma mater becomes, in turn, increasingly associated with success, influence, and impact.

KDI School alumni are making invaluable contributions to their societies across the world. From Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and the Americas, their mark in the sphere of development and public policy is being made. With that, it feels good to be part of this amazing institution that strives to groom individuals into leaders and change agents in society.

That said, the ability of a given alumni to stay tight nit with their alma mater and keep engaging with their former-classmates years after school is healthy and paramount for any progressive community (or one that seeks to be labeled so). These binding relationships enhance knowledge sharing, innovation, peaceful co-existence and cross-cultural partnerships essential for effective business, commerce, trade and governance. KDI School takes pride in being a lighthouse for year-round alumni engagement. The School is known to create platforms and systems for its alumni to stay connected. For example, each country has an alumni representative that heads all the alumni in that specific country. All upcoming opportunities, special events or specific news from KDI School get disseminated through these heads, and with that it is quite easy for the school to reach out. Other connecting platforms are the knowledge sharing alumni forums that are held around the year and the recently launched KDIS Connect App.

As one-sided as it may seem, the planning and creation of these kind of systems and platforms are not just a KDI School administration only affair. Alumni are very much involved, especially in the making of forums and events for a given year. As such, at the beginning of every year, alumni representatives tend to meet with the school administration to brainstorm and plan.

This year, on the 27th and the 28th of February, the alumni representatives met online to discuss this year’s program at a meeting that was officiated by Ms. Mary Jang, the officer-in-charge of KDIS Alumni.

Among the subjects addressed was the KDIS Korean International Alumni Working Partner Group Program, a program that aims to enhance country to country partnerships in areas such as policy comparison analysis and each country’s market research, etc. The annual international alumni essay contest, potential alumni workshops, and the alumni information update mechanisms were discussed extensively.

Other than that, a number of the representatives fronted suggestions for the school to look into. These were, notifying the representatives about newly admitted students from their countries early enough for them to organize meetings and guide them through their new life at KDI School; supporting alumni in their small initiatives to market KDIS in their own countries by providing brochures or any other materials; providing feedback to the non-successful essay contest participants on where exactly they went wrong and how they could improve on in future essays, etc.

The discussions were vibrant and full of life, with each representative showing their enthusiasm and commitment towards the agreed upon events later on. The countries represented included Mexico, Thailand, Jamaica, Mongolia, Ghana, India, Egypt, Kenya, Vietnam, just to name but a few. With these plans in place, it is no doubt that the year is off to a great start.