How Do Universities Contact their Alumni? Practices of the Best Universities in the World University Rankings

In recent years, the quality of the services provided by higher education institutions has been intensively debated both by researchers and policy makers. Undoubtedly, a strong and lifelong relationship between alumni and their alma mater is one of the main indicators of the quality of higher education institutions. This study investigates the tools and methods used by the best universities in the world in order to create and develop a lifelong relationship with their alumni. The survey used in the study asked about the channels used to contact with alumni, the services provided to alumni by the universities and the ways used by the alumni to contribute to their universities. This survey was sent to the best two hundred universities in the world according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2016-2017 in order to find out best practices. The main contribution of the present study is to explain the fundamental elements of best practices with regard to the relations between alumni and universities and to present policy proposals which can be implemented in order to improve these relations.