Picture this: an alum from a top global business school — let’s call him Alex — checks his inbox and sees yet another email from his alma mater. It’s an event invitation for alumni living in New York. The only problem? Alex lives in London. He has already received three irrelevant messages this month, none of which reflect his location, career stage, or interests. That day, he sets up a spam filter for his own school.
In an age where personalization drives loyalty and AI powers connections, alumni engagement must evolve or risk becoming irrelevant. For years, business schools and universities have pursued a volume-based strategy: email campaigns, social media posts, and global reunions, all designed to “stay connected” with their alumni base. But in today’s competitive landscape, where top talent is inundated with digital noise, this kind of mass approach no longer works.
While American universities often benefit from a deep-rooted sense of belonging — where attending a school becomes a lifelong identity — this is far less the case internationally. In Europe, Asia, and Latin America, alumni engagement often lacks that cultural stickiness. Loyalty must be earned through ongoing relevance, value, and personalized attention.
Alumni engagement needs to mature and align with a higher standard of thoughtful, human-centered outreach — highly personalized, aspirational, and intentionally relevant.
FROM MASS COMMUNICATION TO GENUINE EXPERIENCE
Institutions need to stop thinking of alumni as a database and start seeing them as a discerning community of high-potential individuals with evolving needs.
1. Deep Data Over Demographics: Knowing where an alum lives or works isn’t enough. Schools must invest in 360-degree profiles: professional trajectory, industry shifts, board involvement, interests, and values. This isn’t surveillance — it’s service. With better data, engagement becomes aligned with ambition.
Case in Point: INSEAD. INSEAD implemented Salesforce Education Cloud to map alumni touchpoints — from academic performance to career updates — creating micro-segments for truly tailored outreach. This transformed its engagement model from reactive to proactive, boosting participation and affinity.
2. Curation Beats Coverage: Generic newsletters and broad event invitations often go unread. Instead, schools should curate experiences for specific alumni segments: young founders, senior executives, impact investors, public leaders. Each group values different things and expects relevancy.
Case in Point: Stanford GSB. Stanford’s Lifelong Learning platform delivers AIcurated content based on alumni’s professional fields and interests, from micro-courses to faculty-led webinars. Within a year, engagement rose by 38%, and alumni satisfaction scores climbed sharply.
3. AspirationDriven Journeys: Alumni do not just want services. They want transformation. Offerings should feel like the next chapter in a success story.
Case in Point: ESADE Business School. ESADE created the “Mentors Circle,” offering alumni executive coaching, board placement, and private investment briefings. This group, carefully cultivated through data insights, now accounts for a substantial portion of its donor leadership pipeline.
4. AI as One Tool in a Larger Toolbox: AI and automation are powerful, but they are only one tool in a much larger toolbox. AI can assist by surfacing insights, identifying patterns, and helping teams prioritize outreach. It can enable “mass intimacy,” allowing thousands of alumni to feel as though the school understands them individually. Yet AI will never replace the essential human work alumni teams do every day — listening, building trust, and creating personal connections that no algorithm can replicate.
Justfind is one such tool changing the landscape. It continuously syncs an institution’s alumni directory with LinkedIn and delivers monthly strategic insights — such as career changes, relocations, and signals that alumni are exploring new opportunities.
“Its AI allows us to deliver the right message to the right alum at the right moment in their career,” says Ilan Benhaim, President of NEOMA Alumni. “For example, by identifying those actively exploring new opportunities so we can reach out when it matters most.”
LIFELONG LEARNING AS A SHARED COMMITMENT
Alumni engagement does not end with events or newsletters. Schools that truly value their alumni invest in their growth long after graduation. INSEAD’s Lifelong Learning Hub, Wharton’s Lifelong Learning series, and Stanford’s curated modules are excellent examples.
At Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, this commitment is embodied in the Career Momentum program, which follows and supports alumni for many years after they graduate — sometimes almost a decade later. This sustained relationship signals that education is not a one-off experience but a lasting partnership that evolves as alumni take on new challenges and opportunities.
These initiatives do more than build skills. They deepen alumni affinity and directly support stronger rankings, improved value-for-money scores, and higher “aims achieved” ratings in surveys. When alumni feel their school continues to invest in them, they are far more likely to advocate for the program, recruit fellow graduates, and give back.
LET ALUMNI INFLUENCE ENROLLMENT, TOO
Alumni voices carry weight at the front door of the institution. Alumni who share their experience with prospective students offer a level of authenticity that no marketing campaign can replicate.
Case in Point: Cambridge Judge Business School. Cambridge Judge has leveraged The Ambassador Platform for its Executive MBA program to connect alumni directly with prospective candidates. Through this peer-to-peer channel, prospective students gain candid insights, while alumni extend their influence and pride in the program.
Within the first year, 14% of EMBA applicants reported that interaction with alumni ambassadors significantly influenced their application decision, contributing to one of the program’s largest cohorts to date.
THE FUTURE IS HUMAN, WITH AI AS SUPPORT
If business schools want to maintain relevance and inspire lifelong loyalty, they must move away from the idea that more communication equals more connection. Instead, the winning strategy is fewer but more meaningful interactions, with AI assisting rather than replacing the human touch.
Build data-powered personalization. Design aspirational journeys. Choose the right channels. Leverage the alumni voice. Treat every alum like a partner whose loyalty is earned, not assumed.
Most importantly, recognize that alumni engagement is not a siloed function. It is a catalyst. When done well, alumni engagement strengthens the entire institution. It feeds career services by unlocking talent pipelines and employer partnerships. It fuels lifelong learning, as alumni return for credentials, content, and coaching. It elevates programs, as alumni become adjunct faculty, mentors, and curriculum advisors. It grows the brand through alumni who advocate, donate, and build influence in key markets.
Alumni are not a brand. They are the living heart of the school. Their actions, affiliations, and achievements shape public perception far more than any campaign or ranking ever will.
Treat them accordingly. Not just as graduates, but as lifelong ambassadors, collaborators, and essential partners in the school’s evolution.
Because in the end, whether you are building a career, a program, or a global network, success comes down to how you make people feel and what they proudly choose to carry with them.
Patti Brown is Associate Dean MBA & Executive Degree Programs University of Oxford Said Business School. Andre Guerassimov is co-founder and CEO of Justfind, which enables companies and alumni associations to keep their contact database constantly updated. Benjamin Stevenin is former director of business school solutions and partnerships at Times Higher Education.
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