Alumni Relations in Chinese HEIs: Case Studies of Three Major Universities

Good alumni relations are key to universities and colleges winning support from their graduates. With reference to social capital theory, an important problem in establishing strong alumni relations is how to turn alumni resources, an important university social network, into productive, public, and abundant capital. Based on the established alumni relation framework, the authors have investigated three major universities in China by means of interview so as to source factors that affect their social capital transformations. The three dimensions of cognition, relationship, and structure are the focus of this paper. The authors probe into solutions as follows: Firstly, establishing clear and appropriate values between institutions, alumni, and other stakeholders, and striving to reach the greatest degree of consensus possible; secondly, forming a partnership to meet needs in general based on close personal relations; thirdly, making sure that there are enough functional organizations, venues and channels to establish and maintain relationships with alumni in a holistic and well structured way.