Abstract
A university’s alumnus grouping is one of its most valuable assets in terms of its
potential financial, strategic and social contribution towards the credibility and longevity
of the institution. The goodwill and support of a primary stakeholder grouping such as
the alumni is crucial to the aspirations of a Higher Education institution wanting to
prosper in a fast-changing and highly competitive market. Alumni members have the
capacity to assist in strategically positioning a tertiary institution as a market leader in
the South African Higher Education Sector (SAHES) by means of representation on the
institutional council and their involvement in networking, lifelong learning, career
services, mentoring, fundraising and community development activities. In light of the
restructuring and transformation that this sector has undergone since 1994, building and
maintaining valuable relationships with alumni stakeholders of tertiary institutions in
South Africa has become a new and more difficult challenge.
The integrated network approach of relationship management could give an institution
the opportunity to create a win-win situation for all stakeholders involved. Information
technology has had a significant impact on the power structure and relationship
between organisations and their publics, stakeholders and the media. It has become
extremely difficult for organisations to define and segment these audiences as, for
example, Internet audiences are widely spread across geographical, cultural, and
economic boundaries. This makes the packaging and dissemination of information a
much more challenging task, as information needs to be generic enough to be
commonly understood, but should also be personalised in such a way that it still
addresses the different audience segmentations effectively. However, the identification
and profiling of target audiences is critical for successful information dissemination, as
this knowledge will guide the information managers within organisations in compiling
relevant (to the target audiences) content and packaging the information in a way that is
most suitable to the needs and resources of the targeted group.
At the core of developing an alumni network is a secure database with an interactive
Web-based platform allowing the alumni management teams and members to
disseminate and share relevant information freely. According to a research project (the
first phase of a longitudinal study) about disseminating information to UJ alumni, 98,2%
of the respondents indicated that they wanted to have contact with the UJ Alumni
Relations Office (Barnard, Rensleigh & Niemann, 2005). The majority of respondents,
86,7%, indicated that they preferred to receive the information via electronic mail or
from the website. The research findings indicated that the UJ alumni stakeholder group
is part of a privileged section of the South African population in the global and national
digital divide. Thus, the alumni management of UJ had the opportunity to explore and
use the information-sharing options offered by online and digital technologies.
This research project forms the second phase of the ongoing research project in an
attempt to discard the “one-size-fits-all” notion with regard to information sharing with
the alumni stakeholders of tertiary institutions in South Africa. The aim of this research
project is to determine the extent to which an online community portal could manage the
information needs of alumni stakeholders in the SAHES, using the alumni of the
University of Johannesburg as a case study. Establishing an online (virtual) community
Web portal for UJ alumni will support a customised approach in terms of information
content, dissemination, context and commerce. An online community environment will
offer alumni opportunities to re-establish contact with peers and nurture relationships
with one another through frequent social interaction (chat). Such a facility would allow
and encourage conversations that are of value to all stakeholders, as these
communities can exist beyond the boundaries of location and time. They foster not only
the potential to promote business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C),
but also consumer-to-consumer (C2C) interaction and could even exploit the
possibilities of human-resource placements.
The research consisted of an extensive literature review followed by a quantitative
empirical survey and a qualitative discussion forum. The purpose of the literature review
was to establish a theoretical framework in order to lay a solid foundation from which
the empirical research was conducted. The different components of the research
problem were discussed as well as possible variables that could influence the research
problem. The restructuring of the South African Higher Education Sector was
investigated, with specific focus on the University of Johannesburg and its alumni
stakeholder group, taking an in-depth look into the value that an alumni stakeholder
group holds for an institution. The management of alumni information needs was
discussed, using Web-technology as focal point. Online community portals were
defined, emphasising the benefits that this information tool could have for Higher
Education alumni.
As part of the quantitative study, an empirical survey was conducted in April 2006
among the alumni of the University of Johannesburg to determine their information
needs concerning an online community portal, and the content required of such an
online community model. A total number of 10 380 questionnaires was distributed to
graduates of the University of Johannesburg at the Autumn Graduation ceremonies.
The questionnaire consisted of four sections, namely Section A: Biographical
Information, Section B: Online Activities, Section C: Alumni Information Services and
Section D: Alumni Community Needs. In total, 1 703 questionnaires were completed
and returned by these graduates to the UJ Alumni Relations Office. In addition, a
qualitative discussion forum was conducted among 35 alumni management
representatives from fourteen SAHES institutions during August 2006. The
representatives indicated how information was disseminated electronically to alumni
target audiences and their opinions towards alumni online community portals were
tested.
The research results indicated that an online community portal, could manage, to a
great extent, the information needs of alumni in the South African Higher Education
Sector (UJ alumni case study). Consequently, a prototype was proposed for an online
community portal for SAHES alumni that would have a significant impact on the
information and communication methods used to build alumni networks, for the benefit
of both the alumni stakeholders and the Higher Education institutions in South Africa.
Although the alumni of the University of Johannesburg served as a case study for this
research project, the proposed prototype could be tailored to the needs of other alumni
organisations throughout the South African Higher Education Sector.
In terms of inter-institutional collaboration, this research project offers an opportunity to
liaise and share information with other alumni organisations of the SAHES. This could
result in successfully identifying a best practice model for managing the information
needs of alumni stakeholder groups of tertiary institutions in developing countries, which
is significantly different from the philanthropic approach to these stakeholder groups in
first world countries. As a result, the employment sector of Higher Education institutions
in South Africa could gain from the research outcomes, as the proposed prototype will
offer an ICT and Web-based solution which could be applied for the mutual benefit of
the relevant stakeholder groups and the institutions.
Prof. Chris Rensleigh