ETH Alumni Association integrated into ETH Zurich
As per 1 January 2024, a years’-long project of incorporating the ETH Alumni Association with the ETH Zurich has finally been completed. The following outlines the new responsible entities, new platforms and goals the Board has planned for the future of the Alumni Association and the newly founded Alumni Engagement.
A New Year, A New Chapter
Following the decision of the board to integrate ETH Alumni in the structure of ETH Zurich, aiming to create a more robust and unified entity, the first steps of integration of this transformation process has formally been implemented as per 1 January 2024. The newly built unit "Alumni Engagement” will be led by Viktoria Ivarsson, who is integrated in the organisation of the "Office of the President”. As a result of the integration in the ETH team, ETH Alumni will benefit from numerous synergies, e.g. in communication and Data Management. Thus, the positions of both organisations will be strengthened in the mid- and long-term. The alignment further supports the mission of ETH Alumni to create a lifelong bond between the ETH and the Alums and to globally position ETH as one of the leading academic institutions.
"The cornerstones for a strong ETH Alumni are good services and offers, attractive events and a knowledge platform based on sophisticated technology in order to create significant added value to its members in fields of research and development, as well as in daily projects”, Jeannine Pilloud, President of the ETH Alumni Association, outlined at the Delegate’s Assembly in mid-November in Zurich. Jeannine is convinced, “that only based on attractive offers, the strategic goal to double its membership, can be reached”. In the context of the transformation process, specifically the offer in the field of “Events” must be strengthened. In the future, events of ETH Alumni will be better coordinated with ETH Zurich and focus on added value for all participants, as Hana Disch, member of the ETH Alumni Board, explained at the Delegate’s Assembly. Hana also started a requirement assessment that is currently analysed by the team responsible for the process
Our Newest Platform: The ETH Alumni Knowledge Network
With the launch of the knowledge platform “ETH Alumni Knowledge Network", developed by the company Starmind as a mandate of ETH, ETH Alumni made another important step in the implementation of the key projects as an important part of the transformation process. Our Knowledge Network is the first AI-based Knowledge Platform for students worldwide in the academic field. In the Knowledge Platform, questions can be raised anonymous and will be answered by top experts following the necessary research and according to the requirements of the request. The platform was officially launched on 28 November 2023; we will communicate the first results based on the feedbacks of users within the next few months. We would like to extend our thanks to Camilo Lemos, Community Strategist of the ETH Alumni and project leader of the Knowledge Platform, for the great effort and his excellent work in this ambitious project.
Another important pillar in the transformation process and the strategic development of the ETH Alumni is to increase the number of paying members and subscription revenue. The currently stagnating number of members should be significantly increased in the next few years. Our transformation team will make a great effort with adequate measures to fulfill this ambitious goal. The increase of members will also have a positive economical effect and creates furthermore growth potential for the membership organisations.