The Study of Alumni: Professional Success, Commitment to the University, andthe Role of the Academic Learning Environment

textabstractModern universities need to survive in a competitive knowledge-driven economy. Recent societal developments such as rapid technological growth and cultural diversification have an impact on the demands of employers concerning graduates’ knowledge and competencies and, therefore, on programs at universities. Up-to-date discipline-specific knowledge, modern technological skills, and multi-cultural interpersonal skills may be important competencies for today’s (junior) employees. To remain able to prepare their students for these changing labour market demands, universities need information about the strengths and weaknesses of their curricula in relation to the field of work. This information provides universities with opportunities to improve these curricula. The quality of curricula determines of course what students learn in terms of knowledge and competencies and how well they learn. To provide universities with the necessary information regarding the labour market, alumni may play an important role since they have a unique perspective regarding the contribution of education to their professional lives. Therefore, studying alumni experiences in the workplace may provide universities with information about the relationship between the alumni’s professional careers, the quality of education, and students’ learning. However, the willingness to contribute to alumni research may depend on their commitment to the alma mater. The issue of alumni commitment has become important in the United States as well as in Europe. However, studies on the determinants of alumni commitment are scarce and are almost exclusively conducted by US researchers. Since the funding of US higher education is to some extent dependent on private sources, these studies focus exclusively on alumni donations as an indicator of their commitment to the university