Autumn is here in Edinburgh and the 2020/21 academic year is underway. Our student numbers across undergraduate, MSc, MBA and PhDs remain robust, which is great news. Staff in the School are working hard to adapt to constantly changing circumstances and to continue to provide the best experience to all students, wherever they are based. Our focus on hybrid teaching offers students a flexible blend of pre-recorded and live digital learning accessed online complemented by some in-person teaching on campus, where we can safely do so.
Digital Aluminate
Many of you will be familiar with our annual printed Aluminate magazine. With the move to a digital version, we’ll now be bringing you a special feature each month, via our regular newsletter. This will ensure the content is both relevant and timely, combining great stories of alumni success, insights from the network plus research findings from the Business School. The first feature is now live with three of our alumni in senior positions offering advice for all those negotiating the current job market.
All three alumni have been part of our ‘In Discussion’ series which we launched in June, with CEO of Unilever, Alan Jope (BCom 1985) as our first speaker. These virtual events have proved really popular, attracting a truly international audience. Register now to hear insights from a wide range of experienced alumni at events scheduled from now until Spring 2021.
Supporting the Student Experience
With so much expertise and experience within the alumni network, we are always looking at ways in which we can integrate this industry knowledge into our academic programmes and professional skills development.
To formalise this support, we have created a new Professional Development Advisory Working Group featuring six senior alumni, aligned to the School’s six academic subject groups, as well as six Industry Insight Groups, which will be more student-facing and cross-programme, ensuring our students are as prepared as possible for the every changing world of work.
We have also expanded our mentoring programme for our undergraduates who are participating in the Edinburgh Award. In the ‘Developing Students for their Future’ article published back in January 2020, we mentioned we wanted to invite alumni mentors from a wide range of countries. Little did we know at that stage that the changing situation would mean that all such activity would need to be virtual, which in turn has allowed us to engage more mentors than ever from all around the world. We are confident that this will be a really positive experience for our students, whether they are based in Edinburgh or currently in their home countries.
Supporting the Class of 2020
Of course, this year is a particularly challenging time for our Class of 2020, both our undergraduates who finished in the summer, and our postgraduates who have just completed their studies. We are therefore doing all we can to provide additional support in terms of facilitating connections for them from the alumni network. Please connect with our Alumni Team on LinkedIn to ensure you see such support requests and reach out if you are in a position to help.
To get involved in the alumni community and to support our students and recent graduates, please contact our Alumni Team on alumni@business-school.ed.ac.uk.