Locals lose touch with alumni | Higher Education | The Australian

Locals lose touch with alumni | Higher Education | The Australian: "Locals lose touch with alumni
Dorothy Illing
October 04, 2006
IT took 28 years for Julie Bishop's alma mater, the University of Adelaide, to contact her after she graduated in law.

Then it was only to congratulate her on becoming federal Education, Science and Training Minister this year.

That's in stark contrast to the Harvard Business School, where she did an advanced management program in 1996: it gave her a lifetime email address to keep in touch with classmates and lecturers and keeps in touch through a global network of regular alumni activities.

Last year, Harvard University raised $722 million, its slice of a total $32.6 billion in donations to US universities in 2005.

Australian universities attract less than 2 per cent of their funding from philanthropic sources even though, according to Ms Bishop, Australians are 'among the most generous people on earth'. Their universities lack a culture of asking."

Tags: NPUniversityfundraising, NPAlumnigiving