Cultivating the alumni bonding

Henry Ford once said, "Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress and working together is success". His quote shares a simple yet right insight into the productive phases a team, or a group or a community goes through to realise its full potential. On that note of harnessing the relationship among community members or who belong to the same alma mater, former students of American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) recently organised a whole day programme titled, 'ExAIUBian Meetup 2019'.

This programme was held on March 29 at Amulia Model Town, Dhaka that brought more than 4,000 alumni and their family members to one place to rejoice their roots of education. AIUB, founded in 1994, is a renowned accredited and private university at Kuratoli Road, Kuril, Dhaka, Bangladesh. AIUB's new architecturally beautiful campus has received positive responses from local and international students.

The organising team planned details that served the purpose of personal networking, reconnecting with university friends, memories and life and having fun on the day.  According to the team, the experience was exciting as well as challenging. The total number of ex-AIUBian along with their family and child crossed 4000 mark.

Alumni of AIUB maintain a digital platform named, exaiubian.com, for the ex-AIUBians with a target to make a stronger network in the professional fields and businesses as well as being together in need of others. Alumni network turn out to be an especially effective kind of social network. The event was attended by Chairman of the Board of Trustees Nadia Anwar and several faculty members of AIUB. All of them appreciated the initiative and enjoyed the programme with their former students. 

The responses from the guests were tremendous and inspiring. Throughout the day there was long queue of guests and everybody was in a festive mood with excitement in their faces. The guests were delighted and happy with the arrangements, especially they all particularly found the exclusive arrangement for the babies and infants very helpful. The event perks included mingling sessions, different snacks, delicious food, gifts, fun competitions, speech from different dignitaries, cultural activities, raffle draw and concert. The programme also hosted solo performances, band performances of different ex-AIUBians bands and brought the renowned band Artcell to perform at the event.

Passing an eventful day with old friends along with family was itself rewarding for the former students. The arrangements of the overall programme was very satisfactory to senior alumni. Many of them mentioned in their speech that it brought their memories of university life back and the old feelings on being in campus, giving 'addas' with old friends were cherished on that day. They enjoyed the surprise gifts for their children as well.

According to one of the key organisers, Sakif Ahmed, CEO and director of Infolink- an IT and nationwide internet service provider company,  "I saw love and respect among all alumni. There was no senior-junior difference during the programme. Everyone loved the feeling of reconnecting with friends and wants it more often". He  felt proud about his alma mater and reminisced about receiving leadership award during 11th convocation ceremony for his volunteer work during university years. He stated that AIUB faculty members were very supportive and truly cared about their students.  He noted that students can find a great environment at AIUB where they also have advanced tech solutions to manage operations and student activities. AIUB's open credit system and advising system that runs through software are designed to support a student's needs.

Another organiser of the event and alumnus of AIUB Arkhamul Hoque stated, "The common platform of alumni network helps students from all departments to stay updated and create strong bonding and identity in the corporate world". He suggested that current students should involve in real life networking and understand the professionalism. Only academic education will not suffice to develop them for this competitive and dynamic world. As a result, this connections will be crucial.  Faisal Mahmud, former student of AIUB and digital marketing professional working at a multinational telecom shared, "My alma mater helped me become the person I am today by providing a solid academic experience and by empowering and believing in me to represent the university in inter-university business competitions."

Through professional associations, alumni groups, clubs, and personal interest communities, professionals gain new perspectives that allow them to advance in their careers. This is what needs to be cultivated by youths to develop one-self in a holistic way.

That AIUB helps create the driven entrepreneurs that Bangladesh needs was echoed in the voice of an alumnus. Siddiq Abu Bakkar, founder and CEO of Audacity IT Solutions Limited, who graduated from CSE department of AIUB in 2012 stated, "AIUB strongly teaches its students to communicate effectively and build strong relationships with stakeholders- which are important keys to success in business."

The writer is a CSE graduate of AIUB and is currently working as the Director and CTO of Battery Low Interactive. He can be reached at [email protected]