An Exploratory Study of Dimensions of Involvement of Alumni of Higher Education Institutions of Distance Education

Alumni, the former students, of the educational institution may be considered as one of the most valuable assets for its growth. It is even more significant for higher learning institutions (HLIs). Keeping the alumni engaged with various activities of HLIs has a two-fold advantage. On one hand, alumni will be the prominent brand ambassadors for HLIs; and on the other they will give back for the growth of their alma maters. The aspect of involvement of alumni is even more crucial for distance education HLIs per se, due to their very nature of being a system wherein learners are at a distance. Thus, the solidarity of alumni of distance education HLIs may be relatively less with their alma maters as compared to alumni of face-to-face HLIs. Keeping in view the increasing importance of alumni involvement, it becomes imperative to examine the perceptions of alumni towards dimensions of their involvement with their distance education alma maters vis-à-vis support services provided to them. Accordingly, the researcher undertook the present study to analyse the relationship between the perceptions of alumni about the support services provided to them, by their distance education alma maters, and their giving-back behaviour. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of distance education may make use of the findings of this study for formulating a comprehensive strategy to involve alumni in a systematic manner.