A new Alumni Relationship Management System (ARMS) was launched by The University of the South Pacific (USP) Vice-Chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia last week. The system would eventually pave the way towards consolidating the USP alumni networking space.
It took the USP Alumni Office a little over seven months to develop the ARMS after collaborating with the University’s Information Technology Services (ITS) team. The system would benefit a large community of USP graduates to register themselves.
Through this online portal, the team at the alumni office would be able to connect with alumni around the country, region, and the world and create target groups based on interests and demographics, and design communication as well as activities accordingly, amongst other benefits.
During the launch, Professor Ahluwalia said thousands of graduates from the region and internationally were true ambassadors of USP and, at the same time, conveyed his apology on behalf of the institution for not being able to accord these alumni the honour and acknowledgement they deserved. The Vice-Chancellor stated that the University was nothing without reflecting on its students who had gone to greener pastures, established businesses, made a name for themselves and flourished in both the public and private sectors.
“We live in the Pacific, and we want to engage our alumni for a whole lot of different reasons. Not for the money but for other reasons, as a practice of some universities abroad. We are not here to beg for money, but we want something different, and that is engagement. Sharing of experience with the current students and that is to us is far more important,” Professor Ahluwalia said.
“We are doing exceptionally well. When you do well, we do well and when you do well, we will do well too. On Saturday, when I opened the Fiji Sun newspaper, I saw one of USP’s graduates being featured, and I was proud. Isn’t it wonderful to see that our graduates are making waves?” the Vice-Chancellor said.
Meanwhile, Mr Semi Tukana, who graduated from the institution in 1982, shared his experiences during his early days at USP.
He boldly stated that the University moulded his life and his solid connection with USP would never erode, even though he went to pursue his studies further at two other universities internationally.
Mr Tukana said he grew up in a squatter settlement in Nabua and had been sleeping on the floor of their close-knit home for almost 18 years.
“This (USP) was the place where I slept on a bed and what I could consider as my new home. That is the reason why I love this place. It was a room, even though I had to share it with another student. This is the place I called home. When I graduated in 1982, I never really left the University, I continued to be engaged with a few positions, one of which was the Computer Science Advisory Committee. And then finally being selected into the USP Council,” he stated.
The online portal is now open and USP alumni across the region and around the world are encouraged to register themselves in the portal at https://www.usp.ac.fj/alumni/arms/
The university has alumni of over 58,000 and they are encouraged to register on the portal.
