Neso – IKANED organize Alumni Forum Discussion
15 Dec 2008
For the first time ever Neso Indonesia organized an succesfull alumni forum discussion in collaboration with the Indonesia-Netherlands alumni association (IKANED).
The aim of the event was to gain inputs, comments and suggestion from the alumni to develop a future alumni strategy which is more geared to the needs of the alumni community. The event was held on 13 December, at Century Atlet Park Hotel and was attended by more than 60 alumni. The alumni were handpicked to ensure that the participants represented a cross section of the alumni community. For example 25 % of the alumni were from places outside Java, such as Pekanbaru, Makassar, East Indonesia and Manado.
Many IKANED board members also attended the event such as Effendi Gazali (lecturer and politics observer), Sarlito W. Wirawan (professor at the University of Indonesia), Irwan Habsjah (Director of ING Bank), Chandra W. Sumitro (supervisory board of IKANED), Maxi Gunawan (Entrepreneur), Theo Lekatompessy (IKANED vice chairman).
The event was opened by Marrik Bellen, Director of Neso Indonesia, who shared some statistical data on the current registered alumni. The data show that only about 1200 of more than 6000 known alumni can be reached as most of the records in the database are still incomplete. In his welcome speech Theo Lekatompessy, representative of IKANED,referred to history and function of Ikaned as bridge between Indonesia and the Netherlands.
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The alumni were divided into seven groups and led by one moderator. Every alumni group discusseda specific statement and also one general statement. The statements referred to subjects dealing with infrastructure, communication, activities, outreach, and mututal expectations.
The Alumni Forum Discussion resulted in many good recommendations and inputs that will be very usefull in defining the new strategy for the alumni activities in the coming years. During the wrap up session some prelimary conclusions were drawn. Marrik Bellen underlined the importance of improving the infrastructure toward the alumni community through the improvement of the database, the website and communication channnels. Alumni activities should appeal to all members of the alumni community to overcome the existing generation gap. Older members should be kept abreast of the latest developments in the educational field in the Netherlands. There is a need for more networking events among the alumni with different backgrounds, with the business community and other stakeholders to cater for the professional development of the alumni and to create career opportunities. These efforts will empower the alumni to contribute to the Indonesian society and become and as ambassador to the strengthening for Indonesian Dutch relationships.