Networking, American-style

As a global network, HUJIconnect.com is intended to intensify and empower the alumni community’s social professional network.

By TAMARA UNGAR
Inauguration of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1925 (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Inauguration of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1925
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has partnered with leading global networking platform Graduway, taking on the mantle of the first university in Israel to adopt an online American-style alumni networking platform.
Hebrew University alumni relations director Shlomit Shulov Barkan says the concept for the introduction of the networking platform came about because the university “really wanted to be close and in touch with our alumni, to intensify their connection to the university and to have a situation whereby they continue to be part of a community.”
Shulov Barkan says that the benefits for students and the university are many and far-ranging, from mentoring services to gaining work experience and maintaining an ongoing connection with peers.
“The students will be benefited in many ways. Firstly, it will expand options for employment, since alumni using the platform are advertising for high-end positions. This means that students can be exposed to excellent opportunities,” she explains.
As a global network, HUJIconnect.com is intended to intensify and empower the alumni community’s social professional network.
Shulov Barkan says that almost a year since its inception, the platform is already “helping to connect and reconnect Hebrew U. alumni all over the world. We have almost 4,000 alumni, from Argentina to Norway, signed up and involved with the program.”
With the introduction of this platform, the university has joined the ranks of Oxford and UCLA in prioritizing alumni relations.
Graduway CEO Daniel Cohen is excited about the prospect of working with Hebrew U. and is hoping it will be the trailblazer for all Israeli institutions.
“We are delighted to be working with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which is our first partner in Israel. Israel is known as the start-up nation, and the Hebrew University is known as ‘the start-up of the start-up nation,’ and it is wonderful for us to be working together,” he says.
Graduway already has partnerships in the US, the UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Greece, Russia and Turkey, Cohen notes.
“Having engaged alumni helps universities in a huge way. An alumni network that can help you get a job is a huge plus in terms of marketability.
The key thing for universities is that alumni are critical and a key source in America for fund-raising… They are the perfect fit for when public funding falls short, alumni donations fit into this gap,” he says.
The Hebrew University is currently running a nostalgia photo competition as part of its alumni series of events, and Shulov Barkan encourages all past and present students to take part now and in the future: “We invite all alumni from the Hebrew U to join the platform and become part of the community.”
The Hebrew University alumni network can be accessed at HUJIconnect.com.