Alumni Organizations in the Entrepreneurial Universities

The paper provides insights about the activities carried out by alumni organizations and understand how they can play a role in the current evolution of entrepreneurial universities. We explore the alumni organizations affiliated to the population of 162 higher education institutions (HEI) in the UK, to analyse the services offered to and from their members, particularly those designed to support entrepreneurial activities. Alumni organizations help members in accessing networks with their peers, obtaining benefits related to career support, accessing inspiration, training and education, and using campus facilities. Alumni engagement generates revenues, career opportunities and role modelling for students and staff at their alma mater. Only 18% of alumni organizations carry out activities in the domain of entrepreneurship, such as organizing awards, events and lectures, community building, or financing start-ups. These activities are spread not only at the most prestigious HEIs, but in larger ones, better performing in terms of collaborative research and consultancy, having higher number of spin-offs and larger international student populations. Our results are limited because of the cross-sectional, single-country research design. Universities must take into consideration that peer support can be as important for spreading entrepreneurial initiatives within universities as other more formal supporting measure. The paper contributes to the increasing literature about the entrepreneurial university providing evidence about the engagement of alumni organizations in supporting entrepreneurship and creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem.