Today’s Student: Tomorrow’s Alumnus

One of the challenges in preparing this handbook was assessing the extent to which national, cultur- al and local differences influence the relationship between conservatoires and their alumni. despite globalisation and the exciting opportunities presented by recent developments in technology, there are still fundamental differences of aspiration and approach evident in alumni policies in conserva- toires. a recent report from the polifonia profession Working group helpfully describes some of the differences in european conservatoires. For example, a survey found that, of 98 responses received from european conservatoires, 32 had official systems in place for contacting and tracking alumni; 40 were planning such a system; and 26 had no plans at that point to install such a system.
We may be at different stages on a journey, but we are all committed to the same destination: foster- ing ongoing good relations with our alumni. What is less clear is what we hope to achieve by this.