It's been a busy period for the OUS network since our last newsletter, with a host of new regional groups as well as groups of alumni brought together through common interests, providing another dimension to the extended Oxford community. Fortunately, Joby Mullens has now been employed full-time to work with me on the Alumni Networks and we are pleased to welcome him as a permanent member of staff.

As we come to the end of the calendar year, we would love to know more about your group activities, changes in branch structure and membership over the last twelve months. Let us know about your successes and new initiatives. We will be sending out a short questionnaire in the new year to help us identify which aspects of branch activity we can best help with and to enable us to celebrate your branch achievements and share best practices with others.

The Alumni Office closes for Christmas on 22 December and reopens on 3 January, so we wish you a Happy Christmas and all best wishes for the New Year.

Zoe Washford, Alumni Networks Manager

Speaking at a session for Alumni Relations and Development staff at the University earlier this term, Professor Andrew Hamilton highlighted some of the challenges facing Oxford in the current climate.

He spoke particularly about the impact of coming HE funding cuts, suggesting that the University is being ‘transitioned’ into a privately funded institution whether we like it or not. The Vice-Chancellor stressed that the University had a duty to chart its passage into a future in which it would become more heavily dependent on philanthropy and private funding. He also emphasised the international nature of competition for the brightest students and best academics and how no other university has a greater international presence than Oxford, a 'university of the world, for the world'.

With this growing focus on Oxford's global presence, our international groups will be ever more vital to the University’s future.

The Vice-Chancellor welcomed the opportunity to meet alumni in Germany in early September, visiting the OUS Berlin and Frankfurt branches. The visit included:

The Vice-Chancellor was delighted to meet alumni in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in July and August. His visit included:

Thanks go out to all branches for making these events such a success.

The Vice-Chancellor will be visiting India from 17 – 25 March 2012. His trip encompasses events in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. Receptions for alumni will be held in each city - please watch your inbox for invitations closer to the dates. The Vice-Chancellor also plans to visit China and Japan in May 2012, with stops in Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo. More details to follow.

The Oxford Student Recruitment team delivered the first ‘Oxford Explained’ presentation via Skype to a school in New Zealand in November. Kate Burn, Student Recruitment Officer, spoke remotely with 30 students, including current and prospective applicants, to explain what makes Oxford unique, how to apply and what to expect from an Oxford interview. The Dean of the Auckland International College, Michael Kelso, said he thought the Skype presentation was ‘outrageously successful’ and he ‘would certainly like to make this an annual event’. Delivering international recruitment via digital media will revolutionise the way the Student Recruitment team works with schools and colleges across the globe.

UK branches are also playing an important role in student recruitment – the Hertfordshire branch run a successful annual event for pupils in years 11,12 and 13, their parents, and teachers from Hertfordshire county schools. They hear from an Oxford Admissions Tutor and a panel of current Oxford undergraduates about applying to Oxford, interviews and life at the University.

How you can get involved

More than eighty alumni and guests enjoyed our most recent Study Day at the National Museum, Cardiff, in November. Speakers included Elisabeth Elias (St Hilda’s), Oliver Fairclough (Trinity), Miranda Aldhouse-Green (LMH) and David Alston (Corpus Christi).

The day's organisation benefited tremendously from the support of the Cardiff and SE Wales branch and the event also acted as a successful mechanism for increasing awareness of the branch and growing its membership.

Does your city have some hidden gems, or is it particularly known for its history or an industry? If your branch would be interested in helping to organise a Study Day in future, please contact the Events Manager, Beth Tibble, on events@alumni.ox.ac.uk.

More than thirty Branch Officers attended the lunch and networking session at this year's Oxford Alumni Weekend in September.

Topics for a round table discussion included:

What you told us:

This feedback is invaluable - as well as helping us plan priorities for network support it also allows us to focus planning for the next Alumni Volunteers’ Leadership Conference on the issues most relevant to you.

A new OUS Jersey Branch has been formed by Kat Tiefenthal (Harris Manchester) and Penny Roberts (Harris Manchester). They held an inaugural drinks party on Friday 11 November at Jersey Aeroclub and are planning a speaker event at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in the New Year.

Shared interest groups are a growing part of the Oxford Alumni Network and provide links to all alumni sharing professions or interests in a variety of subjects, no matter their locale. Groups range from the Oxford University Bridge Association to the Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals Network.

The newly formed Oxford Anthropology and Museum Ethnography Alumni Society, founded by Chair, Dr Helen Carr (Wadham), and a committee of anthropology professionals, held their inaugural dinner in London in October followed by new members meeting at the Oxford and Cambridge Club in December. The group is open to Oxonians who share an interest in anthropological ideas. For more information and to join, email: alumni@anthro.ox.ac.uk

Oxford Chinese Students and Scholars Association (OXCSSA) 
A Chinese community organisation for Oxford students, scholars and alumni. To join their mailing list, email: info@oxcssa.org

A new group is being formed for alumni who studied a branch of Biology at Oxford, including all undergraduate degrees (Botany, Zoology, Agricultural & Forest Science, Pure & Applied Biology, Biological Sciences), MSc degrees (Forestry, Integrative Biosciences) and related DPhils. The group is currently making a call for expressions of interest from alumni who would like to maintain a link with the department. Alumni will receive (among other things) an annual newsletter and invitation to the planned inaugural event (Saturday 15 September). Interested alumni should email alumni@biology.ox.ac.uk or visit www.biology.ox.ac.uk/alumni to join the mailing list and to update their contact details.

Ian Senior, Chairman of the OUS Hertfordshire branch has been publishing Prime-Mover for three years as an informal networking forum for prime-movers in OUS branches worldwide. New editions come out around six times a year.

A prime-mover, here, is defined as an Oxonian at branch level who makes at least one branch event happen each year. Branch representatives can receive Prime-Mover and indeed circulate it to other branch prime-movers. All six members of the Herts branch organising team are designated prime-movers.

If you are not already on the circulation list and would like to receive Prime-Mover, please e-mail Ian at IanSenior@aol.com

We are pleased to introduce a new 10% discount on Alumni Travel Programme tours for Branch Officers and a partner. The 2012 programme includes a wide range of tours across the globe, each accompanied by an expert trip scholar. The University receives a contribution for each booking, and these funds are used to support alumni activities.

Please also spread the word to all branch members about the Oxford Alumni Travel Programme. The new 2012 brochure is available here. In order to obtain a Branch Officers’ discount, please tell the tour operator at the time of booking.*

We would particularly welcome the participation of our international alumni in the Travel Programme. You could:

For further information, please visit our website or phone +44 (0) 1865 611617 to request a copy of the 2012 brochure.

*Please note that a very limited number of tours might be excluded from this offer – please check with the tour operator.

Several Oxford students and alumni are hoping to qualify for London 2012, and the University will be following their progress online. New web pages at: www.ox.ac.uk/olympics feature profiles of the athletes, blogs, information about Oxonian medal winners of the past, and how members of the University can get involved in local activities relating to the Games.

Competitors represent many nations worldwide:

The Oxford alumni website www.alumni.ox.ac.uk now has a new look and feel with, we hope, more intuitive navigation, more useful features and more information on getting involved with the University. Although the design is new, all features of the previous website remain and there is now the option to register for Oxford Alumni Online, which creates an account that enables alumni to securely log-in to view and update their details, search the directories for friends from Oxford and send messages to other alumni. This new log-in aspect will allow us to introduce more tools and resources for branch officers.

More updates to follow, but if you've any suggestions for the new site, either for features for all alumni, or things that would make branch life easier, please contact webmaster@alumni.ox.ac.uk.

Forthcoming alumni events are listed at the top right of this email. For more information about events and to book, please visit the alumni website.

Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, 23 Feb 2012
A limited number of alumni seats will be available for this –booking will open in the New Year.

We are also planning to offer pre-booking for branch secretaries and will contact you when this is available.

A reminder to all branches to please continue to let us know your latest branch news and events to publicise on our website or in our Networks blog. Please email to: joby.mullens@alumni.ox.ac.uk