Alumni Association
Welcome to the GRIPS/GSPS Alumni Association
As alumni of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies or its predecessor, the Graduate School of Policy Science (Saitama University), you are a vital part of a larger community: one made up of faculty, staff, students and the international community. You are a lifelong member of the Institute's Alumni Association, whose mission is to to increase public knowledge about our Institution and to support and promote the interests of alumni and the School community.
What is the Alumni Association?
The GRIPS/GSPS Alumni Association is the organisation for former students, faculty and staff - collectively termed "alumni" - of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies and the Graduate School of Policy Science (Saitama University). The Alumni Association acts as an umbrella organisation for a number of local, overseas, and regional "Alumni Groups". New volunteers are always welcomed to become involved in supporting the work of the Local or Regional Alumni Groups. The Alumni Association provides a forum for GRIPS and GSPS alumni to maintain and develop their links with the University and with each other. It encourages graduates to remain part of the GRIPS family.
Its mission is to support and promote the interests of alumni and the School community by enabling alumni to strengthen the bonds between GRIPS and its alumni community, by creating personal links with alumni, providing alumni services and by fostering "emotional" connections among alumni, students and the School. The School seeks to keep alumni informed, to maintain good communications between alumni and GRIPS, and to encourage meaningful alumni involvement with our School.
Main Goals
The Alumni Association promotes ongoing communication and cooperation among GRIPS graduates, students, faculty and staff. Through this it aims
- to continue to develop and maintain a mutually beneficial relationship between the university and its alumni
- to offer graduates a focal point of support and coordination and to support their global activities
- to promote awareness of alumni achievements and accomplishments among all alumni, students, faculty and staff.
- to create an international network of experts in the field of policy making and policy studies
- to contribute to further internationalisation of Japan through strengthening its relations with countries throughout the world.
Membership
All graduates of GRIPS and its predecessor GSPS are automatically members of the university's Alumni Association. Membership of the Alumni Association and all of the services are free to GRIPS/GSPS alumni. All registered members receive regular news and information on services available to them.
Services
The Alumni Association provides a range of services and creates opportunities for graduates for keeping in touch with other graduates and for continuing involvement with GRIPS. The Alumni Association consists of a "real world" (offline) and a "virtual" (online) component.
The "real world" component consists of a world-wide network of local and regional Alumni Groups. These groups provide an extensive network to help alumni keep in touch with each other and the School.
The online community provides a place in cyberspace for graduates to (re)connect, exchange ideas, and access career and networking information. It contains centrally-managed interactive websites for use by any local Alumni Group or individual alumni. It can include country/regional sites and personal homepages and may consist of just a few photos or can include message boards, chat rooms, newsletters, feedback forms, recipes etc.
