Alumni

Alumni volunteering

Join our friendly community of alumni volunteers and use your skills and expertise to make a difference to the lives of the next generation of Leicester graduates. We have a diverse range of volunteering opportunities, with flexibility in mind, to work around your existing commitments.

Hear from some of our volunteers

Lynda WrightLynda Wight has volunteered at the University of Leicester for over 9 years, previously holding the position of Vice-Chair for the Alumni Association Committee.

Being a volunteer for the University has been a great way to maintain a relationship with the institution and the city where I simply had the best time. The greatest satisfaction I had was playing a part in establishing the Alumni Awards to acknowledge the wealth of talent and achievement in our alumni community. If you have fond memories of your time at University, or feel gratitude for the opportunities your Leicester degree opened up; or if you have a passion for helping young people to become ‘Citizens of Change’ for good in the world, then you are the sort of person the University will want on their volunteer team! All kinds of skills are valuable, so you don’t have to be world-famous. Everyone can have something to contribute from their life experience!

Lynda Wight

What are the benefits of volunteering?

  • Access our exclusive alumni benefits
  • Make a difference to the lives of current University of Leicester students
  • Share your expertise and develop new skills both for professional and personal development
  • Meet new friends and expand your network
  • Receive a copy of the ‘Your Impact’ report and get a behind the scenes look at the impact our supporters and volunteers have
  • Receive a reference for your volunteering on request

Current opportunities

Submit an alumni profile

Submitting an alumni profile takes around 15-30 minutes depending on how much detail you want to add. This is a great way to let us know where your journey has taken you since studying at the University of Leicester.

When filling in your profile, you can also register your interest in further volunteering such as giving a guest lecture or filming a video of your career journey for example.

Submit your alumni profile

Alumni Chapters

Nigeria Chapter welcome home eventThe University of Leicester is always looking to maintain a strong connection with our graduates and a global way of doing this is through Alumni Chapters and bringing Leicester to you! 

What is an Alumni Chapter?

An Alumni Chapter is a social and/or professional networking group organised by and for Alumni. They help to bring Alumni in a specific geographical area together to participate in local activities and events in a fun and friendly environment.

The University of Leicester currently has Chapters in:

  • Hong Kong
  • Nigeria
  • Ghana
  • Singapore
  • Taiwan
  • Malaysia
  • United Arab Empirates
  • USA

We are looking for enthusiastic individuals who are keen to volunteer to join our Chapters as general or committee members. Chapters are made up of a number of roles including President, Secretary, Recent Graduate Officer, Treasurer and Events Officer.

Benefits of joining a Chapter

  • Networking opportunities - Chapters can be a great way of meeting those local to you and developing your connections.
  • Stay connected to the University - Chapters can keep you connected to your University and help you feel part of the institution.
  • Free membership - Being part of a Chapter is free and a membership that you can promote to your network.
  • Give back and help others - You can help others in your Chapter with work they might be trying to do or by just being a friendly face to bounce ideas off.
  • Expand your skills - Committee roles always look good on a CV and can open up other opportunities.

Person holding a flag of Singapore, whilst planting a tree on University of Leicester campus.Setting up a new Chapter

Alumni Chapters may run with different ethos’s but must all agree to run the Chapter the same way. Chapters must:

  • Set up a committee - This needs to be a minimum of three Alumni. Made up of President, Secretary, Treasurer, Recent Graduate Officer, Events Officer and general members.
  • Run at least two events per year - These can be a simple meeting or something more events based, these can be physical or online.
  • Raise Chapter funding - Unfortunately the University cannot provide support via a Chapter budget. We can discuss ad hoc budget requests.
  • Send a yearly report of activity - The Chapter Account Manager will send out a yearly proforma for the Chapter Committee to complete.
  • Ensure member details are up to date - The Chapter President must ensure all members have provided up to date details for the University Alumni database.

We are interested in setting up Chapters everywhere, but have had some specific interest from Alumni for Birmingham, Manchester, Philippines, USA, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Zambia and elsewhere!

Useful materials

Below are some materials that you might find useful to read before you set up a chapter and when the chapter is up and running!

Joining an existing Chapter

If you would like to join an existing Chapter, contact us at alumni.relations@le.ac.uk with your full name, degree course and dates we will put you in touch with the Chapter President.

Archives and Special Collections: Sounds for the Future Project

Special Collections and the East Midlands Oral History Archive (EMOHA) are running a new project, 'Sounds for the Future'. The project is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and will run from May 2022 to October 2023. The project will secure the future of the collections of the EMOHA.  

Sounds for the Future will preserve all EMOHA's collections in a new digital preservation system and bring the cataloguing up to date. The project will also create lots of opportunities for volunteers to learn about oral history, audio preservation, and how to use oral histories to explore local history and heritage.  

Find out more and get involved

Alumni in Residence

The Alumni in Residence programme brings talented alumni volunteers and final year University of Leicester students together so that alumni can share their career experiences and advice. Through a combination of one-to-one appointments and small interactive networking sessions, the programme is designed to inspire students at the start of their career journeys, support their career development, build their commercial awareness and increase their confidence.

This is a one-off volunteering opportunity that runs at different points throughout the year (although you are welcome to sign up for further sessions). Time commitment is approximately 4 hours and can be completed virtually or in person. 

Find more information and how to sign up

Attenborough Arts Centre opportunities

Attenborough Arts Centre is a socially and civically-engaged public cultural venue based at the University of Leicester, producing visual arts, live performance, learning, community and research programmes. Volunteers are important members of the Attenborough Arts Centre front of house team. They are people who share a love of the arts, giving their time to contribute to the continued success of the centre. 

The Centre is currently looking for Gallery Assistant Volunteers for their next exhibition. As an AAC Volunteer, you will be part of an organisation with decades of experience in providing performances, courses, workshops and activities for children and families. You would be a public face for the AAC, providing support and assistance within our gallery spaces. Ensuring our customers and visitors have a positive and enjoyable experience during their visit and aiding in their desire to return.

Get more information and learn how to apply

Inspirational career talks

Deliver a presentation or workshop on your career and get the opportunity to meet motivated students who are keen to develop their skills to enhance their applications and prepare for life after university. There will also be a Q+A session after the presentation.

The time commitment is approximately one to two hours per talk and this can be completed virtually or in person.

Find more information and how to sign up

Mentor a student

Mentoring a student is a fantastic way to utilise your skills and experience to support a current University of Leicester student with their career goals. We are currently working on a new mentoring scheme for the academic year 2023/2024.

If you are interested in being involved when the scheme launches, please email alumni.relations@leceister.ac.uk to register your interest.

Museum Studies Connect

Are you a Museum Studies graduate from the University of Leicester? This exciting initiative provides professional development opportunities and networks for all of our graduates and now boasts over 450 members. On joining, members can access a range of bespoke volunteering opportunities.

Join Museum Studies Connect: The Leicester Graduate Network

Governors for Schools

Governors for schools logoThe University of Leicester has partnered with the charity Governors for Schools to offer exciting and rewarding opportunities for alumni to apply to be school governors within Leicestershire and Rutland as well as the wider UK. School governors offer strategic guidance and work to challenge existing processes to drive school improvement. Governors for Schools offer great training and support to help you succeed in the role meaning that you don’t need to have prior experience of being on a board to apply.

Learn more about how to get involved. Or email alumni.relations@leicester.ac.uk if you would like a further chat about the role.

Volunteering documents

If you have any other volunteering ideas that you are interested in, such as giving a guest lecture, please do contact us (alumni.relations@leicester.ac.uk) and we would be more than happy to discuss this further with you.

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