February 2015 NUI Galway Global Alumni Network Goes LIVE

                                    Graduate Will Leahy from 2FM presents Network at Digital Summit

NUI Galway has over 90,000 graduates around the world, and at a recent NUI Galway event, RTE’s Sean O’Rourke, NUI Galway Alumni Association Chair launched a new departure through the means of an innovative social media platform for the University’s graduates to connect. The new Alumni Network is an exciting new way for graduates to connect with NUI Galway's global network and with each other, and it can be found at www.nuigalway.ie/network

This week in Galway over 500 people attended the first ever West of Ireland Digital Summit organized by OMiG Marketing and speaking on the new Global Network, NUI Galway graduate and 2FM DJ Will Leahy said: “We've always known that NUI Galway graduates are making waves in many roles and locations around the world. This website nuigalway.ie/network is a very visual way to show where our recent, and not so recent, graduates are and what they are doing.

“It’s fantastic to see a University using a social platform like LinkedIn in such an engaging and dynamic way. The NUI Galway Global Alumni Network is an excellent way for people to connect with each other and it is great to see this University tapping into their rich cohort of graduates.”

Since the site went live, NUI Galway has seen over 600 graduates tag their location through this platform. From Mexico City to Kuala Lumpur, it’s fascinating to see where NUI Galway, or indeed UCG, graduates have gone, and the career paths they have chosen – from an Engineer in Kyoto and a Patent Executive in the European Patent Office in Munich to a Development Coordinator in Ethiopia – NUI Galway graduates are spread far and wide in a plethora of interesting career paths. Using an innovative approach to social media we have reached people who graduated as far back as 1962.

Mr Leahy added: “It seems that NUI Galway is the first University in the world to tap into LinkedIn's interface in this way, allowing graduates to register via LinkedIn, tag themselves, tell us where they are, what they are doing and to connect with each other. The platform also gives current students and graduates the ability to connect to potential employers through the network, so endless possibilities……including the likes of me checking up on classmates from years gone by.”

Ireland West Airport Knock have also announced their partnership with NUI Galway in connecting their graduates with the West of Ireland and the world offering flights to international destinations so put yourself on the map and join the NUI Galway Alumni Network - www.nuigalway.ie/network.

ENDS