Leuphana's central Alumni association
The Alumni and Friends Association of Leuphana University Lüneburg e.V. (AFL) is a constantly growing network that now has well over 1,000 members. The association has over 30 years of experience in university and student support.
The purpose of the Alumni and Friends Association
The main goal of the Alumni and Friends of Leuphana (AFL) is to create a network across generations and disciplines. To this end, the association aims to strengthen the contact of alumni with their former fellow students, their teachers and Leuphana University Lüneburg, and to contribute to the exchange of students and alumni. Even after graduating, as a member of the AFL you will have the opportunity to actively participate in university life, meet your fellow students again at regular events and continuously expand your network.
The AFL has also set itself the goal of supporting research and teaching with various events tailored to meet demand and to network with practitioners. In this way, the association contributes to a competitive university and an attractive university location.
To achieve its goals, the association relies on your commitment as a member – there are many ways for you to get involved at the university and in the AFL. For example, you can share your experiences with current students by talking about your career path in the Praxisforum (a forum for dialogue between industry and academia), become active as a mentor, or get involved in the association itself, for example by helping to organise alumni events or conferences – after all, a network only comes to life through the participation of its members.
Support for students and university projects
The aims of the Alumni and Development Association are to support research and teaching at Leuphana University Lüneburg, to strengthen contact between graduates and with their university, and to promote exchange between alumni and students. To this end, the association regularly supports various activities and projects of Leuphana as well as those of alumni, students and student initiatives. The following projects, among others, are therefore regularly funded:
Project support, selected examples
- Leuphana orientation week: The AFL supports the annual Leuphana orientation week for new students.
- Graduate celebrations: The AFL supports the two graduate celebrations that take place each year and is on site with a photo booth, among other things.
- Deutschlandstipendium (German Scholarship): With a contribution of €1,800 per scholarship per year, the Alumni Association supports committed and talented people in their educational journey. Smaller donations can be bundled by the association and rounded up to form entire scholarships.
- The alumni association supports the Alumni Angel programme: as part of the programme, we introduce you to alumni who volunteer at Leuphana, for example by supporting students in various projects or sharing their experiences.
The alumni association supports the Enactus initiative: the alumni and development association has sponsored the prize for Enactus Lüneburg e. V.'s project of the month since December 2017.
Further projects of the association can be found on its homepage (link).
History
The association in its current form came about when the boards of the Förderverein Netzwerk Wirtschaft (FNW) and the Lüneburger Alumni e.V. decided in 2010 to found a joint, overarching alumni and funding association into which the predecessor associations were migrated. This was to optimise the work of the association and to promote sustainable alumni work.
The origins of the FNW go back to 1982, when graduates of the then Faculty of Economics decided to stay in touch after graduating and to create a platform for networking between academia and business. Even then, promoting research and teaching was one of the main objectives of the young association for a university to remain competitive in the long term.
The Lüneburger Alumni e.V. was founded in 1994 to network graduates and students of Leuphana, the University of Lüneburg, the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Nordostniedersachsen and the University of Education Lüneburg. Since then, the association has contributed to the interlinking of science and practice through practical engagement, supporting memberships and partner networks.
Since the association merger in 2010, the representatives of the predecessor associations have been pooling their efforts in the interdisciplinary AFL to contribute to the transfer of knowledge between theory and practice, to strengthen contact between alumni and students and with the university, and to advance projects by students, alumni and student groups. The AFL acts as the institutional body for alumni work at Leuphana and is supported in its work by the university's executive board.
Contact
Alumni- und Förderverein der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg e.V.
Universitätsallee 1
21335 Lüneburg
Board: Mats Kahl; Regina Graß, Philip Dunkhase, Valerie Polentzke
E-Mail: vorstand.afl@leuphana.de