Alumni
Alumni (plural for [der] alumnus [ borrowed from Latin alumnus ] and [die] alumna [ female ]; from Latin alere for "feed", "raise") denotes the graduates of a university or an institution of the tertiary education sector or the students Members of a cath. Seminary. Alumni events and organizations strive to maintain relationships between alumni. This is often done via alumni networks , which organize alumni days at regular intervals . The networks operate their own marketing with the aim of winning over the alumni.
origin
In the Roman Empire, an alumnus was a pupil, also a foster son and an alumna was therefore a foster daughter. After the founding of monastery schools, called alumnat in the singular , a male student was named alumnus accordingly.
The majority of the alumni are those who are nourished by someone else, that is, "provided with food and drink and instructed in all good manners". In the English and German-speaking countries, alumni are therefore former trainees (better: those who have trained at a [ university ] ), former students and employees. At the elite universities of Oxford and Cambridge , the terms old boys and old girls are common for graduates, and old member for former employees. In the German language, too, there are word formations with stem forms from the Latin alere , e.g. B. (from altus ) [the] old master , a "master, grown up in experience."
history
Originally, alumni in the Roman Empire were injured and retired soldiers who were fed free of charge. In the 13th century, the term alumni for the destitute pupils of convent schools became common. The Internal received room and board, the External became a free table granted. With these perks the church offered the poor sections of the population an educational opportunity and at the same time secured their spiritual offspring.
Since the beginning of the 14th century, this term has referred to the pauperes , poor, talented, young people who received free accommodation, free meals, clothes, books and care in the case of illness in the sovereign universities. Over time, a change in meaning of the term took place Alumni : Now mediated the term alumnus no longer the shameful smell of poverty, but named members of the colleges of universities. These formed their own associations and maintained connections with each other and with their university even after completing their studies. This idea of a lifelong bond had its origins as early as the 13th century in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
The traditional term alumni found its way into American universities in the 19th century. The first alumni club was founded in 1821 by the graduates of Williams College in Williamsburg. Since then, graduates from American universities and colleges have generally been called alumni. In America, alumni take it for granted that they provide their university with support in a variety of ways in return for the professional training they have received and the wide range of personal development opportunities they have received. This commitment is seen as a moral duty and is part of the self-image of all university members.
In Germany, too, donations to the university from former relatives and committed citizens have a long tradition. Legacies from private libraries, real estate and all kinds of support foundations can be found at all older universities. However, these donations were always the matter of individual people, filling gaps rather than being a calculable part of the budget. Until the end of the First World War , the German universities did not have to systematically raise additional funds to improve their budgets, as they were under the supervision of their respective sovereigns and were generally adequately financed by them.
See also
literature
- Alumnus. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 1, Leipzig 1732, column 1620.
Web links
Germany
- alumni-clubs.net e. V. , Mannheim - Association of alumni organizations in German-speaking countries, incl. Directory
- Alumni at School e. V. , Wuppertal - Alumni networks for schools / non-profit association for the promotion of alumni work at secondary schools
- Alumniportal Deutschland , German Academic Exchange Service e. V. (DAAD), Bonn with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH), Bonn and Goethe-Institut e. V., Munich - non-profit, worldwide, social network for alumni who were trained in Germany
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alumni . / Alumnus (former student) . Duden , Bibliographical Institute, 2016
- ↑ What does “alumni” mean? Retrieved December 4, 2014 .
- ↑ Alumnus . In: Langenscheidt: Dictionary Latin. Berlin 1981.
- ↑ Alumnus. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 1, Leipzig 1732, column 1620.
- ^ JF Hautz, 1980, Georg Olms.