Alumni
Gather your friends in one place
Reunions are a fantastic way to reconnect with friends and flatmates from your time at the University of Leicester, as well as to see how much the campus as changed over the years.
Whether it’s a phone call, dinner, or weekend trip – meeting up with old friends is always a special occasion.
The Alumni Relations Team can support your reunion in the following ways:
- Reconnecting you with lost friends
- Send emails promoting your reunion to your graduating year
- Facilitate campus visits including access to buildings and teaching spaces, talks from researchers, visiting accommodation sites, etc
- Discounted lunch in the Staff & Postgraduate Lounge on campus
- Exclusive alumni discounts at Leicester-based hotels
- Special official University of Leicester merchandise for you and your friends
For further support, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at alumni@leicester.ac.uk.
As a reunion host, you are acknowledged an alumnus/alumna volunteer. Please email alumni@leicester.ac.uk if you are planning a reunion so we can add you to our volunteering stewardship programme.
Our top tips for hosting a reunion
Choose a date early and thoughtfully
Select a date that gives people enough notice to plan travel and time off, especially if people are spread across different locations. Early planning increases the likelihood of higher attendance.
Pick meaningful locations
Consider venues that spark nostalgia - such as campus buildings, halls of residence, or nearby local favourites. Returning to familiar places can significantly enhance the emotional impact of the reunion.
Email alumni@leicester.ac.uk if you plan to visit campus. The Alumni Relations Team can help with any requests from visiting academics to returning to your old halls of residence.
Plan activities that encourage reconnection
Include activities like campus tours, dinners, or informal social gatherings. These give attendees natural opportunities to reminisce, catch up, and reconnect with old friends.
Some examples of things to do include:
Volunteering
If you would like to be involved in a volunteering project for your reunion, such as helping out at the Botanic Gardens, we can arrange this for you.
Attendance at pre-existing events
You could time your reunion with events we are already hosting such as the Alumni Awards Dinner, or something else taking place in the city.
Meeting with an academic member of staff
If you would like to meet with an academic member of staff, please do let us know a few months in advance so we can help to get this scheduled for you.
Guided campus tours
Let us know if you would like a campus tour and we can arrange this for you – please note that buildings may be closed out of term or at times such as exam season. If there is a specific building you would like to access, please do let us know and we will try to make sure this is possible.
Make a weekend of it
There are many attractions in Leicester that you may want to visit whilst you’re in town. Some of them may be nostalgic, some may be new:
- Attenborough Arts Centre – check out the great events hosted by Attenborough Arts or simply visit to tour round the gallery
- National Space Centre
- Curve
- Leicester Museum and Art Gallery
- De Montfort Hall
- King Richard III Visitor Centre
Visit our Re-discover Leicester webpage for more details.
Invite people through multiple channels
Reach out to former classmates using a mix of email, social media, and word of mouth. A broad invitation strategy helps reconnect with people who may have lost touch over the years.
If you are struggling to find contact details for your attendees, you may wish to utilise our contact service. This service is a way for alumni to reconnect by requesting to be put into contact. Whilst we cannot share contact details, we can get in touch with alumni on your behalf and, if they agree, can then put you in touch.
If you would like to invite a staff member or academic, do let us know and we can put you in touch.
Advertise the event to boost engagement
Promoting the reunion in advance - especially with details about activities and venues - helps build excitement and encourages more people to commit to attending.
We can also submit a data request on your behalf to search through our records to find specific groups of alumni. E.g. those who graduated from Engineering in 1989. Once we identify suitable alumni, we can reach out to them on your behalf.
Email alumni@leicester.ac.uk for support with sending emails to your class, posting on the Leicester Alumni social media accounts, inclusion in the alumni newsletter, and adding the event to the University website.
Take advantage of support from the Alumni Relations Team
The Alumni Relations Team can help spread the word, book campus tours, visits to the University Archives and accommodation sites, and recommend things to do in Leicester. Using this support can reduce the organisational burden and improve the overall experience.
Visit our Reconnect webpages for more information on how the Alumni Relations Team can support you or email alumni@leicester.ac.uk.
Think beyond the day itself
Plan for both during and after the event - such as taking photos, sharing memories, or even starting the conversation about the next reunion. This helps maintain long-term connections beyond a single gathering.
We love to see your photos from reunions! Share them with us at alumni@leicester.ac.uk or tag us on Facebook or Instagram.
It is 60 years since we dragged our suitcases and trunks down Manor Road from the station and first encountered our new home in Shirley House. My impression then was not with the Arts and Craft architecture and décor, which I now have the knowledge to appreciate, but with the fact that there was central heating, no more ice on the inside of the window panes! Fast forward to the sunny summer of 2022 and walking round Shirley and it’s gardens was a very moving experience and then to be allowed into the house itself and look at our old rooms was an added bonus. The University had kept them in good condition with the original décor in place but no sharing! We were three to a room. However, we did leave the students with a new tree which we planted in the garden to commemorate the University’s Centenary and our own residency at Shirley.
I just wanted to say a big thank you from me, Pete, Graham, Tony, Steve and Ron, for all your help - both leading up to and on Saturday. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. As you probably gathered, we'd all had an absolutely fabulous time at Leicester and at Beaumont in particular, and it was great to see the campus and hall again. Thanks too to Vicky and the garden staff for arranging the tree for our friend, Keith. The location is perfect. We'll be sending photos to his family.
A New Year's resolution posted on Facebook to get back in touch face to face with old friends led to the decision to hold a 40 years since graduation reunion. So the day came and a few of us met for lunch at The Craddock Arms (of course). A stroll down Queens Road to the University brought back many memories. In the evening, we gathered in the old JCR bar for drinks and then had a superb buffet in the old dining room. More drinks in the JCR bar, where we recreated some old photos, and then off to The Craddock Arms for a nightcap. A big thank you to the College Court staff and the Alumni Team for making the reunion such a special time. It was a memorable reunion with an opportunity to catch up with everyone and for old friendships to be rekindled. And now to start planning the next one!