Frequently Asked Questions about alumni life

An alum (plural: alumni) is someone who has graduated from a particular institution or school. 

For specific purposes, institutions may define their alumni differently. At JYU, alumni are all those who have completed a degree (bachelor, master, doctor, licentiate, or older equivalents thereof) awarded by the University of Jyväskylä.

Alumni Community is a name for the official JYU alumni register.

You can access and join the register through https://community.jyu.fi

Membership in the Alumni Community allows you access to all the alumni activities that JYU offers, including the monthly alumni newsletter.

Joining the Alumni Community is voluntary and free of charge. Joining the register doesn't obligate you to participate in any activities.

Please note that you are not automatically moved to the alumni register when you graduate. Rather, you need to go to https://community.jyu.fi and register by creating an account.

You can register by going to https://community.jyu.fi and creating an account.

Registration begins by giving your name and selecting an email address you want to use the platform with, as well as a strong password.

Please note: After your graduation, your student ID and student email generally cease to operate after 61 days. We advise you to use some other email address you have that is not tied to your student ID or other JYU ID.

You must then enter a confirmation code which has been sent to your email address.

Once signed in to the alumni portal, you are asked to provide additional your information about yourself. If you wish, you can also complete a strong identification through the suomi.fi service to fill in your academic information more easily.

The Alumni Community is mainly geared towards JYU alumni (i.e. graduates from JYU degree programmes). We also offer the opportunity to join for former exchange students and recipients of certain degree-like studies from JYU, such as the Executive MBA programme or certain qualification-providing teacher study programmes.

By registering to the official Alumni Community, you will get sent a monthly alumni newsletter. The newsletter includes alumni stories and events, as well as general university news which may be of interest to our alumni.

When you sign up to the Alumni Community, you can also indicate your willingness to volunteer your time for your faculty: e.g. your interest in giving a guest lecture for current students, or in contributing to the development of future curricula, or offering internship positions to students. This allows university staff to contact you when such opportunities arise.

As an alum, there are also options for participating in the university community without membership in the alumni register.

Alumni studies are separate from the alumni register, and they are available based on their own registration. Alumni studies are free for recent graduates. Read further:

• Alumni study right: registration form
• Read more about alumni studies

There are also plenty of events arranged by the university which are accessible to all and are not tied to the alumni register, such as:

• Science for all events
• Public examinations of doctoral dissertations, seminars, and lectures. 

In the alumni portal, you can notify us of your wish to volunteer for the university in various capacities. These include giving visiting lectures, participating in mentoring, or providing trainee and thesis positions for current JYU students. You can always contact your own faculty to inquire about future needs for alumni contributions.

Class reunions and other alumni meet-ups are often born out of the initiative of the alumni themselves. The JYU alumni team can offer additional support for these activities.

You can also allow us to showcase your career path through our alumni stories. Contact us to learn more!

JYKYS Jyväskylän yliopiston alumnit ry (~Alumni of the University of Jyväskylä, registered association) is a senior association for former students, staff, and teachers of the University of Jyväskylä and its predecessor institutions. Its purpose is to maintain connections among alumni and former employees while supporting the university and preserving its traditions and heritage. 

The association is separate from the alumni activities run by JYU itself. Membership in the JYKYS association is not tied to registration in JYU's alumni community. The activities of the association are mainly in Finnish. 

You can read more about JYKYS and find contact details for the association here (in Finnish).