PNGUoT Alumni Association Launches Digital Platform to Connect Graduates

The Papua New Guinea University of Technology (PNGUoT) Alumni Association has soft-launched a new digital platform aimed at connecting graduates across Papua New Guinea and overseas and strengthening their engagement with the University.

The Alumni Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Platform was launched in Port Moresby on Monday, 17 August 2026, marking a significant step in the Association’s efforts to establish a more organised, interactive, collaborative and sustainable alumni network.

The platform provides a central space where PNGUoT graduates can reconnect, network, access professional opportunities, participate in mentoring, engage in alumni activities and contribute to the development of the University, its members and its students.

The soft launch was hosted by the PNGUoT Alumni Association NCD Chapter and attended by Vice-Chancellor Professor Ora Renagi, Alumni Association President Dr Patrick Michael, NCD Chapter President Anthony Pakakota and members of the technical working group, alumni community and the mainstream media.

Alumni an Important Asset for PNGUoT

Vice-Chancellor Professor Ora Renagi described PNGUoT’s graduates as one of the University’s greatest assets and said the challenge had always been creating the structures through which they could effectively participate.

“Our alumni are one of the University’s greatest assets that we are yet to realise,” Professor Renagi said.

“There are people who have passed through this University and they hold the University close to their hearts. They want to give back something. They want to support with something. But the environment, the systems, the structures, the organisation through which they can participate, that’s our challenge.”

Professor Renagi said alumni had previously demonstrated strong interest in supporting PNGUoT, including through alumni gatherings and engagement with graduates holding senior positions in companies and organisations.

However, he said enthusiasm needed to be supported by proper systems.

“An effective alumni association requires proper organisation, administration, communication and a reliable system of maintaining membership and engaging alumni,” he said.

From Regional Chapters to a Digital Network

President of the PNGUoT Alumni, Dr Michael said the launch was the culmination of several years of work to strengthen and organize the University’s alumni community. He said efforts to establish the Association began around 2016–2017 before it was formally launched in 2018, with an initial group of dedicated alumni tasked with building the organization.

The focus was to strengthen connections among graduates and create avenues for alumni to participate in the University’s development.“One of the initial ideas was to basically make the graduates of the University get to know each other,” Dr Michael said.

“The second one was to see how the graduates can basically get involved in what the University was doing, is thinking of doing, and then at the end contribute towards the University’s overall development.”Dr Michael said the executives subsequently developed a strategic plan which identified the establishment of regional chapters as one of its priorities.

This led the Association to reach out to alumni in different parts of Papua New Guinea and establish chapters, creating a broader network through which graduates could participate. He acknowledged that building the Association had not been easy and is a work in progress, particularly because much of the work was undertaken voluntarily by executives balancing their professional and personal responsibilities.

Despite these challenges, the Association continued looking for better ways to organise and engage its growing alumni community.Dr Michael said discussions with NCD Chapter’s executives eventually led to the idea of establishing a dedicated digital platform.

Bringing Alumni Activities Under One Platform

NCD Chapter President Anthony Pakakota said the Association recognised that relying on Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn and other platforms alone was not sufficient for managing a large alumni network. While these platforms enabled communication, activities could become scattered across different groups with limited ability to centrally manage or measure alumni engagement.

“We needed a solution, and the solution is a CRM-like online management platform thats tailored for alumni activities,” Mr Pakakota said.“Because it’s centralised, you can have one management of every activity that happens in the alumni.”

The platform was developed following approximately 15 months of work, including software requirements specifications scoping (SRS) followed with a closed Request for Proposal process involving five experienced global alumni platform providers.

The Association eventually selected Gravyty to provide the platform.Mr Pakakota said the system will initially accommodate about 5,000 registered users and allows up to 100 subgroups to be established within the wider alumni network.

This means alumni from particular professions, disciplines, locations or interest groups can create their own communities while remaining connected through the central PNGUoT alumni network.  The platform also includes mentoring tools, an alumni directory and functions for promoting employment opportunities, webinars, events and other professional activities.

“If somebody wants to do a presentation or a webinar, he can do a post there and all the members can see. If they’re interested, they can go and register and attend,” Mr Pakakota said.

“So now you have everything happening on one platform.”

Strengthening Alumni Engagement and Visibility

Mr Pakakota said another important feature was the ability to measure alumni activities and engagement.

He noted that PNGUoT still had significant room to improve its alumni engagement internationally and said a centralised platform would enable activities to be recorded and reported more effectively.

“We have a lot of work to do,” he said.

“Apart from having the memberships, we have to show that we are engaged and we have activities that are happening, and that’s where the platform is very important.

”The platform is expected to support stronger interaction between alumni themselves while also connecting graduates with students, academia, industry and the University.

Platform Tailored to PNGUoT Alumni Membership

Technical Working Group Team Lead Priscilla Kevin said the platform had been configured with support from Gravyty to reflect the PNGUoT Alumni Association’s membership requirements and bylaws.

She said this included incorporating the Association’s requirement for prospective members to be nominated by an existing member and seconded before their membership is approved.

“We had the support of Gravyty to configure the settings according to the Association’s bylaws,” Ms Kevin said.

The platform provides different registration categories to distinguish between alumni, current students, postgraduate students, faculty and staff who are graduates, non-alumni faculty and staff, sister colleges, associates and recruiters.

Ms Kevin said establishing clear categories was important because the platform was intended to serve not only graduates but also the wider PNGUoT community and organisations seeking to connect with its alumni.The inclusion of a recruiter category could potentially allow industry representatives and human resource professionals to connect with graduates for employment and professional opportunities.

The system also provides members with control over their personal information, including privacy and notification settings, while allowing them to develop professional profiles containing their qualifications, work experience, skills and other relevant information.

A searchable alumni directory enables members to find and connect with graduates according to faculties, schools, graduation years and other categories. The platform also supports mentoring and encourages active participation rather than simply creating a member database.

During registration, members are asked how they intend to contribute to the success of the Association. “It’s not just creating another profile on a platform. How are you going to contribute to the organisation?” Ms Kevin said. Members can also indicate their willingness to mentor or assist others, reconnect with former classmates and build professional networks through the directory.

Ms Kevin said the Technical Working Group currently administers the platform while configuration and development continue. Once this work is completed, responsibility for administering the system will be transferred to the PNGUoT Alumni Desk.Following further updates, registered alumni will be required to meet the Association’s membership requirements, including payment of the applicable membership fee, to gain full access to the platform.