Definitions

The Alumni Directory is provided gratis and for use by all those who have attended private/independent schools to keep in touch with old classmates.

How do you use the alumni directory? This example shows a popular directory and offers an idea of what you'll see.

The details of each new addition are e-mailed to the existing alumni for that school so that they can get in contact directly if they wish to.

Now, start here by finding your school - it should already be listed in the system. Good luck for finding your old friends!

Alumni Association

An alumni association is an association of former students (alumni). In the United Kingdom and the United States, alumni of universities, colleges, schools (especially independent schools), fraternities, and sororities often form groups with alumni from the same organization. These associations often organise social events, publish newsletters or magazines, and raise funds for the organization.

Additionally, such groups often support new alumni, and provide a forum to form new friendships and business relationships with people of similar background.

Alumni associations are mainly organised around universities or departments of universities, but may also be organised among students that studied in a certain country. They are often considered to be the university's or school's old boy network (or old boys network or good old boy network).

In Anglo-Saxon countries, membership of an alumni association often goes without saying. On the European continent, alumni associations are getting more and more popular as universities receive less money from governments and depend more on networking within civil society for funding.

Old Boy Network

In the United Kingdom, an old boy network or society can refer to social and business associations among former pupils of top male-only public schools (independent secondary schools) and, to a lesser degree, to university students (notably Oxbridge), and indirectly to preservation of social elites over time without regard to merit.

However, literal 'Old Boy Networks' may not necessarily have the same connotations. Many male-only Schools, both public- and state- run, have 'Old Boy Societies', with a sole aim to maintain an Old Boy's association with their school. This form of Old Boy Network is similar to a

School Tie

The school tie is a British public school institution. Upon leaving a public school (in England, one does not graduate from school), old boys are entitled to wear a special tie that, according to protocol, may only be worn by former pupils, who will usually also be the only people likely to recognise the tie. This symbol can be a beneficial passport to the old boy network, and such ties can be an indication of one's social standing: certain well-known ties such as Eton and Harrow having a much higher implied status than others. Conversely, wearing a tie to which you have no right is a serious social gaffe, and detection may traditionally result in having the tie forcibly cut off below the knot.

Although originally an institution of male-only schools, some schools of mixed or female-only membership do present their female leavers with some equivalent: for example, a scarf or brooch. A humorous unisex alternative is socks in the apprpriate colours.

Exclusive ties are not limited to British public schools: they are also a practice of many clubs, military regiments and colleges of universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, and have also spread to some of Britain's former imperial possessions.

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