UNU Alumni Association Charter

Established on 14 December 2007
Revised on 1 December 2011

1. Background

Since its establishment in 1973, United Nations University (UNU) has undertaken UNU Capacity Development Courses to tackle urgent problems of the international society, and to foster practitioners and specialists, targeting world youth. Especially, the courses provided in the UNU headquarters in Tokyo and the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) in Yokohama have a long history.
Nevertheless, alumni had long been disconnected, had have few chances to share important information, exchange their views, and had not have any substantial access to information provided by UNU until 2007 when former UNU Capacity Development Course Alumni Association was successfully established.
Another epoch-making event was the revision of the UNU Charter in 2009 that made UNU a degree-awarding institution with both masters and doctoral courses. In this context, UNU established the UNU Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP) at its Headquarters in 2010.
UNU-IAS also established its post-graduate programme in 2011, which made the former UNU Capacity Development Course Alumni Association renamed as UNU Alumni Association. Alumni of those post-graduate courses above can also be the members of the Association.

2. Objectives

UNU Alumni Association, a loose organization for UNU alumni, aims to contribute to UNU, by implementing the following activities
(1) share mutual information among alumni,
(2) make alumni and UNU stay connected, and
(3) contribute to alumni's future activities.

3. Qualification

The membership of UNU Alumni Association should be extended primarily to those who have successfully completed the various courses, including the newly established post-graduate degree programmes offered by UNU headquarters, UNU-ISP, and UNU-IAS.

4. Organization

The Association should be a loose organization just like a circle of like-minded people or a club. Accordingly, detailed rules and regulations will not be provided for the time being.

5. Representatives and Secretary-General

The Association will have its Board of Directors as decision makers, and one of the directors should be the executive called "Chairman of the Board" who shall represent this Alumni Association. Secretary-General should also be appointed.

6. Membership fee

Membership fee is basically free. However, participants of some special events may occasionally be required to pay for the expenses for the benefits they will receive.

7. Events and projects

The Association will have the following events and projects.
(1) General alumni meeting(s) or alumni get-together event(s)
(2) Small group meeting(s) to share common interests and information.
(3) Dissemination of information about activities of UNU and etc.
(4) Others.

8. Secretariat

The Japan Foundation for United Nations University (jfUNU) will be the Secretariat of the Association and the office of the Association will thus be located in the above foundation.