Frequently Asked Questions

What does ‘alumni’ mean?
Who are the alumni? 
Why does University of Gothenburg have an alumni network?

Questions about the University of Gothenburg alumni database:

Why should I register?
I don’t have a Swedish civic registration number. What do I do?
What happens when you have registered?
Is there more than one alumni database at the University of Gothenburg? 
What do I do if my personal details are confidential or if my identity is protected?
Why can’t I log in with my password?
What do I do if I have forgotten my password?
How do I change my user information?
Why can’t I find all the details about my friends from the University?
Why can’t I input my postcode?
How do I log into the alumni network with my Facebook account?

What does ‘alumni’ mean?
Alumni are former students of a university. The word is the masculine plural form of ‘alumnus’, meaning ‘pupil’ or ‘nurseling’, from the Latin ‘alere’, which means ‘nourish’, ‘nurse’ or ‘foster’. The corresponding feminine forms are the singular ‘alumna’ and the plural ‘alumnae’. In English ‘alumni’ tends to be used as a generic term incorporating the masculine and the feminine.

Who are the alumni?
In most cases alumni are former students who have an undergraduate or postgraduate degree from University of Gothenburg (including colleges that have over the years been incorporated in the University). If you have any questions about your status, please contact the central alumni coordinator.

Why does University of Gothenburg have an alumni network?
University of Gothenburg are interested in finding out what former students are doing in order to allow their experience of working life to benefit current and future students in developing new programmes, courses and external contacts. Good relations with students who have started their professional lives may provide opportunities for work experience and placements, exam projects and collaborative research. In return you will have access to the University of Gothenburg alumni database, which will make it easy for all alumni to keep in touch with each other and with the University. You will also receive information about education, research and professional development through a newsletter (initially only in Swedish) and a special magazine, ‘GUspegeln’ (only in Swedish), and you will be invited to reunions, lectures and other events.
Many universities and colleges have some kind of alumni network intended to establish and enhance a continuing relationship of mutual benefit with its alumni. Alumni are important ambassadors for the University and its future development. They form a vital part of the University’s relationship with the local community and with society at large.

Why should I register?
When you register in the alumni network for University of Gothnburg you will be able to make contact with your friends from university, and you will be included in a searchable database. You will be able to enter useful information about yourself for the benefit of the University and other alumni, such as how you can be contacted and details about your professional career. Apart from your name and the degree or courses you have taken, which will be available to all database users, you will be able to decide what information about yourself to include. You will also be able to decide how and to what extent you would like to be contacted by the University and its faculties to make sure you only receive the information you want. Please enter your email address because some correspondence, like the newsletter, will only be sent electronically.

I don’t have a Swedish civic registration number. What do I do?
If you do not know the Swedish civic registration number that you were given as a student at University of Gothenburg, please contact the administrator of the alumni database and we will send it to you as soon as we can.

What happens when you have registered?
If you enter your email address when you register you will automatically receive a welcome letter and a username and password. Please make sure you enter your email address correctly. If we do not have an email address you will receive a letter by post after a few days.

Is there more than one alumni database at the University of Gothenburg?
No, there is only one database for alumni, but the various faculties, departments and degree programmes can set up log-in boxes on their own local alumni webpages. As a result you may receive different web addresses from your contacts with the University. You can always use the central alumni webpages at www.gu.se/alumn to log into the alumni database.

What do I do if my personal details are confidential or if my identity is protected?
As a public body University of Gothenburg is subject to the Principle of Public Access to information. This means that the information in the database IS NOT protected by secrecy. If your personal details are confidential or if your identity is protected you should be careful about divulging this information and we recommend that you do not register.

Why can’t I log in with my password?
Please check that the Caps Lock button on your keyboard is off. The system is case sensitive which means that lower case (small) or CAPITAL letters must be used. Please note that this also applies to the user name. If you still can’t log in, please contact the administrator of the alumni database.

What do I do if I have forgotten my password?
Go to `Forgotten your password?´ and input your civic registration number and a new password will be sent to your email address. If you have not entered an email address your new password will be sent by post.

How do I change my user information?
It is not possible to change your user name. It must remain the same since it is linked to your registration. But you can change your password. Log in with your current user name and password and go to ‘Change password’. The password must contain 5-12 characters, one of which must be a number and another one a non-alphabetical sign. Do not use a password that is easy to guess.

Why can’t I find all the details about my friends from university?
The University of Gothenburg alumni database contains information about former students who have graduated from the University. This information has been transferred from student records. In order for you to find more details than name and degree, the person you are looking for must have registered in the database. It is also possible that this particular individual has chosen not to make all details available to other alumni. The less searchable information that is available, the more difficult it will be to find a certain person.

Why can’t I input my postcode?
The system is set to take the standard Swedish five-digit postcode. Please make sure you choose the correct country in the scroll-down menu before you change the postcode. This will change the setting and make it possible to change the postcode. If it still does not work, or if your details are not saved properly when they are updated, please contact the administrator of the alumni database.

How do I log into the alumni network with my Facebook account?
First you need to approve the connection:

- Log into the alumni database as usual, for example at www.gu.se/alumn.
- When logged in - look at the menu on the left hand side.
- Click on Facebook connection under My info.
- Follow the instructions to approve the connection. In case you change your mind, you may remove the connection at any time.

- The next time you log into the alumni database you only have to click on Log in with Facebook account in the menu under the login boxes. You’ll then get new login boxes in a new window and you can write your Facebook login information. If you are already on Facebook in the same browser the login will work automatically.
- No information is transferred from Facebook to the alumni database or conversely.