UNITECH Alumni Association

June 2^nd, 2010: Gothenburg

Swedes had been enjoying unusually warm and sunny summer weather in the beginning of June. To benefit from this extraordinary weather, the last event of the LUC Sweden year 2009/2010 was organized in a hurry. The members met for drinks at Linnéterrassen, the bar which enjoys the sun for the longest time in the evening on Linnégatan. A perfect summer evening in Sweden!

May 13^th, Milan

One group of alumni and UNITECH students met to discuss the plans for the coming activities of the local chapter. While eating a pizza we put the foundations for the coming year.

We came to say that the network can be strengthen through regularity of the LUC’s activities. With a stronger basis it will be interesting to invite some guests to the activities that can share their experience. The challenge for the next events will be to get the students involved as well as the alumni graduated in the past years. This could be done by addressing their specific desires and by easing the exchange between different members.

April 24th, Aachen

The members of the LUC Germany voted for a Alemannia Aachen soccer match a the (localy) famous Tivoli. We met up already at 11h in the morning for a good and solid breakfirst and some chatting. Afterwards we headed to the nearby stadium, accompanied by perfectly warm spring weather. The match started quite boring, but became more and more interesting and we saw four goals - unfortunately only two for the Alemannia. Before leaving we sat down in the park and enjoyed the sun and good mood with a cold beer.

March 9th, Aachen

Alexandra Schwarz came to Aachen, to give us a presentation about "implementing a new brand". She has worked for many years at the same company, which changed from Degusse to RAG to Evoik. Therefore she has been introduced to many new brands in her professional life. She showed us, that it is most important to undestand the differences between company cultures in order to make people comfortable in their working environment. Thanks to many stories and examples, the time flew by and two hours passed very quickly. Thanks a lot for sharing your experiences with us this honestly!

February 19^th-21^th, 2010: Aachen

February 8^th, 2010: Aachen

Following the discussion with all stakeholders, some Alumni felt the ideas brought up should be worked out in more detail. Therefore we met in a smaller group and not only discussed the issue "Future of UNITECH" but also wrote down some ideas and worked on them. It was a very nice discussion with many diferent ideas and opinions. In the end we had absically worked out two ideas, which will be shared with the UAA council:

1. How can Alumni help to get UTI in contact with potential Corporate Partners?
2. How can an "educational" or "professional" aspect been worked into a UAA Summer or Winter Session?

We all hope these ideas are useful and look foward to seeing the results.

see pictures

February 4^th-7^th, 2010: Tirano/Bormio

The Winter Session 2010 took place in Bormio, in the heart of Italian Alps, starting from Thursday, 4^th to Sunday, 7^th of February. A group of more than 20 people, travelling by plane all the way from Sweden, Holland, Germany, Spain, France, Portugal and even from Morocco(!), or by train, or car from Switzerland and Italy, met in Tirano on Thursday night. The excitement was high for the next day excursion with the Unesco Bernina train towards the Swiss Alps! Although the weather didn’t allow us to admire much of the breathtaking landscapes of the region, the whole group had great fun sledging on the two sledging tracks available in the lovely village of Bergün!

In the evening we headed to Bormio, back in Italy, where Hotel Rezia welcomed us with its rustic but elegant atmosphere. After a regenerating hot shower, we gathered for dinner at the restaurant Agriturismo Rini. A cosy atmosphere and some delicious food were the perfect conclusion for such an intense day on the snow!

More people joined us after dinner at the restaurants, on Friday night. Altogether we were 38 people, counting 6 different Unitech years and at least 7 different nationalities! The enthusiasm of the reunion (de)generated into a giant snowball fight which eventually called for some more beers at the Clem’s pub, to warm up the bodies again!

Saturday was thought to accommodate everyone’s preferences: someone was skiing or snowboarding, enjoying the fresh powder that blessed us during the night, someone was snow-shoe hiking or relaxing at the ancient Spa Bagni Vecchi. 

Saturday’s program brought everybody together again for dinner at Chalet la Rocca, at more than 2000 mt above the sea level. A small bus took us up, curve after curve, to 2000 mt, where a big snowmobile was waiting for us to take us to the final destination: a cosy restaurant lost in the mountains. The trip up to the restaurant was faster for a couple of ladies that could enjoy a ride on a motorbike-like snowmobile!

The dinner at La Rocca was a never-ending series of different dishes taken from the gastronomic tradition of the region. Wine was unlimited and helped warming up the group for the dancing floor. The party, started early at La Rocca, continued in town at the Sunrise club and lasted until 5 am!

On Sunday the group left Bormio rather early in the morning to go back to Milan and catch a flight in the afternoon. The group went to Pizzeria Spontini for a quick lunch, an authentic must for the city, before heading to Milan top spot, the Duomo. The sun and the blue sky, finally there after a couple of cloudy days, created a magnificent scenic effect together with the white of the guglias! This was finally the moment to say goodbye… at least until the next UAA event!

Thank you again to everybody that joined the Winter Session in Bormio! We definitely had a great time there and we are all looking forward to seeing many of you for another great weekend together!

February 3rd, Gothenburg

In February, LUC Sweden met for the third quarterly event of the LUC year 2009/2010. Eleven alumni enjoyed an evening of great conversation and exotic drinks at the cozy Lotus Bar. And true to tradition, the night did not turn out exactly as planned. For those of you who have been unable to attend, here is a short summary of the unexpected twists of previous events. At the first event, the alumni were greeted by the sound check before a heavy metal rock concert. Thus, alumni shared a chilly evening on the outdoor terrace. During the second event, the promised after-work food did not materialize and was replaced by peanuts and chips. Surely, the third event must be the charm. What else could possibly go wrong?

The third event in February had its own unexpected surprise. One hour before the alumni were supposed to meet, chapter coordinator Therese Johansson received a call from the manager of Lotus Bar. The manager informed her that there would be a show in the bar that evening and offered to reserve a table at another bar. Suspecting that few people would check their emails before joining the event, Therese agreed with the manager that the alumni did not have to pay for the ticket and that the group would move up to the second floor once the show started. Despite not being able to see the show, the alumni enjoyed the music and the periodical comical interruptions of a theater lady who dramatically asked the group to “Please be quiet, there is a show going on downstairs!”

Please stay tuned to see what unexpected complications the fourth LUC Sweden event has to offer.

February 2^nd, 2010: Aachen

As you probably have heard from different sources, the UAA is in the process of re-evaluating its strategy, and actually, so is UNITECH International (UTI) in Zurich. As this effects all UNITECH stakeholders, information and discussion on this topic is important. Therefore the local UNITECH chapter Germany organised such a discussion. The Assessment Center in Aachen provided a perfect setting, as Aleksandar Sibilia from the UTI office as well as Alex Schwarz, Stefanie Marwitz and Lisa Eilmes from Corporate Partners could attend.

The evening started with a short introduction into the goals and work of the Strategy Task Force. Following Aleksandar Sibilia presented an overview about the situation of UNITECH in general and the future plans. This led to a very lively and creative discussion. A lot of new ideas were created and everybody enjoyed getting some insight into the thoughts and opinions of others.

I hope we can continue this open dialogue so that the entire network can benefit from it. Thanks to all participants and their interests and energy!

January 11^th, 2010: Aachen

Based on an idea that came before Christmas, we met for a night of PowerPoint Karaoke. The idea behind it is quite simple. You present a presentation which you have not seen before, so you have to improvise. This especially is important when you do not understand the topic you are talking about or you do not know an abbreviation. It was a lot of fun, to see old Mid-Term-Week presentation being presented in a VERY new way. And we also learned a lot: Nanotubes are not dangerous at all, figures are only about colors, Voiht has strange name for departments and Albert Einstein was/were the most important persons of the century.

Delft January 6^th to 8^th

This year's Mid-Term-Week for the current UNITECH students was hosted by TU Delft at the beginning of January. As every year, several Corporate Partners gave the students some case studies to think about and create new ideas. This year they were joined by the UNITECH International (UTI) office, who gave out a case about the brand "UNITECH". What is its value, its core competence and how can it be improved?

Since UTI and the UAA are both part of UNITECH, the UAA also played a role in this assignment. Therefore we supported the groups by distributing a survey among the Alumni and were also interested in the results. Over Christmas the idea came up to go to Delft in person and see, which ideas the students would come up with. Spontaneously, Marta and Roman decided to take that chance and went to Delft.

On Wednesday they presented the UAA and also the work of the Strategy Task Force to the students and also got some feedback on it (you can find our presentation here: www.unitech-alumni.org/documents/2010-01-presentation-to-students.pdf and the questionnaire used for our strategy anlysis here: www.unitech-alumni.org/documents/2009-12-stf-questionnaire.pdf). But even more interesting were the presentations in Friday. The students really put a lot of effort into their projects and the results were impressive. Congratulations! Friday night, the Local Chapter Netherland organized a party for the students to bring their week to a good end.

We are glad that we took the opportunity to promote the UAA not only among the currents students, but also among the Corporate Partners. As always, it was great fun to be in and work together with the UNITECH network. A big THANKS goes to Martin and Aleks, who made these last-minute changes possible despite an already packed schedule.