Age out and retire. Leave the office, the telephone and the email, say goodbye to the colleagues with whom you have shared projects and time in life. And after closing the last door, the professional is left outside what was almost his home. Some are delighted, others not so much.
This is what is happening in many companies. Also in universities and academic institutions that regret, in turn, how talented and capable professionals, very valuable to the entity, disappear. They leave at 65 or 70 years old, with their knowledge, experience, with their research groups and their phone book. a light in the system that goes off. The current challenge is how to maintain, for those who want it, a professional and emotional bond.
Esade has begun to form a community of former retirees. The Catalan institution is not starting from scratch. He has the successful experience of having formed a collective with people who are no longer directly linked to his name but want to continue being present. His alumni community, one of the most active and numerous in Spain, reaches 73,000 students from almost 150 countries around the world. That umbrella is what the English call win win. Everyone wins.
“On the other hand, although Esade's faculty has always been excellent, there is no similar community,” explains Jordi Montaña, president of the new Esade Magistri. “They are an intangible heritage,” says the former professor, now retired, “that can contribute from his experience to the rest of the community.”
As? Montaña believes that they can participate in many tasks, advising and collaborating with younger teachers, disseminating knowledge of their specialty, participating in public events on behalf of Esade or collaborating with other associations... "We have lost contact with many collaborators and now we would like to take it back."
Next week the first meeting will be held with a core of 30 "nuclear" people and this is what will be defined.
It is planned to invite not only retired professors at Esade to participate in this community, but also professors who taught in their classrooms, even if they retired in another entity, collaborators with significant dedication and administration professionals (library, communication, secretarial).
