I've been pushing it from the other end, but I fear that my efforts have not yet yielded fruit.
The main problem I see at linked in is that whilst you might see a number of groups, there is no way of knowing how to connect to the administrator (unless there's a Yahoo group or another 3rd party mechanism). Sometimes, the group owner's put out messages to those who have identifiable email addresses, but again, it is hit and miss.
Yes, there are unofficial alumni groups, but I gather that most schools and large employers don't manage the LinkedIn groups which bear their names and logos. I'm not sure how many have facilities as we have with the LBS alumni portal or as I have for keeping in touch with KPMG's alumni.
Re LinkedIn: As a user, anything which adds more credibility to the profile information is great with a huge caveat emptor label for those who use the information they find here for business.
At a practical level, this would certainly simply things. For instance, there are a number of groups from LBS that I've come across. However, no one here or at the LBS portal seems to own the function of inviting alumni and students alike to relevant groups. Net result: groups become stagnant, multiple groups might be formed, etc, etc.
For companies with thousands of "alumni" ie ex employees, I would see the LinkedIn group as a value added service - and worthy of administration or part of the exit package (along with recommendations).
As someone has pointed out, the standing data (eg hard information about the top universities across the globe) needs to be sorted. However, LinkedIn is the best I've seen so far
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