The alumni cell of Jadavpur University on Friday constituted a committee which will seek suggestions on how the cell can be run professionally to network with former students around the year.
The university plans to recruit dedicated staff for the cell who will reach out to the former students and raise funds for various initiatives, said pro-vice-chancellor Amitava Datta, who heads the cell.
The cell, which was set up around a year ago and has been tasked with drawing up a database of former students spread across the globe, will have its own office, Datta said.
The university has so far not been able to raise much funds from former students and many blame the authorities for not doing enough on the outreach front.
At JU’s first Alumni Day on January 4, many former students urged the university to reach out to the alumni in a structured way.
“We have constituted a committee which will give the university suggestions on how the cell can act in a professional and structured way. The committee has been asked to give its report by February. It will then be placed before the university’s executive committee. We have plans to engage a dedicated workforce for the cell, which will network with former students through various initiatives,” Datta told Metro.
The university, which has been encountering an acute funds crunch owing to a decline in support from the state and central governments and a fee structure which is said to be the lowest in the country, has started wooing the former students so they come forward with generous support.
JU has started doing what the IITs and overseas universities have been doing for years.
The university on Friday felicitated Manoj Kothari, an alumnus of the mechanical engineering department who lifted the World Billiards Championship title in 1990.
Kothari was supposed to be felicitated on the Alumni Day on Saturday but he
could not make it to the programme.
“Many of my batchmates did not know that JU was observing Alumni Day on January 4. The university has to take steps to reach out to former students so they get to know about important events like this. Only then will this be reflected in a substantial fundraising drive and other forms of assistance,” Kothari said.