The IIM Calcutta’s batch of 1993 has contributed Rs 3.05 crore that will be used to build modern classrooms and provide a scholarship to one underprivileged student.
The former students had planned to do their bit for the institute during a reunion on the campus in December 2018, an official said.
The fund collection started in 2019 but Covid slowed down the effort.
While the corpus was being created, the former students sought to know from the institute about the areas where the funds could be utilised.
The endowment will be used in two areas, said a former student from the 1993 batch.
“A part of the funds will be used to build modern classrooms (the institute had indicated that such classrooms were badly needed). The remaining portion will be used to fund a partial scholarship in perpetuity for one student.
We would like the scholarship to be awarded on the basis of economic need,” said Bala Vissa, a former student who is a professor of entrepreneurship at a business school in Singapore.
The help from the alumni came five months after director Uttam Kumar Sarkar urged the alumni, during the diamond jubilee celebrations of the institute, to come forward and help them reach an enviable height by overcoming financial challenges and translating opportunities to reality.
Manish Thakur, dean (new initiatives and external relations) said: “Any such contribution, irrespective of the amount, reinforces the connection of the institute with its alumni. From the institutional point of view, this will galvanize other alumni to follow the lead”.
He said the coffer is likely to get bigger as some more students from the batch could contribute.
“We will cater to the sentiments of the batch while using the endowment,” said Thakur.