A former student of chemical engineering at Jadavpur University has gifted his alma mater a chemical reactor worth Rs 35 lakh so students get the opportunity to engage in new-age research in a university struggling with obsolete facilities because of a crippling funds crunch.
Ravi Prasad, who graduated in 1971 and lives in Chennai, made the contribution on Thursday. He had promised to make the “gurudakshina” during the department’s centenary celebrations in February.
Prasad said the new custom-fabricated pilot plant will bring to the department’s unit process laboratory “state-of-the-art technology and fully computerised instrumentation system”.
“This will ensure our undergraduate students are better prepared and confident when they join a high-tech chemical plant in the future. This will ensure a better research outcome and attract bright students, which is a must for an institute to flourish,” Prasad told The Telegraph.
This newspaper has reported over the past few years how even JU’s more coveted streams like computer science and engineering fail to attract top students from the state JEE.
Many on the campus said these students opt for the IITs or NITs, which have much better infrastructure than JU.
Prasad had retired last year as chief executive officer of Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux, better known as PAMP, a leading precious metals refining and fabricating company in Dubai.
After graduating from JU in 1971, he did an MBA from IIM Calcutta and then moved into marketing.
Prasad told this newspaper that JU alumni are not as generous as that of other institutes.
“In the IITs, the alumni are big in giving. Unfortunately, this has not been the case with JU, which has a wide fraternity of former students. I sincerely hope that this contribution will set a precedent,” he said.
His contribution came months after then JU vice-chancellor Suranjan Das had written to former students of the chemical engineering department to make “liberal financial contributions”.
VC Buddhadeb Sau was supposed to inaugurate the facility on Thursday. But he could not turn up as he was at a sit-in to protest students’ behaviour the previous day.
Rajat Chakraborty, former head of the chemical engineering department, said: “What Ravi Prasad has gifted us is something that is available in industrial facilities that students join after graduation. This will make them industry-ready when they are still studying.”