An octogenarian whose father taught at the erstwhile Presidency College has pledged to donate to Presidency, now a university, Rs 1.13 crore to develop a school of data science, a subject he thinks is the most coveted discipline now.
Rupendra Kumar Brahma, 87, a doctor, said though he has committed Rs 1.13 crore, he could provide up to Rs 1.6 crore if the development of the school requires more support.
His father, Nalini Kanta Brahma, taught at the College Street institution in the 1940s and headed its philosophy department.
Brahma said he wants Presidency to reach the heights that it had attained in its earlier avatar as a college. Working in advanced areas like data science could help that endeavour, he said.
“I have committed a sum of Rs 1.13 crore to develop the school, which I want to be named after my father, the late Nalini Kanta Brahma. Data science is an area that has immense scope. A school in an advanced area like this will help Presidency attract bright students,” Brahma, who studied MBBS from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in 1959, told The Telegraph at his Salt Lake home.
Brahma, who spent close to four decades in the UK working as a senior registrar in psychiatry at the Royal London Hospital and later as medical chairman of the Whipps Cross Hospital, went to Presidency with the proposal last year.
Initially, he wanted his contribution to be used to hire some guest faculty from foreign universities. The Presidency authorities told him he could also contribute to the development of a school of data science and public policy.
The university’s endowment committee, which met last week, has formally approved the proposal, said registrar Debajyoti Konar.
The doctor, who did his MRCP from London and Edinburgh and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, said he received the PWD’s tentative cost estimate of about Rs 1.13 crore from Presidency for the construction of a lightweight structure over the roof of Derozio Building for the proposed Prof. Nalini Kanta Brahma School of data science and public policy.
Now that the endowment committee has accepted the proposal, Brahma will release Rs 20 lakh to start the initial work. The rest will be released in phases.
“Presidency was always known as a premiere undergraduate college. I wish Presidency as a university reaches the same level of excellence,” said Brahma.
Getting an endowment of this scale has been rare for Presidency.
Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty in 2015 donated Rs 5 crore to the university to set up a chair professor post in economics.
Endowments are something that state-aided universities like Presidency are looking forward to because of depleting support from both state and central governments in developing infrastructure and maintenance.
The State Education Policy, unveiled last year, said grants from corporate houses, philanthropic institutions and individuals can enhance the financial capacity, particularly in the field of higher education.
Registrar Konar they would soon decide what programmes would be offered
at the new school of data science.
“We have plans to offer both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. The state government has sanctioned 12 teaching posts — seven in the field of public policy and five in computer science,” he said.
Brahma told The Telegraph: “I wanted the school to be developed at the university’s College Street campus, not the New Town campus, as my father taught there. I am looking forward to the inauguration of the school.”