The alumni cell of Jadavpur University has started a drive to tap former students worldwide to mobilise resources and address the funds crunch the university is reeling under.
The cell, through a Google form, is preparing a database of former students so the university can reach out to them for help.
The new interim VC of the university, Bhaskar Gupta, a member of the cell, said they want the cell to work on a par with the alumni cell of IIT Kharagpur, which
plays a crucial role in fundraising through intense networking.
“At IIT Kharagpur, the alumni contribution has been so large that the institute has been able to open a management school. We have to think on a scale like this if the university is to be taken forward. The university has to use its huge pool of alumni more effectively. We have to work in a consolidated and structured way to meet the funds crunch and excel,” said Gupta.
Vinod Gupta, a BTech from the batch of 1967 at IIT Kharagpur, had provided a $2-million endowment to help the institute set up a school of management.
The pro-vice-chancellor of JU, Amitava Datta, has been spearheading the initiative to foster a bond with former students and encourage them to give back to their alma mater through fund-raising efforts for the overall growth of the university.
A JU official said several former students have over the past couple of years been reaching out to the university, which has been struggling with obsolete facilities because of a crippling funds crunch.
Metro reported in October last year that a former student of chemical engineering at JU had gifted his alma mater a chemical reactor worth Rs 35 lakh so students get the opportunity to engage in new-age research.
In January this year, a platform of former students of JU based in the US had contributed Rs 32 lakh so students of electronics and telecommunication engineering get the opportunity to work in advanced laboratories.
But these initiatives are happening in bits and pieces, said a JU official.
In most cases, the alumni reached out to the university after reading about the funds constraints.
“But this time, the alumni cell is reaching out to the former students in a structured way to develop the database so the inflow of funds could take place in an organised way. The university needs to tap more potential contributors to tide over the funds crunch,” the official said.
JU has been facing a drastic decline in the flow of funds from the state and the central governments.
The fee structure, which was last raised in 2000 and is considered to be the lowest across all universities and institutes in the country, has also come in the way of resource generation.
This newspaper reported on April 28 that a team from Delhi, which recently visited JU to assess whether its departments are maintaining the standards set by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), questioned the university authorities on why its fees were so low.
“A platform of former students recently helped develop an advanced lab in the electronics and telecommunication engineering department. This should be happening in more and more departments,” said VC Gupta.
