A batch of former students of the civil engineering department of Jadavpur University has bought a digital Universal Testing Machine (UTM) worth ₹13 lakh for the department.

The department could not buy the machine for years for want of funds.

The only machine that the department has is as old as the department itself. JU's civil engineering department started in 1954.

The machine becomes dysfunctional occasionally and the tests conducted do not produce authentic results, said Partha Bhattacharya, head of the department.

A UTM is used to test the mechanical properties of a sample by applying transverse load.

A professor said students were suffering in the absence of this machine.

Bhattacharya appealed to the batch of students to buy the machine. The batch had graduated in 1998 and recently observed its 25th year of graduation.

The students bought their alma mater a digital machine, which was commissioned last week in the presence of the university's interim vice-chancellor, Bhaskar Gupta, and pro-vice-chancellor, Amitava Datta. The old machine the department had was an analogue one.

Metro reported on May 7 that JU's alumni cell had started a drive to tap former students worldwide to mobilise resources and address the funds crunch the university is reeling under.

“We all know about the funds crisis that the university is encountering. Fifty students of our batch contributed so we could buy the department this machine,” said Sujoy Nag, a student of the batch.

VC Gupta said: “We are looking forward to support from the former students to tide over the funds crunch to some extent. The machine will help students of the civil engineering department in a big way.”

“With the help of the former students, we will soon start an ambulance service at JU's Salt Lake campus,” Gupta said.

Nag said: “We will help the university to make the syllabus industry-ready so the latest trends can be incorporated into the curriculum.”