The alumni association of Jadavpur University has decided to start a chapter in the US on the lines of one run by former students of IIT Kharagpur.

The alumni association of IIT Kharagpur provides students and researchers scholarship for pursuing higher studies in the US. The JU alumni foundation will be headquartered in California.

The foundation, in association with the alumni chapter on the JU campus, would screen students based on their performance in courses they have pursued at the university, the details of the internship or project and the profile of the host institute.

“The global alumni chapter of IIT Kharagpur from last year has been funding the internship programme of its students at premiere institutes in the US and elsewhere. The US alumni chapter of St Xavier’s College does a lot of fund-raising for various initiatives. The foundation would work on these lines,” said Hiren Kumar Ghosh, the president of the Jadavpur University Alumni Association.

The funding would primarily take care of the airfare and provide for the stay of the selected students.

Ranjit Kumar Chakravorti, who had graduated in 1961, and Apurba Mukherjee, who had graduated in 1963, are the ones who would look after the JU foundation in the US.

“After completing their studies, they settled in the US. Both of them were entrepreneurs. They recently came to the campus to hold discussions about floating the alumni chapter. Initially, the foundation is planning to raise a corpus of over Rs 2 crore to enable JU students pursue higher studies in the US,” said Ghosh.

Chakravorti told The Telegraph: “We are planning to raise a corpus of 10 to 15 million dollars over the next 10 years. The scheme would help JU university students to get themselves exposed to the premier institutes in the US. This would foster research.”

The former heads of the departments in engineering and science faculty are members of the alumni association and they would be engaged in the screening process.

A member of the alumni association said the selection of students would be administered by the alumni association based on the criteria developed by the body and the foundation in USA.

In February 2019, both Chakravorti and Mukherjee had met and discussed the objectives of the foundation with vice-chancellor Suranjan Das.

Das has conveyed in a letter to the foundation: “On my own behalf and on behalf of the university, I thank you and express sincere gratitude for taking the initiative to help your alma mater to sustain its continuous march to excellence. I confirm the university’s deep appreciation for your effort to form the Global Jadavpur University Alumni Foundation.”