Jadavpur University has invited the IIT Kharagpur director — an alumnus — to speak on ways to scale up the university’s fundraising efforts through its alumni network, on the lines of the IITs.
IIT Kharagpur director Suman Chakraborty, who pursued mechanical engineering at JU, will speak at the university’s global alumni meet, scheduled on January 3.
JU vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee said: “JU is encountering a funds crunch owing to a depletion in state funding and has not been able to scale up its fundraising drive despite having a wide pool of alumni worldwide. Like any other IIT, IIT Kharagpur has been extremely successful in nurturing its alumni base, which leads to large-scale contributions from former students.”
“We want to hear from the IIT Kharagpur director on how to go about it? How do they establish such a strong network? So JU can learn from them and benefit,” Bhattacharjee added.
Bhattacharjee did his PhD at IIT Kanpur.
On Thursday, the VC said the way IIT Kanpur reaches out to its former students “is something that JU has never thought of”.
“The worldwide alumni network has been a strong support system for the growth of any institute. JU has been extremely poor in this. We need to hear from the IIT Kharagpur director so we can scale up our efforts.”
IIT Kharagpur director Suman Chakraborty, who completed his BTech in 1996, said his alma mater was “not at all proactive in establishing and nurturing connections with its former students”.
“JU has a strong alumni base. But the university has never tapped the available resources. I will share the IIT stories with JU,” said Chakraborty.
At Jadavpur, the highest contribution from former students revolves around ₹1 crore.
In August, IIT Kharagpur director Chakraborty announced on the occasion of the platinum jubilee of the oldest IIT, that it would open an outreach centre in Houston, USA, with a $10 million (roughly ₹10 crore) donation from the family of a former student. The centre will foster alumni collaboration.
The director told Metro on Thursday that at the IIT, they reach out to the alumni batch-wise and also hostel-wise.
“We host the silver or golden jubilee of their passing out. All these events make the former students feel connected. If the former students are now associated with academics, we do not look up to them for funds. We look forward to learning from their experience to better our curriculum. If the former students are running an enterprise, we approach them for funds,” Chakraborty said.
“An institute needs to have a structured and focused approach towards the former students. JU has to develop this approach.”
A JU official said that at a time when the budgetary allocations for state-funded universities were on the wane, and JU will continue to persist with a fee structure that is considered by many to be the lowest in the country, tapping former students is the only viable option. “But we have not been able to make much headway in this direction. Our alumni disconnect continues to plague us,” the official said.
In March, Jadavpur University announced that it would appoint dedicated relationship managers for its alumni cell, who will update former students about various initiatives like the IITs do.
The relationship managers would periodically post details of projects on the campus on the cell’s website, and former students would be urged to contribute.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of the alumni cell on March 20. But to date, the decisions have not been implemented.
“We graduated from JU in 1996,” said the IIT director, adding: “I do not recall JU ever trying to contact someone from our batch. If an institute does not reach out to its former students, they will never feel like giving it back to their college.”