After grappling with a debilitating funds crunch for several years, Jadavpur University has finally decided to reach out to its alumni in a more structured way to raise funds.
The cell will have its office in the Technology Bhavan, vice-chancellor Bhaskar Gupta said.
JU will engage an agency to develop a website for the alumni cell. “The cell will be run professionally so that we can tap our alumni network effectively,” Gupta said.
The university also aims to increase its social media presence. “Relationship building is a round-the-clock job. We need to use social media platforms as much as possible for this,” VC Gupta told Metro.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Alumni cell held on March 20.
Dipankar Sanyal, an invited member to the alumni cell, said they have created five verticals that will guide its activities. They are — internal coordination, operations, engagement, networking and communication and service.
“The plans drawn by the internal coordination vertical will be given a shape by the operations team. The engagement team will liaise with the contributors so that projects are effectively executed. The networking and communication unit will look after the university’s branding. The service cell will see how the university can offer services to the former students,” he said.
VC Gupta said they will also seek help from the alumni in restructuring of its syllabus.
“We have already started an industrial lecture series. Our former students associated with industry delivered the lectures, in the electronics and telecommunication engineering department. This helps students understand the patterns being followed in the real world,” he said.
While observing the university’s first Alumni Day on January 4, many former students said networking with alumni was a serious business and JU had to wake up to this reality.
