Bhubaneswar, May 3: IIT alumni from across the state and outside are all set to put their heads together and help Odisha perform better in technical education and vocational training courses.

As a prelude to the Pan IIT global conference and exhibition 2012, which will begin in Calcutta on December 7, IIT alumni in Odisha are organising a “PanIIT Alumni Bhubaneswar” meet on May 5, in which discussions will be held on the various initiatives of the group.

“The meet aims to bring together the alumni of 16 IITs to help and support the nation by developing the skill and infrastructure, though various initiatives such as IIT Mentors, IITs for ITIs and capacity building in engineering education.

“The meet also aims to harness the talent, knowledge and skills of IITians for the cause of nation building,” said BMC commissioner Vishal Dev, who is an IITian himself. Minister for rural development and drinking water and sanitation Jairam Ramesh, who is also an IITian, will be the chief guest at the meet.

Students and faculty members of IIT Bhubaneswar will also attend the meeting. “The students will get an opportunity to meet the IIT alumni who are contributing towards the welfare of the state,” said M. Chakroborty, director, IIT Bhubaneswar.

“We will have capacity building programmes for faculties and discussion on how to improve the quality of engineering studies in the state,” said Prasenjeet Pati, coordinator for the event and treasurer of PanIIT Alumni Bhubaneswar.

The PanIIT Alumni movement started in 2002 as an umbrella organisation, covering the alumni of all Indian Institutes of Technology, to evolve a brand that would provide strong fraternity among IIT alumni with objectives of providing their expertise and services for those at the grassroots. The global conferences are alternatively held at the USA and India every year. Last year, the conference was held in New York. In the previous year, it was held at Chennai.

“A need for meetings at grassroot level was felt. Thus state-level meets were planned so that we could get closer to the masses. The initiative has thus begun from organising a meet like this in cities, with the first one at Bhubaneswar,” said Pati. Odisha itself has over 600 IITians of who 400 or more are expected to attend the meet. Alumni from any of the IITs could register for the event at www.PanIIT.in, Pati said.