Chennai: It is not only higher education institutions abroad that receive large funds as donation and endowments from alumni, but Indian institutions too do. Several universities and colleges in India, including our own Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, Anna University”s College of Engineering, Guindy and Loyola College have been receiving funds from its alumni in India and abroad.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, R. Nagarajan, Dean (International & Alumni Relations) at IIT Madras, says the institute has set a target of Rs 500 crore by 2020 to create a corpus for the institute and with generous funding from alumni, the institute has already reached Rs 100 crore. “If we reach Rs 500 crore target before 2020, we will raise our target to Rs 1,000 as target for 2020,” he says with a sense of confidence.
Ten years ago the institute raised funds of about Rs. three crore annually. In 2011, they generated Rs 10 crore for the first time and then in 2014 the sum went up to Rs 23 crore. This year the institute has fixed a target to collect Rs 45 to Rs 50 crore.
“Union government generously funds our institute, they meet our needs whereas alumni funding when properly directed will meet our aspirations. We aspire to be in the top 30-40 in global ranking, strategic infusion of funding will help us reach that level,” he explains.
According to IIT-M”s alumni office, Kris Gopalakrishnan (1975-M.Sc Physics and 1979-M.Tech in computer science) and Dr Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande (1973-B.Tech Electrical Engineering) have been two major donors for the institute.
Pointing out that many of IIT-M”s largest donors were an-onymous, who do not want their names to be publicised, Nagarajan says the institute has a donor wall of fame in Students Activities Center (SAC) in which their names are displayed, besides donors are honoured during donor reception day every year and also name buildings after donors.
Explaining how alumni at IIT contribute to their alma mater, S.Gopal, an alumnus and president of the IIT Alumni Centre said the centre had members from all IITs as it is an initiative across IIT”s. “Many of the members are from IIT Madras and have contributed to their alma mater in many ways including fund raising. Members have not only given personal funds generously but have actively helped in raising funds for IIT Madras. Members have also contributed to IIT Madras in many ways by giving time,” he says.
Not only IIT alumni contribute to their institute but alumni from Anna University”s College of Engineering, Guindy too do. P. Narayanaswamy, Dean of the college, noted that their alumni had funded several initiatives launched by the college, including wi-fi facility at Rs 25 lakhs,Rs 20 lakh funding for the digital library and financial support for construction of civil engineering department building.
CEG”s alumni also provide scholarships to the tune of Rs.50 lakhs every year to help students get high quality technical education at Anna University. “The funds generated from alumni are not only used for scholarships, but are also utilised for sponsoring endowment lectures and other projects,” he said.
VIT University Chancellor and president of Loyola college alumni association G.Viswanathan pointed out that alumni funding had just started at VIT University with alumni providing scholarships to students worth Rs 4 lakhs every year.
“Our alumni not only offer scholarships but also help us in placing students in companies.” he said. Speaking about his alma mater-Loyola College, Viswanathan said the college constructed a building with alumni funding of Rs 7.5 crore and has also been involved in various other projects. “Loyola has alumni across the world, so we want to collect more funds for our alma mater and spend it meaningfully,” he added.
