The Old and the New
The IIT system has seen a glorious epoch of over 50 years. An it won't be an overstatement to assert that these years have been glorious only because of the achievements, eminence and repute of the alumni of the IITs. I don't have to go on counting the names of such renowned and dignified figures. (Sandipan Deb has done it accurately in his book The IITians). The contribution of the alumni in reshaping the world, as Deb calls it has been the major contributing factor towards the creation of the Brand IIT.
Now that the alumni have bolstered this brand, shouldn't they expect some payback from the institutes. Some might argue that isn't the IIT the very institute which made them what they are. Yes agreed. Their names might not have been world famous had they not come to the IIT. But still, IITs have a long way to go in terms of a proper Alumni Management system. The occasional get-togthers and the PAN-IIT meets are more of an effort from the alumni themselves rather than from the IITs.
So it was a commendable effort on the part of IIT Kharagpur to start a "Global Alumni Meet" four years ago. This year we had the 4th edition of this meet on the 6th and 7th of January. It was a good experience for me being involved in the organisation of this meet. The best part though were the meals served during the meet. Beyond doubt those two days were my best "eating days" at Kgp. The meet was attended by over 200 alumni of different years. The participation was considerably higher from the batches of 1957 and 1982 who were having their silver and golden jubilees respectively this year. (They didn't have to pay the token amount of Rs. 1000 as the participation fee).
The meet consisted of addresses, cultural programmes, visit around the campus and to the respective halls of the alumni and a newly-introduced interactive session with the students. In Patel Hall we had the traditional bonfire after the dinner where our alumni (most of whom were quite old now) recollected their wonderful days of stay in the hall.
Now that the alumni have bolstered this brand, shouldn't they expect some payback from the institutes. Some might argue that isn't the IIT the very institute which made them what they are. Yes agreed. Their names might not have been world famous had they not come to the IIT. But still, IITs have a long way to go in terms of a proper Alumni Management system. The occasional get-togthers and the PAN-IIT meets are more of an effort from the alumni themselves rather than from the IITs.
So it was a commendable effort on the part of IIT Kharagpur to start a "Global Alumni Meet" four years ago. This year we had the 4th edition of this meet on the 6th and 7th of January. It was a good experience for me being involved in the organisation of this meet. The best part though were the meals served during the meet. Beyond doubt those two days were my best "eating days" at Kgp. The meet was attended by over 200 alumni of different years. The participation was considerably higher from the batches of 1957 and 1982 who were having their silver and golden jubilees respectively this year. (They didn't have to pay the token amount of Rs. 1000 as the participation fee).
The meet consisted of addresses, cultural programmes, visit around the campus and to the respective halls of the alumni and a newly-introduced interactive session with the students. In Patel Hall we had the traditional bonfire after the dinner where our alumni (most of whom were quite old now) recollected their wonderful days of stay in the hall.
posted by Sumit Kumar at
9:04 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home