IIT Kanpur to replicate US varsities' model for alumni connect

The idea is to source funds for R&D in the wake of the Centre indicating to centrally funded institutions to scout for their own funds for R&D in times to come

Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) is to replicate the US universities' model to rally the alumni support for creating better infrastructure and overcoming shortage of funds for research.

The IIT-K Computer Science department has taken the lead and constituted an Alumni Committee comprising faculty members, who would brainstorm and suggest ways to connect to the alumni in a proactive manner and coax them to give back to their alma mater.

"Alumni funding is important for every institution and it is the trend in the US varsities," Prof Sandeep Shukla of the IIT-K Computer Science department told Business Standard.

He said the idea was to source funds for R&D in the wake of the central government indicating to the centrally funded institutions to scout for their own funds for R&D in times to come.

Shukla underlined the alumni could chip in by offering donations, sharing new ideas or funding the creation of new infra or even funding fresh hiring.

"We would be working closely with the existing alumni organisations in the campus and extract data pertaining to our department," he informed.

IIT-K, which has an alumni base of over 30,000 has several of its students holding key positions in the Indian and global IT corporations and public departments. Besides, a number of its alumni are successful and known entrepreneurs nationally and worldwide as well.

IIT-K alumni and their companies provide handsome donations to the US institutions than their alma mater. "This is mainly because the major clientele of Indian IT majors are based in USA and such donations help in brand building. Our endeavour is to encourage them to contribute to IIT-K too."

During 2015-16, the number of externally funded ongoing projects reached 553 with a sanctioned amount of Rs 511 crore. IIT-K had received sanctions for 161 sponsored projects worth Rs 98 crore and 122 consultancy projects of value Rs 16 crore.

The premier Institute has been strategically building upon its capacity and seeking central funds to augment its cyber security research and training programmes.

Last month, IIT-K had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to enhance its cyber domain security.

Besides, the Institute had signed a MoU with the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center (ICRC) of Tel Aviv University, Israel for academic relationships, research and teaching projects. Earlier, IIT-K had collaborated with the Tandon School of Engineering at New York University in student/faculty exchange and research.