Jadavpur University alumni help set up two modern labs for civil and electrical engineering
Telegraph | 30 December 2024
Former students of Jadavpur University’s two departments — civil and electrical engineering — collaborated to set up two state-of-the-art labs that the university could not afford on its own.
The 1999 batch of JU’s civil engineering department raised ₹23.15 lakh to buy the latest software and computers for the department’s geotech laboratory, and the electrical engineering department of the same year raised ₹18.7 lakh to develop a power systems laboratory.
The former students of the civil engineering department also helped renovate the geotech laboratory which was named, Computational Geomechanics Laboratory.
“The laboratory has the latest software equipment. The laboratory will help students in analytical experiments,” said Neepa Biswas, one of the former students who was part of the fundraising initiative.
The power systems laboratory developed with the funds raised by the former students of the electrical department is equipped with workstations, Internet of Things (IoT) development setup and other accessories.
Several former students with industry connections who attended the event on Saturday noted that Jadavpur University, despite having a large alumni base, lags significantly behind the IITs in terms of fundraising efforts.
Parikshit Guha, one of the former students of the civil engineering department who is associated with a construction MNC, said the fund drive at JU has yet to get on a substantial scale because unlike the IITs JU does not connect to former students in a structured and professional way.
Guha, who did his MTech from IIT Madras, said IIT Madras raised ₹157 crore last year from the former students.
“IIT Madras has a dedicated alumni cell which keeps networking with its former students each week. The institute reaches out to its alumni in a structured and sincere way to give the impression they care for their pass-outs. But this approach is missing in JU. This is why the fundraising scale is so poor in JU,” said Guha.
“Given the alumni base that JU has, it should be able to raise ₹40 to 50 crore in a year. However, that is not the case because the university does not reach out to the former students in a sincere and structured way,” he said.
Biswajit Basu, who previously taught at Jadavpur University’s civil engineering department and now teaches at Trinity College, Dublin, suggested that JU adopt a similar fundraising approach, where faculty members, like those at his current institution, receive training on securing funds.
Basu was present during the inauguration of the labs.
“A substantial amount of their (Trinity College) annual budget is raised from the former students,” he said.
The JU pro-vice-chancellor, Amitava Datta, who was present at the event said the university was encountering fund constraints and looked forward to the contribution from the former students in renovating the infrastructure.
The fund crunch stemmed owing to a depletion in contributions from the state government, central government and JU’s failure to raise the fee structure which is the lowest in the country.
The pro-VC said in his address at the civil engineering department that the university has recently opened its alumni cell and will observe Alumni Day from January 2025.
“The former students will reciprocate only when the institute will reach out to them. JU has to learn it,” said Guha.