IIT director critiques JU outreach; call for professional relationship managers
Telegraph | 4 January 2026
A former student on Saturday showed Jadavpur University exactly what is wrong with its approach toward alumni.
Suman Chakraborty, a mechanical engineering alumnus from the class of 1996 and the current director of IIT Kharagpur, lamented the absence of dialogue in his batch’s WhatsApp group concerning the alumni meet on Saturday, which aimed to commemorate the alumni connections of JU.
“JU has one of India’s most diverse and intellectually influential alumni networks. Absolutely no doubt about that. But yet engagement (with the former students) remains fragmented.... JU has not been able to tap its former students,” Chakraborty said in his address at the open-air theatre on the campus.
“I am a part of the alumni WhatsApp group of the mechanical engineering department. Today’s global alumni meet was not announced in the WhatsApp group. So I think this (alumni outreach remains fragmented. There is nothing wrong with that. But if we want to leverage on what JU collectively wants to do, then these are small, small things one could look into,” he said.
Metro reported on December 26 that JU invited the IIT Kharagpur director — an alumnus — to speak on ways to scale up the university’s fundraising efforts through its alumni network on the lines of the IITs.
In his lecture, Chakraborty underscored the need to translate pride and nostalgia for his alma mater into actual and structured networking that JU could benefit from.
“There is a significant opportunity of converting pride and nostalgia into a structural institutional partnership. And that is where JU’s unique alumni advantage lies,” said the IIT Kharagpur director.
The director pointed out the shortcomings in JU’s alumni outreach initiative in his address.
“At the IITs, the alumni demonstrate considerable engagement and concern. Reflecting on my experience as a former student at JU, I see that we have some fragmented events, such as the annual departmental celebrations. While these activities will continue, the actual progress of the institute will not materialise. Consequently, alumni engagement should be understood as a long-term ecosystem and a common mission,” he said.
Metro has reported time and again that at Jadavpur, the highest contribution from former students revolves around ₹1 crore.
In August, IIT Kharagpur director Chakraborty announced on the occasion of the platinum jubilee of the oldest IIT, that it would open an outreach centre in Houston, USA, with a $10 million (roughly ₹10 crore) donation from the family of a former student. The centre will foster alumni collaboration.
Many blame the absence of a structured alumni outreach for this not-so-impressive contribution from the former students.
A former student of St Lawrence High School, Chakraborty said JU has to stop this mindset of treating the former students as “episodic guests”.
“Now, in this respect, what global best practices teach us. The alumni are globally treated as strategic stakeholders and not as episodic guests. There are clear engagement pathways and professional alumni offices. Faculty alumni integration acts as the core design principle of the institutional progress, not like an occasional thing,” said Chakraborty.
“People have databases of alumni from which they are doing interesting analysis. And that analytics is reflected in the strategy to engage alumni. So this is a small vision for JU alumni engagement,” he said.
Chakraborty wondered whether professionals handled JU’s alumni cell. His doubts were not unfounded.
In March 2025, JU announced that it would appoint dedicated relationship managers for its alumni cell who would update former students about various initiatives, as is done in the IITs.
The relationship managers would periodically post project details on the cell’s website, and former students would be urged to contribute.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of the alumni cell on March 20. But to date, the decisions have not been implemented.
JU vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee told Metro: “There are shortcomings in our alumni outreach, as pointed out by our illustrious alumnus. We are trying to get it structured and focused.”