Alumni open purse to help IIT-Delhi build research schools

The highly successful alumni of Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D) have pumped in millions of dollars to the alma mater since it was established in 1961, helping the institute look beyond government funding for several ambitious research projects.

Currently, two complexes are being built in IIT-Delhi with 100 per cent alumni funding and the foundation for another one was laid recently to boost the institute’s research prospects. The first is Amarnath and Shashi Khosla School of Information Technology, named after parents of IIT-Delhi alumnus and US-based venture capitalist Vinod Khosla.

Khosla, a BTech in Electrical Engineering from IIT-Delhi, co-founded Sun Microsystems along with his Stanford classmates in 1982. Dean of Alumni Affairs Ambuj Sagar said Khosla has provided $5 million for construction of the building and for research work to be taken up there. “The complex will be ready in the next six months,” Dean of Infrastructure Ashok Gupta said. It will be for inter-disciplinary, goal-oriented research, and also serve as an innovation centre for post-graduate education in information technology.

Kusuma School of Biological Sciences, funded by alumnus Anurag Dikshit through the UK-based Kusuma Trust, named after his mother, is another project coming up on the campus. The trust has said to have contributed more than £5 million to build the school. Dean of Infrastructure Gupta said Rs. 100 million has already been released for the building, while the rest would be utilised for setting up research laboratories within the facility. The project mission is to promote research by “interfacing modern biology with applied engineering sciences to address problems affecting human health and welfare, and training scholars to be the next generation scientists”.

Patanjali Keswani, Managing Director of Lemon Tree Hotels and an IIT-Delhi alumnus, recently announced Rs. 200 million for GH Keswani Research Centre at the institute. Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal laid the foundation of the project, which will be built in an area of approximately 130,000 square feet. It will reserved for research facilities for students.

IIT-Delhi has so far produced over 30,000 engineers, technologists, scientists, managers and entrepreneurs. Over the years, this rich roll-call has helped the institute financially and logistically take up several alumni-funded projects.

Source: The Indian Express, September 23, 2012

IIMs look to alumni for raising funds

The country’s premier educational institute, the Indian Institutes of Managements (IIMs), will be seeking funds from its alumni and other stakeholders to expand and create world-class infrastructure. The top management of the IIMs will discuss on Friday,a blueprint on ways to get funds from corporate world and alumni in the next few years. “The IIM directors will be discussing on how to raise funds for the new and old IIMs and engage the alumni,” said Hari S. Bhartia, Chairperson of IIM-Raipur and head of a MHRD committee on raising funds for the IIMs.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) had constituted the committee to help IIMs in building a corpus, so that they can be financially independent and fund proposal for foreign campuses. Bhartia had already recommended setting up of a development office and campaign committees in each IIM for raising fund.

Fund raising campaign by some foreign universities like Yale and Harvard have resulted in generation of over US $ 3 billion. Harvard had received US $50 million donation from the Tata Group in 2010 and earlier Anand Mahindra had donated US $ 10 million.

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have also generated money in similar ways. Bhartia said the IITs have raised good money and IIMs, especially the older ones, would like to revisit strategy and engage alumni to raise funds. According to IIM officials, the reasons for poor response would also be discussed. To help the IIMs and IITs in their mission, the MHRD has already sought Income Tax exemption on donation of funds or option of non-cash endowments. The ministry had also given full authority to individual IIMs to raise money to pay for its expansion plans.

Source: Hindustan Times, January 13, 2012

‘Alumni control can play big role in enhancing university stature’

The higher the degree of alumni control in a university, the higher its ranking, said Prof. Shailendra Mehta, Visiting Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) and Duke Corporate Education. This is because it is the alumni who value the university the most, he added.

There are two key criteria to determine the success of any university, he said. First, it has to be a not-for-profit set-up. “They can be private but not for profit,” said Prof. Mehta, at the FICCI Higher Education Summit. Second, the university has to be controlled by its alumni.

An analysis of the global rankings of educational institutes shows that the majority at the top were from the US. According to the Shanghai Jiao Tong Rankings 2010, 17 of the top 20 universities were from the US, with UC Berkeley, Stanford and MIT following Harvard, which was top-most. Again, of the top 20 US universities, 19 are controlled by alumni and the top five have 100 per cent alumni control.

“Who has the most stake in a university doing well? The people who value it the most — the alumni. For, the college you go to determines the kind of person you will be and your network of influence,” said Prof. Mehta. Harvard has almost always been controlled by its alumni, barring a few years. Most universities from Yale to Columbia followed suit. The other criteria that play a role in determining a university’s success are national wealth, large population, private philanthropy and unitary governance, he added.

Dr, Jonathan Adams, Director of Research Evaluation, Thomson Reuters, said India should reject the bubble reputation if it wants its universities to grow. Universities are complex organisations and cannot be reduced to a single index. There should be appropriate benchmarks…the focus should be on developing the core of the organisation, he said. India had a lot of catching up to do in research. While its GDP growth rate is high, other indicators beg improvement. The UK has a lower GDP but still produces 7.8 per cent of the world’s research output in comparison to India’s 3.5 per cent, he added.

The economy can grow from 7.6 to 8 per cent till March 2012, said Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, on the sidelines of the event. “At 7.6 per cent, the economy is growing faster than any economy in the world. Our objective should not be to worry about the fact that it has slowed down, but how to make it grow at 8 per cent plus next year,” he said.

Source: The Hindu Business Line, November 12, 2011