E-Paper
Not enough funds to achieve goals
ACHIEVING SCIENTIFIC excellence is an expensive job. The IIT-K, at present, does not have adequate funds to achieve the goals of excellence. This was stated by the Dean Resource and Planning , while making a presentation of the Institute?s progress and its requirements before the gathering of alumni, on Monday.
ACHIEVING SCIENTIFIC excellence is an expensive job. The IIT-K, at present, does not have adequate funds to achieve the goals of excellence.
This was stated by the Dean Resource and Planning , while making a presentation of the Institute’s progress and its requirements before the gathering of alumni, on Monday.
He said the biggest hurdle before the institute was of funds. Government funds were too meagre to tackle any programme and there was no hope of getting more funds from the government, he said. “Consequently, the institute needs flexible funds, which can be used in critical situations.”
He said the institute needed funds for retaining, attracting and motivating the best faculties. Dr Jain said the institute had received Rs 45 crore from the government, SIDBI, the Railways and other sources and, out of that, Rs 10 crore was donated by the alumni settled in the USA. He said in the financial year 2004-05 Rs 1.9 crore was received from various agencies, while Rs 65 lakh was donated by the alumni. It was expected that the donation would be around Rs 200 lakh during the current financial year, he said.
Dr Jain informed the alumni that the donation amount had been used for specific purposes. He said the 1968 batch helped create four faculty chairs, through which the institute could manage to retain best faculties.
He said an attempt had been made to provide financial assistance to poor students, who preferred to go abroad for attending international seminars and also for higher studies and they were free to pay back the amount to the institute whenever they felt settled and comfortable.
Besides, he said, the institute had started giving a scholarship of Rs 2000 to 16 undergraduate students and to five postgraduate students per month for their studies. The scholarships could be extended if there were adequate funds with the institute, he added. The alumni who were present during the presentations made by Dr Jain, expressed dissatisfaction over the manner of the presentation.
MS Bindra, an alumnus alleged that though they came to the institute but there was no one to tell them about the developments on the campus. They even did not know what buildings or new disciplines were created at the institute. He suggested that the Alumni Association must publish a brochure containing the photographs of the campus as a whole, of the newly constructed buildings and about the significant changes took place in the long history of the institute.
Others also suggested that they should be given regular information about the proposed plans and programs of the Institute, so that they could make up their minds for extending assistance. They said they were never given any feedback about the institute before the alumni meet. They also suggested fixing time-bound targets for the institute. Several other alumni suggested that a tentative allocation of funds for different targets be prepared to facilitate donors.
