DU's alumni can be the only sustainable source of funds for the university says VC

Updated on: Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Former students of Delhi University may be requested to help pay their alma mater's bills. Vice chancellor Dinesh Singh believes that DU's alumni can be the only sustainable source of funds for the university. With primary and secondary education claiming large chunks of government funds, the expenses of an institution of DU's size can realistically be met only if those who've passed through it can be asked to pitch in.

"Consider our revenue streams, it's all government money," says Singh, "We get very little from fees and we shouldn't increase it. Where will the money come from? We have such an enormous alumni base, no one has ever seen in that direction. If we can make them proud of something, they'll contribute."

Delhi University started work on a database of alumni back in 1997. "The alumni network was set up to mark DU's platinum jubilee and the post of dean alumni was created — the first in South Asia," says Sydney Rebeiro who had been the first dean alumni and is currently, adviser alumni affairs. Within the database, names were "set into different talent pools" and an "alumni resource bank" was created. This group would soon extend financial assistance to DU during a crunch. "There was a severe funds-crunch in the late 90s," recalls Rebeiro, "And alumni had contributed about Rs 1.5 crore." Prof Ashit Ganguly, he says, who had studied in DU in the 1950s, alone had contributed 85,000 USD. "A lot of the money went into scholarship and research." The resource bank now has about 3,500 of DU's most distinguished alumni.

However, collecting funds centrally is not going to be an easy task. Those active in alumni associations say that a student's main connect is not so much with the university as a whole, but with the college they attended. "The association will happen only with students who've stayed on for post-graduate programmes," says Ravi Burman of Hindu Old Student's Association.

"A lot of exercise has to be done before DU can get the kind of support," says Sushil Agarwal, secretary, SRCC Alumni Association. He adds, "That kind of platform will have to be created. DU's alumni body is too diverse to bring that element of brotherhood."

DU's alumni can be the only sustainable source of funds for the university says VC

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