Universities need to explore alumni services: Governor

Hyderabad, Aug 26: “Universities and other educational institutions need to explore the services of their alumni for the overall improvement of infrastructure and other services offered to the students,” said Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan.

She said that alumni are the biggest untapped resource for any institution and it is high time that their services must be channelized in a systematic and organised manner.

The Governor was speaking at a presentation made by the NIC team on the alumni networking in the State, as envisaged by the Governor who is also the Chancellor of the State universities, at Raj Bhavan, here, on Wednesday.

“Small contributions made by the alumni members would prove a great value to the students of those institutions. Everybody will feel proud to be connected with their organisations and they can do their bit in many forms like donations, offering internships, employment opportunities or funding the students’ projects and sponsoring events and start-ups,” Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan added.

The Governor pointed out that universities need not suffer for want of funding through traditional means; instead they should rope in the alumni services by creating open, transparent and accountable alumni network.

The Governor said that it was her long dream to connect with the alumni and help them motivate to do service to their institutions where they studied. She recollected one such alumni initiative through which they could save their Anatomy Lab, which was a heritage structure, during her college days in the Madras Medical College.

There will be a very grand initiative very soon on the networking of alumni in the State, she added.

National Informatics Centre (NIC) Deputy Director General Raja Shekar and his team made a detailed presentation to the Governor on the networking of alumni in the State.

Governor Secretary K. Surendra Mohan, Joint Secretaries J. Bhavani Shankar and CN Raghu Prasad and other senior officials and representatives of Osmania University and JNTUH were present.

-Press note