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If you are a socially responsible person, interested in the welfare of your country and countrymen, you will deem it a duty to give back to society what you have benefitted from it. Charitable deeds, donations to the needy, supporting NGO efforts are some of the initiatives that many successful professionals, industrialists and entrepreneurs involve themselves in. But, by and large, the basis and foundation of most success stories stem from education. In the field of education too, there are several individuals and institutions who provide scholarships, sponsor education and support various educational institutions to make education more equitable and accessible.

Thanks to a unique initiative of some of the illustrious alumni of National Institute of Technology Tiruchirapalli (NITT) which was formerly known as REC Trichy, the college will soon have more PhDs coming out of its portals.

M. Krishna Sai, President of RECAL – an acronym for REC/NITT Alumni Association informed BE, “We have generated `5 crore to set up 10 Research Chairs which will sponsor PhD students to pursue research that are aligned to the current industry challenges and future requirements. This is the commitment made by all the alumni of NITT and this would be the first tranche of contribution and depending on the success, we would consider giving more to the alma mater in the future.” Sai mentioned that there are active chapters of the association in Trichy, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad and even in UAE, Singapore and the US. Towards propagating the initiative and getting more of their vast and illustrious alumni on board, a group of like-minded past students of NITT – such as Krishna Sai himself, N. Kamakodi, CEO and MD of City Union Bank Ltd., S. Krishna Kumar, CIO of Sundaram Mutual Equity Fund, K. Mahalingam, Director TSM Group, Dr. S. Raman Sankararanarayanan, Dean (Institutional Development and Alumni Relations) and others have planned a major event – GAM 2020.

Krishna Kumar commented, “The Global Alumni Meet will be held in Chennai on January 4, 2020 where we are expecting over 1200 past students of the college to assemble and rub shoulders with the current crop of students. Many of our past students are in very senior positions in several international and Indian corporate establishments. An interesting panel discussion is planned on the theme – ‘Tech Disruption and Future of Work’. There will also be a panel discussion on women and technology, apart from a master class on finance, investment and entrepreneurship.”Initiatives such as this will propel India into the demanding decade that is to follow with the youth armed with adequate qualifications based on their own research.