Strategic Goals

ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT

The Global Alumni Association of Bengal Engineering and Science University (GAABESU) is a global network that unites over 25,000 alums, bound by our shared connection with the Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur and its successor institutions. This document articulates GAABESU’s mid-term strategy through 2023 and enunciates the beliefs and mission of GAABESU with respect to IIEST and her communities. It also details the policies to be followed by GAABESU to fulfill the intent of this strategy. The document identifies a set of guiding principles and goals to realize GAABESU’s mission. Subsequently, it delineates the tasks to accomplish these goals. It is expected that future GAABESU executive committees will revisit the document and update it periodically.

 

MISSION

The mission of GAABESU is to use collective passion, intellect and drive of alums of the Bengal Engineering College, and its successor institutions, to enhance the status of the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), to elevate it to one of the premier institutions for technical education and research in India.

 

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

GAABESU offers a network, social circle, a sustaining link to IIEST’s various programs and faculty, a repository of resources, a source of intellectual inspiration, and a lifelong connection to one of the greatest engineering institutions in India. Through regional associations and shared interest groups, we have opportunity to engage with alumni/alumnae and decision makers in different countries and regions around the world.

 

 GAABESU, in cooperation with IIEST Administration, engages in activities in line with IIEST’s strategy for attaining academic excellence. These activities will be collaborative,            transparent and accountable.

 GAABESU’s motto is to “look globally” to develop strategy but “act locally” for its execution. This is to meet local rules and regulations while accomplishing its objectives.

 Funds received by IIEST through GAABESU should be managed in a manner to facilitate donors who are Indian citizens getting tax benefits according to local laws and NRI donors getting tax benefits according to the laws of their countries of residence.

 Participate in activities as a trusted advisor if requested by IIEST administration, without compromising the ethical policies of GAABESU. Similarly, GAABESU executive committee may request IIEST to implement its recommendations and suggestions, for the betterment of the Institute.

 Promote excellence; recognize and celebrate achievements of students, faculty, administrators, staff, alums and alum-families.

 

5-YEAR GOALS FOR GAABESU

1.Goal: Promote IIEST and champion Fund Mobilization from relevant authorities

Establish GAABESU as an advocate and a lobbyist to the Government, Private and Public Sector agencies for resource mobilization. The critical requirement for IIEST to survive and grow is to increase funding from MHRD and other government agencies and utilization of the same with speed, accuracy and integrity. One of the important tasks of GAABESU is to help IIEST in using its alumni network to lobby Governments and other funding agencies for its fair share of the resources disbursed by them.

 

Strategies to Achieve above Goal:

 Form a network of alumni, either in decision making positions or connected to decision making process, to guide IIEST to secure funds.

 Focus on building strong relationships with media, as well as the public at large, in cooperation with IIEST.  GAABESU and IIEST will develop electronic communication and marketing tools to publicize BEC/BESUS/IIEST’s contribution in the development of India during both pre- and postindependent periods, and how it helped the institution in being recognized by the Government of India as a leading technical institution and an Institute of National Importance (INI). This will enhance IIEST’s on-line image and help in securing corporate contributions.

 

2. Goal: Strategic Partnership

Establish GAABESU to help IIEST administration as a trusted, resourceful & long term strategic partner.

 

Strategies to Achieve this Goal:

 Re-activate existing but dormant collaborations with foreign universities to produce tangible and mutually beneficial results; revisit the MoUs and re-establish contacts with change in stakeholders.

 GAABESU will help identifying foreign universities with whom IIEST can pursue collaborative research and/or programs (joint degree, study abroad, etc.).

 GAABESU will help the Institute to develop Industry-Advisory Forums. These forums can be formed for the Institute as a whole, as well as for different academic programs. They will provide industry input in formulating departmental curriculum and research, so that the students get excellent education and training at par with the students in top international institutions and IIEST graduates are preferred in all industries and educational institutions everywhere. The Forum will bring faculty and students in contact with industry and help in facilitating industrial collaboration in research and consultancy.

 GAABESU will continue to help IIEST and students in networking with various national and international entities to identify opportunities to seek research grants and to conduct joint research projects.

 Promote excellence in students and faculty (who are the best brand ambassadors of academic institutions). GAABESU can advocate bringing in star faculty from other institutes in lien or through exchange program for few semesters; select top 10% students from all academic programs in each batch and create an honors-type program for those who would like to extend their educational experience beyond the scope of traditional undergraduate curriculum.

3. Goal: Corpus Fund Development

The goal is to raise INR 60,00,000/- by end of 2023. GAABESU will work with the Institute in soliciting donations (in kind or cash) from the alumni, the various levels of government, public/private companies, foundations and foreign agencies to meet GAABESU’s operational expenses , to arrange seed money for annual programs , fund strategic initiatives/projects of IIEST which may not be fully funded by the Governments. Institute will have to develop an implementation plan and support fruition of such initiatives.

 

Strategies to Achieve Goal

 Considering the limitation of managing and operating an account which is jointly under IIEST control (Governed by Central Government rules) GAABESU will maintain a separate bank account to manage corpus fund. Control of the fund will solely be with GAABESU EC. Responsibility of disbursement of fund from this account will lie with the EC.

 Every donation is duly acknowledged electronically within 7 days. It will be publicized via newsletter, annual report and web posting. Issue income receipt / certificate to all donors in India.  Prepare brochure about the goals, process and benefit for donation to corpus fund and distribute them to all alumni electronically or through hard copies during all major IIEST and alumni events. Publish a booklet annually listing all donors.

 Arrange visits of IIEST and GAABESU officials to meet alums at different locations to appeal them for contributions to the Corpus fund.

 Appeal alums and private sectors to donate based on their capacities. Examples: donor, silver donor, gold donor, platinum donor, patron, grand patron for different ranges.

 

4. Goal: Membership Growth 

Expand membership by 2,000 by the end of 2023 and act as the unified voice of alums worldwide. GAABESU has around 1,600 members currently and the goal is to increase by 400 members/year (200 from graduating students/year and 200 from general alums/year). The interim target for membership expansion through June 2021 may be set at 1,000.

 

Strategies to Achieve Goal

 Currently with IIEST approval institute caution money of Rs. 1,000/- is being converted into GAABESU membership for consenting graduating students. Effort is being made so that the consent form to convert caution money into GAABESU membership is signed by the graduating students before they leave campus. The goal is to convince 80-90% of outgoing students to become GAABESU members.

 A continued follow up with final year students by faculty representing GAABESU is a must to secure success. Identify 2-3 students from the final year classes of each branch and enable them to be the champion of GAABESU. These champions will promote GAABESU among their classmates, so that they become members of GAABESU.

 A further follow up needed to convert these temporary memberships to a permanent one. A collaborative approach through different alumni chapters can help in this regard.

 Invite “distinguished” alums to address Freshers’ at the beginning of new academic session to implant “Alma Mater” concept at an early stage so that they join GAABESU after

graduation. Organize reception for outgoing students at the end of each academic year to welcome them as newest alums. At the reception, GAABESU will collect their contact information and completed GAABESU applications and provide information about global alumni chapters so that those going abroad may have a point of contact in that country if an Alumni Chapter exists there.

 Establish mentorship program to connect present students and recent graduates with their seniors in activities focused for them. Promote and recognize excellence in academics, extra-curricular and social activities among students. Organize special events (seminar, workshops) for students with alumni speakers in latest trend in business, technology, entrepreneurships, etc.

 Publicize GAABESU goals and activities regularly to all students, inviting them to alumni meetings including scholarship distribution ceremonies and awarding outstanding students for excellence in academics, leadership, performing arts, sports and innovation.

 Coordinate and follow up with every known chapters in India and abroad to motivate membership drive. Act collaboratively with these existing alumni organizations, both in India and abroad (e.g. BECAAC in Canada), in matters of common (and non-local) interest. Leverage aggregate alumni strength of these organizations to be the unified voice of alumni globally especially in its dealings with the IIEST administration and other key stakeholders.

 Publish list of new members and donors periodically to motivate alumni to join as life members.

 Reach out to all donors for conversion under “Membership-against-Donation” scheme

 Invite alums to visit campus to deliver professional seminars and/or meet students to share professional experiences.

 Provide “members-only” services to alums including Guest House booking, getting transcripts and campus tour to motivate alums to join GAABESU.

 Involve young alums within GAABESU to form a special group to be called, NEXTGEN, to focus on the needs of their peers and students about to graduate for placement needs and ensure GAABESU takes care of those needs through its alumni network.

 Maintain an up-to-date database of all Alums so that we can reach out to maximum number of alums for membership.

 

5. Goal: Ensure GAABESU’s Operational and Organizational Excellence 

In-order to inspire confidence in its membership and the alumni/alumnae at large, GAABESU must run as a professional organization, with transparent practices and procedures to take into account the nationally and internationally dispersed nature of its membership.

 

Strategies to Achieve Goal:

 Develop and implement metrics aligned with the strategic plan and a reporting system to measure performance against the goals.

 Form sub-committees as necessary, to carry out GAABESU’s mission. Each sub-committee will have at least one “Champion” to ensure that its goals are met. Each sub-committee shall report to EC at least once every 3 months during its regular meeting.

 Run a transparent operation so that all alums, whether members or not, are aware of all activities carried out by GAABESU.

 Build a framework to address concerns from donors.

 Develop an effective alumni office with the help of qualified staff, EC members, PIs and member volunteers. Also, student volunteers may be utilized with nominal honorarium; additional incentives for the student volunteers to gain experience with a non-profit organization, as well as networking with senior alums

 Expand volunteer networks and develop leaders from younger generation.

 Prepare and distribute high quality brochures periodically detailing GAABESU’s and its members’ contributions to make our Alma Mater, one of the premier technical institutions in India and regain its old reputation.

 

6. Goal: Initiate and implement short term strategic projects –within scope, on time and on budget

Identify strategic projects and initiatives at IIEST which will not, otherwise, be funded by the government agencies. Start with smaller projects which can be accomplished within the lifetime of the current Executive Committee, without involving major capital expenditures. Execute these projects within scope, on time and on budget to exhibit the mission of GAABESU, with continuous, tangible and visible results

 

Strategies to Achieve Goals

 Focus on maximum 1-2 strategic projects/initiatives year on year decided by the EC to produce results and optimize resources available to have the maximum return on investment.

 Meet with the IIEST administration to finalize the projects/programs to be pursued by GAABESU. Each project will start with a joint appeal from IIEST Director and GAABESU President. This can only be done with prior knowledge about the institute’s need and vision and in conjunction with efforts from different graduating batches in the spirit of giving back.

 Take phase-wise approach for any project to achieve results with available resources and realistic time-line, rather than committing to everything at once.

 Each project is to be managed by a dedicated project management team which will leverage all GAABESU resources including relevant sub-committees.

 Publish scope, goals, budget, time-line and deliverables of each project via e-mail, website posting and hard copies, if applicable and update status at least once every 3 months.  Some of the possible strategic projects to be taken up during 2018-20 are:

• Students’ Activity Centre for Basketball, Badminton, Table Tennis etc. This center may be used as a Convocation or Meeting venue. Promote extra-curricular activities at the Students’ Activity Centre awarding innovation or excellence awards expanding existing Scholarships, Awards and Fellowships.
• Improvement of Hostel Conditions - mainly kitchen modernization, water and sanitation improvement. We can take one hostel as a pilot project and then replicate it to others if we attain success.
•  Improve Drinking Water Supply - Improve drinking water supply in the student-hostels , monitor the water quality on a continuous basis; such a project would produce tangible results and create an immediate impact. Continuous monitoring of the water quality could be done by a group of students in the Civil and Environmental Dept., as a research project under the aegis of the new Centre for Water and Environmental Research.
• Beautification of Campus in conjunction with the campus committee and in-sync with the overall institutional vision.

 

7. Goal – GAABESU Website Consolidation and Operations

 Existing 3 websites to be consolidated and contents merged after considering best of breed functionality.  Membership Database and non-member database to be re-created and be made a part of GAABESU website.

 

INTERIM REVIEW

A detailed review shall take place before the term of the present Executive Committee expires in June 2019. It will also be used to assess the progress made by that date. Existing Strategic Committee should take this responsibility to monitor progress as outlined in the Strategy Document and report to EC.

 

Execution Review

In the month of May 2018 a Plan was created to execute the various strategic goals identifying Champions of each of the 7 goals and a time line was decided.

 

Goal 1 – Promote IIEST and champion fund mobilization from relevant authorities

It was felt by EC6 GAABESU can act as a facilitator but can act only if IIEST wants us to do so. We could not do the required level of discussion/engagement with IIEST administration nor did any request come to us. Also we could not gage the required level of support needed with IIEST administration to move the needle.

 

Goal 2 – Strategic Partnership –

Champion of this goal had a plan to connect with the foreign universities connected with some of his friends in US and had a meeting with IIEST Director, though not much response was received from IIEST administration. As this Goal required complete involvement from IIEST leadership and we could not win them on GAABESU’s role in this we decided to go slow on this goal.

 

Goal 3 –Corpus Fund Development

This is an ongoing process. We contemplated to adopt the following ways to generate Corpus fund: Tap two or three alumnus of each year particularly from fifteen or twenty years of Graduation and propose to raise funds in the memory of their beloved fellow batchmate who have passed away and batch mate would come forward and might donate generously. From the interest of that fund, we could arrange some trophy or shield or cash money could be rewarded to present student in light of excelling their skills in different fields like academics, sports, quiz, music etc. The trophy or the shield should be in the name of their beloved friends and sometime their family members may donate if they are financially capable. The collected money to be kept in corpus fund and some portion of interest (50% or 60%) may be utilized for GAABESU expenses. The entire proceed to be deposited to GAABESU.

 

Goal 4 - Membership Growth

To address this goal, we need to have 3 broad level approaches. 1) To counsel the outgoing students through HoDs 2) Connecting various Chapters for inclusion of members 3) Other alums from various batches and through Donations. Work is already on the 1st approach. Information brochure is created and faculty members being geared up for students meeting. Meeting with students’ senate also took place. GAABESU participates in 1st year Induction program.

 

Goal 5– Ensure GAABESU’s Operational and Organizational Excellence

This is an ongoing process and measured against certain metrics such as Performance of various subcommittees , Effective communications of GAABESU activities , Addressing Donors’ concerns , Running an effective and efficient Alumni office , Financial Compliance .., Running effective volunteer network , High quality brochure with continuous updates .

 

Goal 6 - Short Term Strategic Projects –

GAABESU decided to take up 2 short term strategic projects where result would be visible.

 

1) Improvement of Drinking water supply in hostels – Anirban Gupta (HOD CE) explained the current source of drinking water supply in hostels and both from quantity and quality perspective needs improvement. Civil engineering d Department is involved in testing the water supply in hostels. Way forward, Prashanta Ghosh Champion of this project ) along with Anirban Gupta will visit Dean of Planning, Sudip Roy and explain GAABESU’s proposed support to IIEST in this regard .

2) Improvement of Hostel condition – Anirban gave an idea of installing Commode in hostels for making the toilets friendly for physically challenged students. Arabinda Roy, as a champion of this Project, will discuss with Dean of planning to finalize the way forward.

Please refer note below for additional information.

             a) Making a Video Conferencing facility in College by the 1988 batch. Sushanta expressed that his batch has this plan and wanted to identify a place in the campus to install this        facility. Discussion has already taken place in this regard with the college administration.

 

Anirban has indicated that he can provide a place in Civil Engineering Department for the same. The president and Sushanta had already visited the place after the meeting along with Anirban. As per the opinion of President this is a fine room for the purpose along with its own attached toilet. GAABESU meetings can take place here as confirmed by Anirban. Sushanta will now discuss with his batchmates and l get back. Even after repeated follow up GAABESU could not proceed much in these 2 short-term projects in its EC6 tenure.

EC7 has started discussions with Dean of International Relations and Alumni Affairs. A proposal was submitted to IIEST Dean, IRAA for a project on “Improvement of Hostel Condition “in March 2020.

 

Goal 7 – GAABESU website Consolidation and Operation

A new website was built towards end of 2019 and was made operational with limited functionalities. As this new website is not scalable, individual effort is currently on to develop another website with full functionality.