P resident Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday formally launched an endowment fund promoted by alumni of India Institute of Technology-Delhi. The founder alumni of the fund announced an initial commitment of Rs 250 crore on the occasion of the launch.

The fund will work towards the development of IIT-Delhi and nurture innovation among the youth of the country in the form of scholarships. It aims to achieve a target corpus of US dollars 1 billion over a period of seven years.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said, “while we are still far from the size and importance of endowment funds of institutions such as Harvard, Yale or Columbia, it is the right first step in this direction. By giving through endowments, alumni are not just giving to their institution but they are also supporting and nurturing future generations of learners.”

" We are still far from the size and importance of endowment funds of institutions such as Harvard, Yale or Columbia, it is the right first step in this direction. "

IIT D director Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao said, “the institute was striving to offer the best of facilities to students. This endowment fund is a testimony to our efforts to ensure that right support is provided in terms of academic guidance and infrastructure to make ready for the future workforce. Such endowments allow institutions like ours to engage confidently in long-term planning without sustainability risk to critical projects.”

Prof. Sanjeev Sanghi, Dean (alumni affairs and international programmes) expressed confidence that the fund will turn out to be a model that can be emulated by other institutions in the country.

In the past fifteen years, IIT Delhi alumni have founded the highest number of successful start ups in India and have cumulatively raised a capital of US dollars 14 billion, almost double the amount of capital raised by the next best, an institute press release said.

A committee consisting of eminent alumni will manage the endowment fund. The institute will also launch an ‘Each One Teach One’ scheme around the Thanksgiving and Christmas donation season, to support education of one student per year costing up to US dollars 10,000. This will get added to the Endowment Fund.
India Science Wire