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Alumni Meet 2018

IIIT-H conducted various alumni meets in Bangalore and the US ( Bay Area and Seattle), leading up to the institute’s 20th anniversary on 2 September.

IIIT-H’s 20 years of existence owes a large part to its alumni. Especially the first batches who were the outliers and took the biggest risk in joining a fledgling  institute that was conferring diplomas and not degrees, had neither permanent faculty nor big infrastructure. These students put their faith is us and grew along with us. They are an integral part of the IIIT-H family and it was imperative to celebrate the 20-year milestone with them.

Despite a relatively young alumni group that’s only 5,000-member strong, the ties that bind this motley group together across the globe has always remained strong. And that was the main motivation to get together and reminsce about their heady college days. The group narrowed down on 3 convenient locations for the meet this month – Bangalore, Bay Area and Seattle.

These meets brought together alumni and their young families, Prof. P J Narayanan, the deans and long-time faculty.

 

 

The Bangalore meet greeted 185 alumni, Bay Area 150 and Seattle 100. The Hyderabad alumni meet slated on campus on Saturday 1st September already has a registration of 115 alumni with numbers literally climbing by the hour.

The meets included fond reminiscing’s, sharing of many anecdotes, food, fun, networking, and new memories created. A short then-and-now video showcasing the institute was nostalgic as well as eye opening – as to how much IIIT-H has grown and transformed itself into a leading institute ranked among the best in the world.

Prof. P J Narayanan gave them an overview of where we are now and where we want to be in the future and what our needs were to get there. Prof. Jayanthi Sivaswamy and Prof. Vishal Garg spoke on how the alumni can engage with the institute continually in all aspects – admissions by being our brand ambassadors, mentoring students, career counselling, guest lectures, connecting IIIT-H to the research in their companies, help generate funds for the institute, to come back as faculty, etc.

Prof. Govindarajulu remembered by name all his students and even the tiniest of details about them, where they are now. He has also saved all their project works and the cartoons they drew in his class and recalled many incidents from the old days of his teaching…

The Bangalore meet included a panel discussion by alumni reps from different batches UG and PG programmes moderated by Prof. Kamalakar Karlapalem.

One resounding point that surfaced was how IIIT-H has given all students an incredible foundation , not only in technology but also in values, that has given them and confidence to solve any problem.

The 4th alumni meet takes place on Saturday 1st September. If you’re an alumnus of your favourite institute please register for the meet at http://rzp.cloudapp.net/iiith-alumni-meet/