NED University & Alumni
Giving
By Riaz Haq
Alumni of US schools play
a significant role in the lives of their alma maters. There
are well-established traditions and mechanisms in place for
alumni giving their time, money, and various resources to
enhance the academic life and extra-curricular activities
of almost all schools in the US. Even public universities
such as University of California system boast of their alumni
support as a source of funding and a way to attract the best
faculty, significant research grants from industry and government,
and higher rankings by various ranking bodies including US
News & World Report. As a rule, the older campuses of
UC system are ranked higher than the newer ones based mostly
on the size of the alumni and their track record. In recent
years, the IIT system, established in the 1950s in our neighboring
India, has taken a leaf from this US tradition and resulted
in a dramatic boost in their international reputation and
brand recognition through the work of their alumni in the
US and elsewhere. NEDUET is a 76 year old institution of higher
learning in Karachi, Pakistan with a sizable and highly accomplished
alumni population in Pakistan, US, Europe, Asia and the Middle
East. Yet, NEDUET has not derived the benefits from their
vast and wealthy alumni body that are quite common and expected
in the US universities as well as IITs in India. This article
is written to propose how this situation can be rectified.
Effective Alumni Giving:
The most effective way of alumni giving requires a close partnership
of the alumni organization with an on-campus alumni center
working with the administration, faculty and staff of the
university. The partnership requires a voluntary agreement
to work together that is clearly written, accepted and faithfully
implemented by both sides. It clearly spells out the role
played by the alumni association in various programs such
as arranging funding of specific ideas, industry projects
and research grants, establishing endowment chairs, the level
of oversight by the alumni and the university etc. As far
as I know, none of this is in place right now. So the first
step is to have alumni organization discuss and agree on this
framework with the university. This will require a frank discussion
and persuasion based on the actual past experience at NED
and other universities in Pakistan and elsewhere.
Establishing Alumni Center:
Once the basic framework is agreed, an alumni center needs
to be established and a list of possible program and projects
can be reviewed which are then jointly agreed and pursued
by the alumni and faculty/staff.
Path Ahead:
If the past experience of various alumni efforts is any guide,
the path forward is not going to be simple, short and easy.
The reasons vary from the lack of a formal structure in place
for alumni role to a degree of skepticism and mistrust on
both sides. Part of the problem has been that the past failed
efforts seem to have been piecemeal, ad-hoc and, in some instances,
rather haphazard. Attempting to push pet projects by alumni
on the university without a clear understanding of the needs
and the plans of the university has not worked. What is needed
is a mutual understanding on a shared vision of the future,
the needs of the university, the desires of the alumni and
trust-building by executing a few agreed projects leading
to shared success. This will require patience, determination,
thoughtfulness and an atmosphere free of acrimony. We must
be prepared for the long haul to make it work. NED Convention
2007 can be a platform to help build consensus among a core
group of generous, dedicated alumni prepared to embark on
this journey.
About the Author:
Riaz Haq is the President of the NED Alumni Association of
Silicon Valley and Chairman of the Convention 2007 steering
committee. Riaz has more than 25 years experience in the hi-tech
industry. Riaz has been on the faculties of Rutgers University
and NED Engineering University. He has cofounded two high-tech
startups, Cautella, Inc. and DynArray Corp and managed multi-million
dollar P&Ls. Riaz is a pioneer of the PC and mobile businesses
and he has held senior management positions in hardware and
software development of Intel’s microprocessor product
line from 8086 to Pentium processors. Riaz's experience includes
senior roles in marketing, engineering and business management.
Riaz was recognized as “Person of the Year” by
PC Magazine for his outstanding contribution to 80386 program.
Riaz earned a MS degree in Electrical engineering from the
New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Riaz Haq has a blog at http://riazhaq.blogspot.com
For information about NED Alumni Convention 2007, please visit:
http://convention2007.nedians.org
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