The Bengal Technical Institute later renamed as College of Engineering and Technology under the National Council of Education, Bengal, was founded in 1906.
The Alumni Association was founded in 1921.This is the first Alumni Association in India. The Old Boys’ Home was constructed in 1941
The Alumni Association, one of the oldest in the country, was founded in 1921 by the ex-students of National Council of Education.
The teachers– builders of the Association, such as Prof. Hiralal Roy, Prof. Surendra Kumar Roy, Prof. Hem Chandra Dasgupta and others who imbibed the Alumni feeling, established the Alumni (old boys) Association of NCE Bengal in the year 1921. Prof. Hiralal Roy A. B. (Harvard) became its first secretary and Dr. Abinesh Ch. Bhattacharjee, Ph.D. (Berlin) its first president. It was the Alumni who from the earliest days to the period shortly before India’s Independence, regularly arranged travelling fellowships for junior members of the teaching staff for doing doctoral researches in U.K., USA and Germany.
Shri Kiron Roy, who was an alumnus and an ex-student of M.I.T. (Boston), founded his Electrical firm in Calcutta and helped the College of Engineering and Technology in various ways. The alumni of Jadavpur living abroad helped fellow-Jadavpurians to be admitted to various universities and research institutions in Boston, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Cornell, Edinburg, Munich etc.
It is significant that a sizeable portion of the members on the Managing Committee of Jadavpur College, before it become a University, comprised Jadavpurians who had their Engineering diplomas and degrees from N.C.E. itself. Thus the alumni used to have a role in the management, control and development of continuity and perpetuation of the Jadavpur stamp and tradition, strengthening the tie between the old and the new. The Old Boys Home on the campus stood, as it also stands now, as a symbol of this bond of brotherhood.
Within a short time it began to organize sports, musical soirees, exhibitions, conferences and established branches in different parts of the country, and even in U.K. and U.S.A. On the occasion of Silver Jubilee of NCE in 1946 it collected several lakhs for its Alma Mater. It may be mentioned that the famous painter Atul Bose was an alumnus of Jadavpur and donated a lump sum on the occasion. To help the brother students, the Alumni Association introduced several loan scholarships. One of the very helpful activities of the Alumni Association was to secure jobs in industries and organizations for the young Jadavpurians. It was a laudable job in those most difficult days of widespread unemployment.
For the first few years of its existence, the activities of the Alumni Association were mainly educational, practically confined to the guidance of and assistance to the NCE and the development of the BTI (Bengal Technical Institute). The connections of the Alumni Association with the NCE, the BTI and, later, the College of Engineering & Technology (CET) considerably helped these institutions to spread and improve engineering and technological education in India. The NCE was a private organization. Its formation, operation and development had to be funded entirely by public donations, with no Government support. The Alumni Association became a vital factor in the growth of the NCE and development of the CET.
The construction of the K. C. Roy Hall in the Electrical Engineering Building, expansion of the Chemical Engineering Building, construction of the Gymnasium (now Indoor Stadium), a revolving Theatrical Stage, the Wind Mills for pumping out the water from the Play Grounds are all Alumni creations. As regards the Alumni Building, the present home of the Association, a two storied building was built in 1941 at the northwestern corner of the University playgrounds. The cost of construction was Rs. 18,000/-, fully financed by the Alumni. The original name of the building was the “Old Boys Home”. When girl ex-students became a reality, the home was renamed as the “Alumni Building”. The ground floor of the building is being used by the students of Jadavpur University taking part in sports and games as a pavilion ever since the completion of the building. Justice Charu Chandra Biswas of the Calcutta High Court inaugurated the building in December 1941. A portion of the first floor of the building had been converted to a guesthouse. Although on meager scale, this has been a step towards solving the problem of accommodation of persons coming to the University from outstations.
The construction of the KC Roy Hall in the Electrical Engineering Building, expansion of the Chemical Engineering Building, construction of the Gymnasium (later on known as Indoor Stadium), a revolving Theatrical Stage, the Wind Mills for pumping water from the nearby tank for the playgrounds are all creations of the Alumni. The present home of the Association, a two storied building at the north western corner of the University play grounds, was built in 1941 at a cost of Rs.18,000 fully financed by the Alumni. The original name of the building was the “Old Boys Home”. When girl ex-students became a reality, the home was renamed as the “Alumni Building”. The ground floor of the building being used initially by the students of Jadavpur University taking part in sports and games as a pavilion ever since the completion of the building. Now we have a fully air-conditioned 300+ capacity auditorium for the use of Members only towards seminars, meetings and cultural functions. A portion of the first floor of the building has been converted to a Guest House initially comprising two rooms and expanded to six rooms now.
In 1971 our Association started a Continuing Education Program in collaboration with the Alma Mater, Jadavpur University. In this program the Alumni and Teachers of all three faculties of the University took active part. The center has since integrated as a formal Department of the University.
From the small beginnings of 1921, the Alumni of NCE and Jadavpur University have spread out far and wide in India and abroad.
Wherever there are a few dozen Alumni, they get together due to the unbreakable bonds that get cemented during their days at Jadavpur. Thus have been formed Branch Association and the Alma Mater are entirely that of mutual love and regards. These far flung groups are entirely autonomous in the way they operate, but never do they transgress the unwritten codes of Jadavpurians.
