Osmania University Vice-Chancellor D. Ravinder, who is on a tour of the United States to meet the varsity alumni and explore possible associations with universities there, met CEO of Adobe and an alumnus of the OU College of Engineering Shantanu Narain on Friday.
Mr. Narain proposed a systematic mechanism for accepting endowments, similar to that used by MIT, Harvard, and other US universities, in order to mobilise finances.
The Vice-Chancellor offered to build an Adobe Research and Training Centre in Mr. Narain's name so that high quality research can be brought to the university.
“Mr. Narain was not only nostalgic about his days at the university but promised to give back to the varsity if some concrete proposals for encouraging research activities were brought to him,” Prof. Ravinder told The Hindu.
“He also agreed to meet with academics and students and spend time with them during his August visit to Hyderabad. He wanted a concrete, viable idea, as well as a Detailed Project Report (DPR), which would be beneficial to the entire university,” he said.
Mr. Narain received his engineering degree from the Engineering College's Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in the 1980s. His parents were faculty members at the university.
Prof. Ravinder also met another university alumnus Omkaram Nalamasu, a renowned applied materials scientist who currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer and President of Applied Ventures. He also discussed his experiences at the OU emphasising the need for curriculum improvement to meet the needs of developing markets in many sectors.
During his visit to Silicon Valley to meet the strong OU alumni base, Prof. Ravinder had a brainstorming session with about 12 CEOs from various businesses. The meeting came up with several recommendations, including the establishment of chairs, digital teaching rooms, infrastructure upgrades on campus, endowment fellowships for research, student and staff exposure visits to Silicon Valley.
