Connecting MITians
About Us
Formation
Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) was started by a philanthropist, visionary Sri C Rajam in 1949. MIT Alumni Association (MITAA) was formed by few foresighted stalwarts like Prof. M.V. Radhakrishnamurthy, Mr. T.A.S. Balagopal (1st Batch), Mr.S.Ramaswamy, Mr.B.Venkatraman, Mr. P.Krishnaswamy in 1966, in Madras (Chennai at present).
MITAA was formed to be a bridge between MIT & the Industry, help the students in their career pursuits, assist them in achieving excellence in their chosen careers, further the cause of the Institute in its developmental and excellence achievement goals.
Over the years. MITAA is helping students financially, awarding meritorious students, helping students in Projects, Internship, Placements. MITAA chapters are functional in Chennai, Kovai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bay Area (USA).
Every chapter in other locations maintain close contacts with the parent chapter in Chennai, extending their assistance to the alma mater and the students, helping the Alumni in the respective locations.
Milestones
The silver jubilee of the Association was held in February 1991. A 3-day programme of Lectures, Seminars and Vision 2001- an Industrial Exhibition marked the occasion. His Excellency Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, India’s revered President, an alumnus of the Institute delivered the 8th C.Rajam Memorial Lecture on this occasion.
A trust named The AMITA Trust was formed to help students by raising funds from the Alumni all over the Globe during this Silver Jubilee year.
During the Golden Jubilee year of MIT in 1999, MITAA assisted in collecting and donating a tiny sum of money. A souvenir was brought out by the MITAA to mark the occasion. Mr. K.B. Chandrasekhar of the 32nd Batch, an NRI, donated Rupees One Crore and the AU-KBC Center for Information Technology was formed at the Institute. Mr. KBC continues to contribute to promote high-tech Research and foster Entrepreneurship.
SUMMITA-1, an event to bring in Alumni from all over the world, from all chapters was held in 2012. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, a distinguished Alumnus of MIT (6th Batch) was the Chief Guest. Technical Seminars with trending topics were conducted apart from an Exhibition held at the huge Hangar-1.
Golden Jubilee of MITAA was celebrated in July 2016 with a 2 day event. This was coincided with the SUMMITA-2.
Dr. Kiran Kumar, former Chairman ISRO inaugurated the event by delivering key note address. Speakers from the Industry, Alumni from various chapters spoke in different sessions apart from a panel discussion.
On Day-2, the Golden Jubilee celebrations were conducted at Rajam Hall, MIT with the Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu Dr. Rosaiah addressing the Alumni, staff & students of MIT. Alumni who excelled in their careers were honored by the Governor on the occasion.
Financial Support To MIT Students
AMITA Trust formed in 1991 with a small contribution from few Alumni started growing after about 10-12 years and by 2005, a sizeable amount could be generated. Students excelling academically under challenging financial situations were chosen and AMITA scholarship (at present Rs 20,000/- p.a.) is being given.
Once the news spread about this assistance to students, Alumni from all over started to contribute to the AMITA Trust and a corpus could be created. Interest earned on this Corpus is being used to give financial assistance to the students.
Every year about 80 students (20 from each year) are given a scholarship of Rs 20,000/-. This is for the UG students.
Recently MITAA started to provide scholarships (Rs 40,000/- p.a.) to the PG students.
Loan scholarship for students pursuing higher studies in overseas Universities is being provided.
Financial support to students participating in National, International technical events is being provided.
Medical Emergency financial support to MIT students is being extended.
MITAA is seriously considering to extend Financial Support to even Research Scholars.
Other Support Activities By MITAA
Apart from Financial assistance MITAA is actively supporting the students in various other forms.
Book Bank: A book Bank in the Central Library is created for the benefit of students. This was initiated with an initial contribution by Sri Sankaranarayanan. Alumni continue to contribute to purchase new books, donate books to the Bank.
Mentoring : Many alumni continue to adopt few students, extending technical support, providing career guidance. MITAA helps the students in enhancing their soft skills by way of conducting coaching sessions, conducting mock interviews etc.
MITAA donated 3-D printers to the alma mater which are being used actively in various projects by the students. Other infra related support like installation of bio-gas plant, sinking bore-wells (to tide over water scarcity problem), construction of MIT Connect Point, providing water coolers, ceiling fans in lecture halls, utilizing Alumni House for NRI students are some of the other activities by MITAA.
Honoring Dr. Abdul Kalam
MITAA felt the most admired Alumnus of MIT, Bharat Ratna, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam should be honoured within the premises of the Institute. With active support from Anna University authorities and MIT, a life size Bronze statue of Dr. Kalam was put up in front of the Admin Block in December 2022. Governor of Tamil Nadu, Sri R N Ravi unveiled the statue in a grand event attended by a large gathering of Alumni and others in person and virtually. Today this location has become a “selfie point” inside the Institute.
75th Year Of MIT’s Service To The Nation
MIT kickstarted the year long celebrations of its 75th year of existence in July 2023 with the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Sri M.K.Stalin presiding over. MITAA actively coordinated with the alma mater to conduct a host of activities like “75 in 75”, providing 75 Guest Lectures in 75th Year”, appointment of “Professor of Practice”, revamping Alumni House as Alumni Center etc during the year long celebrations, to commemorate the Platinum jubilee.
The valedictory function of the year long celebrations coincided with SUMMITAA 2024 in July 2024. Minister of Higher Education, TN Government, Dr. Ponmudi presided over the function. After inaugurating “MIT Connect Point” he reiterated TN Govt’s commitment to extend all Financial assistance promised by the Chief Minister a year before. Prominent Alumni from around the world were honored by the Minister with mementos.
