Since 2004,
NITDAA has been awarding the Professor S.N.Ray Memorial Merit cum Means Scholarship annually to two undergraduate engineering students of our Institute. The present amount on offer is
Rs. 1000/- per month per selected candidate. The selection is made from the first year undergraduate students of Indian nationality who continue to receive the amount through the tenure of the course (four years) subject to their academic performance.
The scholarships (outflow Rs.96,000/- annually) are paid from interest accrued from a corpus dedicated specifically to scholarships, which is invested in fixed deposits. Additionally, each year, part of the excess funds collected for the Global meet (if any), are assigned to the scholarship corpus, which has steadily grown to around 14
Lakhs.
In recent times, batches celebrating their Silver Jubilee have donated generously to the scholarship fund.
This year , there were 15 applicants out of which 12 persons appeared for interview and two persons have been selected.
In recent years , we are seeing a significant drop in the quality of the applicants for this scholarship, which is of concern. Secondly, there is very little ongoing interaction with these scholars post their selection for the scholarship. Perhaps, as a result, we have not been able to tap any of the scholars to become members of
NITDAA. Neither have any of these scholars been known to keep in touch with the alumni association or give anything back to the institute.
The APEX committee is therefore setting up a committee under the leadership of Prof.
Indrajit Basak to review and recommend what needs to be done to make the scholarship attractive and prestigious as well as strengthen the bond between the association and the scholars.
Prof.
Basak will select his team.
The Committee will look into the following aspects:
1) Review the current structure of the scholarship and recommend changes, if necessary, to the eligibility criteria
a) Recommend whether the criterion should be on the basis of merit cum means or purely on merit
b) If merit cum means, should the annual income criterion be raised?
2) Recommend a detailed set of sub-criteria to be used for:
a) Initial selection (this year we looked at scholastic consistency, written and verbal communication, extra-curricular activity, financial need etc)
b) Periodic performance review (who, what, when)
3) Whether amount of
Rs. 1000/- per month is sufficient or should it need to be increased
a) If it is to be increased, should it be in cash or
b) kind (such as fees waiver etc) or funding internships etc
4) Whether the no. of recipients needs be changed?
5) Any other actions to add value to the scholarship?
6) Should the scholarship be only limited to students of the Institute or also to the children of alumni studying elsewhere.
Please send your suggestions, if any, to
Prof. Indrajit Basak
The committee will submit their recommendations by
30th June, 2012.
(
Hiralal Bhattacharjee)
Secretary,Apex committee,
NITDAA 
Hospital