Generosity Unbound: PGPMAX students set a trend

Deputy Dean Deepak Chandra unveiling the plaque during Solstice,
the annual alumni reunion meet.

The annual tradition of the graduating students from the Post Graduate Programme leaving a legacy of a Class Gift to the School has now extended to the students in the Post Graduate Programme in Management for Senior Executives (PGPMAX) programme as well.  Students from the PGPMAX Class of 2012 have contributed a Class Gift of approximately 35 lakhs to the Alumni Endowment Fund. Almost all students from the class have participated in this drive, with each student contributing around INR 50,000. This contribution was matched in equal amounts by the School. Speaking on how almost the entire class was won over to contribute to the School, Anurag Gupta, from the PGPMAX Class of 2012, said, “The challenge was to speak to everyone especially since we are together on campus only for a period of seven days. So the team had to find time within our busy work and social lives to pitch the idea to each member of the class while we were away from ISB campus. The whole idea took complete shape only in the final term. So, there were some logistical challenges in coordination with each person to ensure that contributions were made in a timely manner.”

For the School, this is a special gift as the PGPMAX students are part of a small class who are in the campus for only a limited time. But Gupta stresses that the class felt very strongly about giving back to ISB. “The School has provided us with a platform to learn even at such an advanced age in life. All of us felt we learned something new in each course we took and this would make us better executives. So we decided to thank ISB for providing us this learning opportunity. Secondly, we all feel strongly about giving back to the community – we felt that if we can give a deserving candidate an opportunity to experience ISB’s world-class facilities and teaching, then the community can benefit. Finally, we felt as we were initial batch of PGPMAX, we can set an example to the future classes and help establish a tradition of giving back to the School.”  The PGPMAX contribution to the Endowment Fund will be used to provide financial aid to a student from the PGP class.

In appreciation of such thoughtful gestures by the alumni, the School recently inaugurated a plaque recognising all large alumni contributions to the Alumni Endowment Fund.