Evolution of “Alumni Association of Government College of Engineering, Salem” (AAGCESLM) (Registered as a Trust)

The History:

1) Government College of Engineering, Salem was started in the year 1966 and the first batch of students graduated as fresh engineers in the year 1971.

2) It was in the year 1989, Messers N. Muralidharan and J.Prabhakaran of 79-84 batch and Mr. M. Ashok Kumar of 78-83 batch felt the strong urge to create the concept of “Alumni Get-Together” and took initiative to conduct the annual Alumni Meet. The Alumni trio with limited resources continued their effort for a year, along with our Professors, Prof. P.G. Venkatakrishnan and Prof.E.Ramasamyand formed an Alumni Committee with Mr.N.Muralidharan as the first President and Messers. P.G.Venkatakrishnan and J.Prabhakaran as Committee Members.

3) History was made on 29^th Apr 1990…yes, first-ever Alumni Meet was conducted inside our Auditorium presided by then Principal Prof K.N. Shanmugasundaram thanks to the Alumni Committee and 1984 Batch Coordinators who mobilized Alumni from all over Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The Committee further resolved to make the Alumni Meet as an annual affair with further fun fare and grandeur.

4) With Mr. J. Prabhakaran at the helm and relentless effort from 1984 batch coordinators, the focus was on Alumni data collection and formalization of Annual Alumni Meet. The Second Alumni Meet was conducted on 06^th Oct 1991 in a grand manner in the Auditorium with participation of Principal, professors, staff Alumni, and students, followed by dinner. On that memorable occasion, the organising committee released the first souvenir ‘Together to our Best” containing with batch-wise Alumni details. The celebrated event paved the way for another joyful GCE tradition of holding the alumni meet every year on the second Sunday of August, irrespective of the date.

5) Mr. Kuppuswamy of 1971 batch who took over as the President of the Alumni Association in 1992 continued his enterprising leadership till 2004 along with the Alumni Committee and other Alumni mainly from Salem and across locations. Formative years of Alumni Meet wouldn’t have been possible without the significant contributions from 1984 batch who took care of all expenses in 1990 and 1991. In the next subsequent years, and expense of the Alumni Day function was met by generous contributions made by the participating Alumni.

6) The batch of 1978 started the formal celebration of Silver Jubilee function in the college campus during the year 2003 to commemorate their passing out from the college. Another interesting decision taken during the year 2004 was to select the President of AAGCES from the Alumni batch, celebrating the silver jubilee of their graduation.

7) The 1984 five year batch which was instrumental in the formulation of AA, set another trend, when they sponsored the complete expenses of Alumni Day function during the year 2010, combining their silver jubilee function with alumni day on specified Sunday in our Auditorium.

8) During the five year tenure of Prof.P.G. Venkatakrishnan in early 2000 as Placement Officer, the placement record of our students made a positive turn around and the graph was consistently on the rise, thanks to the wonderful effort of Mr.Loganathan (88), Mr. C.Sasidharan (91) and Mr.S.Muthusamy (96). This team regularly visited the college, trained the students, held group discussions/mock interviews, improved the communication skill of students, particularly from a rural background and imparted other soft skills also to them. The impact was so evident that there was a significant improvement in the placement record that took the image of the institution to new level.

9) Enthused by this trend, volunteers from 1986, 88, 91, 96, 99, 2003, and 2006 batches also conducted several training programs between 2005 and 2011. These priceless contributions of Alumnihelped to improve the employability of the students by facing the corporate recruiters confidently.

10) During the tenure of Mr.K.Pandian of 1983 batch as the President in 2009 and Mr.J.Prabhakaran of 1984 as President in 2010, their combined effort appreciably supported by then Principal Dr. S.R. Damadarasamy and many other alumni, many new milestones were established in the history of the institutions.

NBA accreditation to all courses in the college, except ECS.
Conferment of autonomous state to the college.
Consolidating the Alumni fund, which was collected on various occasions and was existing as scattered deposits to create a single corpus fund to the tune of more than 15 lakhs.
Getting allotment of land from DoTE for construction of Alumni Centre inside the college campus on 26 May 2011.

11) The batch of 1989, during their Silver Jubilee celebration in 2014, distributed financial assistance to deserving students and continues to extend the assistance till now.

12) The batch of 92, as part of their silver jubilee celebrations, organised GATE training, through a professional agency, heavily subsidizing the fees to help the students take the GATE entrance examination confidently.

13) In the whole journey of the Alumni association, right from 1989 to till date, there were many unsung heroes who worked tirelessly supporting from behind the screen in multiple ways. We sincerely thank and salute all those who contributed their heart and soul in some form or other.

The Alumni Centre Construction;

14) Mr.M.Kamarajan (78) and Mr.V.G.Janarthanam (79) leading from the front, started mobilizing funds for the construction of the “Alumni Centre”. Like-minded alumni from the batches of ’70s to 90’s joined hands in this noble task of “giving back” to the Alma mater, which gave them the foundation of life. Due to the generous contribution from 500+ alumni, the collection touched a Crore and the construction was started in all earnest during the year 2013.

15) In order to complete the project at the earliest possible time, a special purpose vehicle in the form of a Trust was formed in the name of ”Alumni Association of Government College of Engineering, Salem” (AAGCESLM) Messers. A.V. Sekar (77), K. Ramesh Babu (79) and K. Eswaran (80) were nominated as trustees. 12AA & 80G approvals were obtained for the Trust to give Tax exemption benefits to the donors.

16) After obtaining necessary approvals, the groundbreaking ceremony was performed on 25th Jan 2013 to formally mark the beginning of the construction of the Alumni Centre.

17) The completed Alumni centre, standing as the pride of GCE Alumni Association , was inaugurated on 9^thAugust 2014 deservedly by Prof. P.M. Kavimani, Addl. Director DOTE (alumni and former Principal of GCE/ Salem) in the presence of the then Principal Dr. R.S.D. Wahida Banu and participating Alumni of Salem. Since then, the elegantly looking alumni centre is being used by the college management for various academic purposes, such as conducting soft skill training programs to students, campus interviews, etc

18) Mr. S.Thangamani Maran (86), Mr.C.Sasidharan and Mr.A.Arokiasamy (95) were inducted into the Trust on 10th October 2015 to broad base the management of the AAGCES with an aim to enlarge participation of a wider section of alumni in its affairs.

The Way Forward:

19) Road map for the future of the alumni association includes initiatives, such as formalisation of membership and updation, the training program for aptitude development, soft skills development, mentoring for career guidance, sustaining GATE Training on an on-going basis, upgrading the status our college in all India ranking, etc.

20) Needless to mention, all these initiatives will require lots of financial resources as well as human resources by means of experienced alumni volunteers who can conduct training programs at the campus. We look forward to generous contributions from silver jubilee batches and appeal to other alumni with a big heart to come forward, collaborate, and make AAGCESLM a model organization to be emulated by others. When you become a registered member of AAGCESLM by paying the basic membership amount, you are actually contributing to the Corpus Fund and become eligible to take up various positions in the AAGCESLM through the election process.

As per the variation deed of the Trust, registered at Sub-Registrar’s office, Omalur on 3 August 2020, a new Board of Trustees are inducted and are assigned with the following roles:

President - Mr. P Sivakumar (89 batch)

Secretary - Mr. K Venkatesan (93 batch)

Treasurer - Mr. K Natarajan (82 batch)

They have taken up these positions on an adhoc basis and have been given the task of enlarging the General body of members of the “Alumni Association of Government College of Engineering, Salem” and conducting formal elections within 15 months.