The Scholars' Avenue

Ranbir (Ron) Singh Gupta, B.Arch 1970 IIT-Kharagpur and a top-notch architect in the US with his own company based in New York has given his alma-mater “Ranbir and Chitra Gupta School of Infrastructure Design and Management“, first such school of its kind in the world. His donation of $1 million is the second-highest endowment received by the institute. The Scholars’ Avenue talked to him about the upcoming school, its infrastructure, necessity and focus over a wonderful breakfast at The Tech Guest House. Excerpts from the interview:

SA: Why did you see the need to start off a school all of a sudden? What segment of the industry will it aim to primarily serve?

RG: India has seen a phenomenal economic growth over the last 5-6 years. It is important to sustain this growth for which we need a robust infrastructure in terms of power supply, transport facilities, airports, water works, sewage etc. India has a challenge in this respect, as the required infrastructural facility is not only lacking but any new project takes a lot of time to be executed. Focus of this school will be to produce people who can efficiently meet those challenges in a timely manner. “Setting up a power plant station in India today takes 10 years; graduate from this school will be expected to do it in one year”

SA: What degree shall be offered by the school?
RG: Presently, it’ll be starting as a post-graduate school with M.TECH/MBA and PhD degrees. The school is structured to incorporate three different activities:

Teaching activity, for the two year M.Tech/MBA program. Its curriculum is fully developed and the first batch of M.Tech students will be enrolled this July. The research activities which will be the most crucial part of the PhD program. A unique feature of this school will be its projects in collaboration with industry, government, R&D agencies and other organizations.

SA: How different is it from architectural engineering?

RG: It’s an interdisciplinary program with resources mainly from departments like architecture, civil, mechanical, electrical, ocean and marine engineering, management and law.

SA: The M.Tech program of the school will be fully functional by July 2008. On what basis shall the students be selected?

RG: Initially 20 students, five students from each of the departments namely, electrical, mechanical, civil and architecture will be selected. Selections shall be on the basis of GATE score. Also IIT graduates, from any of the seven IIT’s can apply without having to give GATE. There shall also be some industry sponsored students but they have to clear GATE.

SA: Did you have a specific institute or course in mind when you felt the need to train Indian students in this field?

RG: This school is first of its kind in the world. As such I did not have any institute in mind. There are some courses offered in a few Australian universities catering to this field but mostly the idea was inspired from the current market trends and needs of the society.

SA: What goals do you have in mind for the quality of faculty, students and curriculum. Will the school recruit its own independent faculty or shall the faculty from various departments be taking the courses, considering that due to manifold increase in student strength, faculty shortage is a problem in many departments?

RG: Initially, we have faculty from other departments taking the courses. Since we have only 20 students I hope it wont be much of a problem. There will be one full time coordinator who would decide the curriculum etc. We will also be recruiting faculty soon.

SA: On what basis would you choose the curriculum, depending upon the industry need or right from basics approach?

RG: Since it’s a post graduate course, we expect a minimum level of competency, so we wouldn’t exactly be starting from the basics but would cater more to industry needs. The academic programmes, curriculum, faculty shall be developed by the Institute. I have given the seed money for its establishment and my wife Chitra who is financing half of the project, and me will be on its board of advisors to provide guidance and direction to achieve the required goals.

SA: How often do you visit India? Would you like to give any message to the students here?

RG: Not as often as I would like to but I am planning that now I shall come back at least 3-4 times every year. Yes I have a message for the students here, like I have said at the IIT foundation, it’s important to keep your options open. Often people tend to specialize in a particular field but as the economy and the market trend changes we should learn to adapt to it and be flexible enough to learn new skills. It’s important to have an open mind. I wish you all the very best.