The organising secretary of the golden jubilee celebration committee of the College, Dr Atul Bora, talking to The Assam Tribune, pointed out that not many students from the region manage to get into the all-India services, including the Engineering Services, mainly because of lack of proper preparation for the competitive examinations and a substantial number of students of each batch have the capability of making into the services if they mobilise their talents in an organised manner.

Dr Bora said that there is need for training the students for the competitive examinations in an organised manner apart from creating general awareness and a competitive environment. He pointed out that the centre would benefit the students to harness their full potential for appearing in the national-level examinations. Even with budgetary constrains, awareness among the students about the structure of the IES and other Indian services can be created through the Centre. He revealed that through the Centre, students from 5th semester onwards would be able to take the help of the teachers in accordance with the IES examination syllabus. Resource persons from the industry and relevant fields would also be invited to impart training to the students.

The golden jubilee celebration committee is also organising a symposium on “50 Years of Assam Engineering College: An Introspection for Growth Orientation” on September 16. The date is chosen because of the fact that the first admission in the college took place on September 16, 1955. Dr Bora said that a time has come for a proper introspection of the performance of the college in last 50 years. In addition to the college fraternity, distinguished educationists of the region have been invited to deliver lectures in the symposium. Dr Bora pointed out that the need for a proper introspection of the functioning of the premier institute of higher education and to improve its standard in the days to come and the symposium would be of great help in this regard.

The celebration committee has also decided to make the engineering campus clean and green and a competition among the hostels on issues like segregation of plastics, composting of bio-degradable solids, tree plantation, etc., is being planned. A blood donors’ club is to be set up in the college, which will have the names, contact numbers, addresses and the blood groups of the donors. Senior members of the college fraternity will also be felicitated as a part of the celebrations.

Meanwhile, the AEC Alumni Association recently organised a meeting and formed a Golden Jubilee Nostalgia Committee headed by Dr NK Choudhury, former Vice-Chancellor of the Gauhati University. The committee has chalked out a series of programmes to celebrate the college jubilee, which include unvailing of a bronze bust of the founder principal HP Barua by former Principal SD Gogoi on September 7. A seminar on technical vision 2025 will also be held on September 8, followed by sports and games on September 9. A get together of the former students of the college and a cultural function will be held on September 10. The committee is also planning to provide an electronic library for the benefit of the students and teachers of the college and to construct an alumni building. A commemorative volume will also be brought out on the occasion, said the secretary of the Alumni Association SK Kakoty in a release.