“So, what are you doing now?” asks my NRI uncle who is home after a long time. 

“Engineering, uncle. In BITS, Pilani!” I reply, quite proudly.

“Oh, okay. Why not the government colleges? Where is BITS, Pilani?”

I am dejected in a way. Here is a person who was actually born in this country, spent more than twenty years here, but has never heard of BITS, Pilani. “May be it’s just him”, I tell myself.

That was almost 7 years ago. Though BITS, Pilani as a brand, is now quite popular in India, we can’t help but notice that a lot of people abroad, especially in the b-school circle, either haven’t heard of BITS Pilani or don’t perceive it as a premier technical institute in India. A lot of admissions consultants too seem to be voicing the same sentiment.

 

I cannot imagine graduating from a different college and still experiencing the same perfect mixture of pride, confidence, nostalgia and satisfaction. Education is perfect and complete when it is done the BITS, Pilani way. Although lot is happening at BITS, Pilani (in all the 4 campuses), within BITSian circles and BITSAA, there seems to be a need for a change in the way outside world perceives us.

This post is about the ‘Brand BITS, Pilani’ and its importance. We all know what it takes to be a BITSian. We know that our Alma mater continues to produce the best graduates in India. Well, it is time to let the world know.

BITS2BSCHOOL presents, a new initiative called ‘BITS2BSCHOOL GOES 2 B-SCHOOL’ – an attempt at promoting ‘Brand BITS, Pilani’. A few months ago, Srinivasan Nagarajan (Srini) (’96), Manoj Vasudevan (’02) and Anurag VNVJ(‘06) started working towards giving a shape to the campaign and now, BITS2BSCHOOL and BITSAA are ready with a brochure that shall be sent to select b-schools around the globe to promote ‘Brand BITS, Pilani’ among the admissions committees. The brochure features successful BITSians in key corporate positions and b-schools, and showcases the BITSian culture and complements it with testimonials from faculty. The brochure also explains why BITSians make great b-school students quoting the impact BITSians have had around the world across a wide range of fields from research to entrepreneurship to politics.

BITS, Pilani shall be represented by a ‘Campus Ambassador’ at each of the schools as a part of this initiative and these ambassadors would be aided with a promotion toolkit to carry out the necessary work. Any current student or an alumnus of each of the schools can sign up to be the ‘Campus Ambassador’ for their school. In the initial sign-up drive, there has been overwhelming response from alumni. With 25+ BITSians already volunteering to help us in this at 25 Schools around the globe and covering 4 programs, we have taken a huge step forward in promoting BITS, Pilani as a brand. 

If you would like to help us in this effort (be it in logistics, generating more ideas or in execution) or need more information, we would love to hear from you. Please reach us on bits2bschool-team@bitsaa.org

Anurag VNVJ (’06) | Manoj Muthavarapu (’04)