BITS Pilani has received a USD 1 million endowment from its alumnus Brij Bhushan to support scholarships for female students and promote faculty-guided innovation addressing real-world challenges.
Bhushan is the founder of Reston Consulting Group (RCG) and belongs to BITS Pilani’s inaugural batch of 1960.
After a 24-year career in the US telecommunications corporate sector, Bhushan founded RCG in 1987.
The firm offers services in network operations and maintenance, cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, IT support, and telecommunications to US government and commercial clients.
The association of the Bhushan family with BITS Pilani reflects sustained alumni engagement over several decades. Brij Bhushan and his wife Champa, a BITS alumna who earned her Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering in 1966, have been active members of the Washington DC alumni community since 1980.
Following Bhushan’s retirement from RCG, the couple returned to BITS Pilani in 2006 to teach for one semester at the Pilani campus.
Expressing appreciation for the endowment, Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao, Vice-Chancellor of BITS Pilani, said that Brij and Champa Bhushan have consistently supported the institution through both philanthropy and academic engagement.
He noted that their long association with BITS Pilani and faith in its values and mission were deeply valued by the university.
Sharing his thoughts, Prof. Brij Bhushan said that contributing to the growth of BITS Pilani and student welfare had been a lifelong aspiration since leaving Pilani for higher studies abroad, and the endowment marks the fulfilment of that goal.
This is not the couple’s first contribution to the institute. In 2009, Brij and Champa Bhushan instituted two MCN scholarships at BITS Pilani, which continue to support students. The additional endowment will further assist meritorious students from low-income backgrounds and encourage innovative problem-solving among students.
Prof. Arya Kumar, while acknowledging the contribution, stated that the Bhushan family has supported their alma mater in multiple ways and has actively encouraged a culture of alumni giving, similar to practices followed in the West.
BITS Pilani has established a $100 million endowment fund to support its transformation into a global institution. The institute has also recorded notable progress in national and international rankings, with improvements in academic reputation, research quality, and student outcomes.