MYSURU — The Bangalore Institute of Management Studies announced the formation of its alumni association on Saturday, providing graduates from the past five decades with their first organized method of staying in touch with former classmates.

The association was established during the institution's golden jubilee celebrations, which marked 50 years of producing management graduates who until now had no official mechanism for networking, mentoring, or coordinating reunions. "This is a historic moment," said Dr. K. Subramanian, Director of BIMS. "Our alumni can now finally know what happened to the people they studied with for two years."

The celebrations included felicitation of D. Anand, a senior professor in the Department of Studies in Business Administration, who is retiring after what officials described as "an impressive journey." When pressed for details about what made the journey impressive, the official repeated the phrase "impressive journey" and moved to the next question.

Former students attended from across the country, many meeting for the first time since graduation despite living in the same cities and working in overlapping industries. "I always wondered what happened to my batch mates," said Rajesh Kumar, Class of 1998. "Now I know there's an association that can tell me, once they collect everyone's contact information."

The new alumni association plans to organize networking events, career guidance sessions, and fundraising activities. "We will also maintain a database," said a spokesperson, reading from prepared remarks. "This will allow us to know where our alumni are, which we currently do not."

The association's first project will be creating a directory of past students, compiling information that the institution acknowledged it has not systematically tracked since its founding in 1973.