How to start an IEEE Student Branch?

Ali Mustufa Shaikh
Nov 7 · 4 min read

Recently I started an IEEE Student Branch in our College A. P. Shah Institute of Technology Thane and it was not so easy process considering you are very new to IEEE also the Documentation available online is not so helpful, it took us 2 months to get it running!

So I decided to write a summarised version of it so that you can initiate the process and get started within 1–2 weeks!

The first question is Why IEEE?

IEEE is a global non-profit organization that can help you do wonders locally and globally with its global reach you can make international connections and harvest opportunities in terms of research and self-development. You can read all about the benefits of IEEE here.

Best example: I did my final year project in collaboration with Dr. Hussain Mahdi sir from the University of Dayala and our college. that gave huge weight to me than all other project groups.

Step 1: Gather at least 12 like-minded students and three professors (Total 15) who would be interested to be an IEEE Member from your college need help to do that? You can always contact your local section (Every region has an upper-body) they will send some Young Professional (YP) members to your college for explaining the benefits. Also, you’ll approval of your college and a professor who will act as Branch Councilor.

Step 2:

(a)Ask the students to create a student account at ieee.org and register as a student but wait, it is very likely that your school/college is not added in the IEEE directory as you are applying for a new branch. You need to email at petition@ieee.org and they’ll add your college name there. (It will maximum take 24 hrs to reflect) then you can fill the form and select your college name from the drop-down.

After you fill all the details you can proceed to the payment make sure you have selected student membership($27). There are 2 ways to pay either you use a Credit card/International Debit Card (both should be enabled to work internationally) or you can select pay to via challan option where they’ll give you the receipt and you can in a bank and initiate the transfer. If you pay online your membership will be live within minutes. If you pay via challan unless it gets clear it will not be activated.

(b)Ask your faculty/professor to create as a Professional and fill in all the details. The YP membership is slightly higher than a student membership. In India, the electronic member is $85 which is recommended else they can opt for normal membership of $185 mostly everything is the same so no need to worry.

Here also you’ll find similar payment options.

Fortunately, our college APSIT sponsored the Member’s and faculty’s IEEE Membership for the formation of the Student branch.

Step 3: Make sure everyone has an ACTIVE membership else your petition won’t go through.

how to check that? check here (IEEE login is required)

As you can see it shows that I have an active membership.

Note: The one filling this form will act as the Interim chairperson until the Branch is formed after which the college can conduct the election and change the chair.

Now head towards this link (you’ll have to log in) Click on CREATE A NEW PETITION Fill this form, it will at least require you 20–30 mins to do this. Answer all the question’s properly as they also play an important role in the petition. After this, your Branch Counsellor, Head of Department(need not be an IEEE member you can create his IEEE account and sign the petition without buying the membership) and 2 faculties need to Endorse the petition(they’ll receive the email).

After you submit it All the 12 members will need to sign the petition online. They’ll automatically receive an email about this petition, make sure you get it done by them as early as possible(visit here and sign if they haven’t received an email ) as once they sign it will go for the next set of Approvals.

The Apex body approves it within a week if they don’t do so(very unlikely) you can contact them as their information is available on the portal.

Step 4: Inaugurate your Student Branch and form an Executive committee. You can request for goodies for Membership Development from IEEE after branch formation. You’ll get $200 in your student branch account if you have 50+ members. Approach your local section and get connected with them for taking maximum benefits of IEEE membership.

Conduct awesome events and feel the Joy of Volunteering!

PS: I highly recommend you connect with your local section they’ll help you and guide you in person! nevertheless, this guide is complete and if you follow it you’ll have everything up and running.

Connect with me at iali@computer.org if you need any help or want me to visit your college!

Software Innovator @intel | @Google Certified Educator | #TEDx Speaker | Impacted 50k+ students | Cloud & ML Trainer | #TensorFlowIndia Organizer

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