College Guide

National Institute of Technology Warangal (NITW)
Introduction:
The National Institute of Technology Warangal, started in 1959, was previously a Regional Engineering College (REC) but was conferred NIT status in 2002. It is an Institute of National Importance, and is widely regarded to be among the top three NITs in India.



Location:
For all those who, like a few of us, didn't know, Warangal is in Andhra Pradesh. Located about three hours from Hyderabad, NITW is situated just off National Highway 202, on either side of it. Like is the case with many NITs, the college is the heartbeat of Warangal, which is a tiny, semi-rural town. Fortunately, there is good accessibility, especially to Hyderabad. The weather isn't that good, though; it's hot and dry throughout the year, with the only exception being the month of January, when it gets slightly chilly.



Infrastructure:
Since NIT Warangal is one of the older NITs, it would be silly to expect the college to be a paradigm of modern architecture. Efforts are being made to uplift the look of the institute a bit, but these things take time. There are a number of swanky new hostels coming up, and the newer departments have relatively better infrastructure than the others. The girls hostels are slightly lacking in terms of capacity, which means that many girls have to share rooms initially meant to house a single person. Many laboratories are in an abject condition, but students say that the situation is improving. The library is massive and is updated with the latest books on a regular basis. There aren't too many facilities for sports, however; just one terribly muddy ground and a decent badminton court.



Rankings:
NIT-W is said to be among the top three NITs, and among the top 20 engineering colleges in the country.



Faculty:
Although the quality (and quantity) of faculty varies significantly from department to department, the one outstanding feature of all professors is their high level of dedication. The Mechanical and Civil branch professors are singled out for praise by the students, but they also mention that the Biotech faculty isn't completely up to the mark. However, there aren't any complaints because students are very pleased with the rapport they share with their professors. Once in a while, yes, there are cases of teachers holding grudges against (and getting back at) students, but that happens everywhere, doesn't it?



Attendance:
Now, all NITs have a mandatory 75 percent attendance rule. Some follow it to the book, some don't. NIT Warangal is one of those that try implementing it, and manage to do it, to an extent. Some professors are very strict about attendance, but many are on the lenient side, especially if you share good relations with them. It's advisable not to get too presumptuous though, because there HAVE been cases wherein students aren't allowed to write their exams due to low attendance.



Crowd:
Although there's a state-quota of 50 percent, about 75 percent of the crowd here is Andhraite, because they seem to do awfully well in the AIEEE and get into NIT Warangal by national merit anyway. Most of the students are quite friendly and decent. The girl/boy ratio is frankly awful though, at about 1:8.



Placements:
Being one of the top colleges in India, NIT Warangal has fantastic placements. To give you an idea, Facebook, Google and Microsoft have been visiting the campus and offering a select few students brilliant job profiles with mind boggling salaries. You also have your regular recruiters from various sectors coming in. The average package is about Rs.6 lpa.



Festivals:
NIT Warangal hosts it's technical festival Technozion in September, and its cultural fest SpringSpree in March. Both feasts see excellent participation from NITs across the country.



Contact Address:
National Institute of Technology,
Warangal - 506004,
Andhra Pradesh.
Phone: +91-870-2459191
Website : www.nitw.ac.in/nitw



Famous Alumni:
Rao Remala- First Indian employee at Microsoft
S.P.Y.Reddy- MP, India (14th and 15th Lok Sabha)
V.R.Ferose- MD, SAP Labs India
Sunand Sharma- Country President, Alstom India

National Institute of Technology, Durgapur (NIT DGP)
Foreword:
The National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, is one of the more popular NITs. Founded in 1960, it celebrated its fiftieth year of existence in 2010, and has consistently had a history of producing excellent students. It is one of the leading institutes of national importance, which explains why it has such an important place in the heart of every West Bengal resident.



Location:
Durgapur, which is known as Steel City, is the second biggest city in West Bengal after Kolkata. Well connected by Rail and Road, the campus is quite urban, thanks to its excellent location in the heart of Durgapur. Kolkata is 160 kms away from Durgapur, which is not too much if you can tolerate the heat on the way.



Campus and Infrastructure:
NIT Durgapur is one of only a handful of institutes in India to boast of a ‘high voltage laboratory’, and this one is the best of its kind. The library, most of the labs, and all the computer centres are airconditioned. They have 10 hostels here, seven for boys (with another one coming up) and three for girls. The new hostels, of course, have much better facilities, but the old hostels are definitely more popular. Each hostel has a mess and a common room. Final year students normally have a room to themselves, while second and third year students share their rooms with two or three other students. First years are put up in massive halls, and are kept regular tabs on.

The library is excellent – about a lakh volumes and ever-increasing. Students in their respective hostels have LAN access, but while in the departments there is access to WiFi as well.



Courses Offered:
Under Graduate Courses=B.Tech
Biotechnology
Chemical Engineering
Chemistry
Civil Engineering
Computer Application
Computer Centre
Computer Science & Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Electronics & Communication Engineering
Geology
Humanities
Information Technology
Management Studies
Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering
Metallurgical & Materials Engg
Physics
Faculty:
Students are full of praise for the entire faculty. IT, CSE and ECE professors are very friendly and pretty cool too. The professors teaching core courses like EE, Mech, Civil, Metallurgy and Chemical are highly experienced and research work they do is, in the words of a student, ‘awesome!’ IT and BioTech professors are comparatively less experienced, but they are really good too. The college has been transformed by the new director, who has introduced some new rules to make sure discipline is maintained.



Crowd:
The crowd, on an average, is pretty good. But the boy/girl ratio unfortunately isn’t. It depends on the department you’re in, of course, with IT,CSE,ECE having about 4/1 while branches like Mechanical have an appalling ratio of about 20/1! Students from almost all states join the college with preference from North and South India. Also, there are international students from places like Nepal, Bhutan and Dubai.

Students will vouch for the fact that life at NIT Durgapur is amazing. Yes, you’ll have to slog to get your grades, but it all seems worth it, when you take a look at the friends you’ve made and the times you’ve had.

Ragging has comparatively decreased a lot. An introductory session takes place, to get to know the students and juniors always stay in touch with their seniors, to know about departments and Clubs (NITD has Clubs which organize the extracurricular activities).



Rankings:
Although there aren’t really any official rankings available, NIT Durgapur is widely regarded as the 5th best among all NITs, and among the top 30 in all engineering colleges of India. Of course, a lot also depends on the course you select. For example, NITD is the second best Indian college for Metallurgy.

To get into NITD, you need to have a rank of anywhere between 1 and about 5000 in your AIEEE.



Placements and Internships:
The college boasts of nearly-100% placements. Some of the top firms from across India and the world come and recruit here in numbers. Though the average is about Rs.5 lac per annum, Google and Amazon have come once in a while and offered whopping salaries of between 10 and 13 lac. Wow!



Festivals and Activities:
The Biggest fests of the college, which hold some amount of national importance:

'Aarohan' - The annual Techno-Management Fest of the College (February 2nd week)
'Recstacy' - Cultural Fest. (February 3rd week)
Other Fests and student activities, on a comparatively smaller scale:

Verve - Literary Fest (September)
ANK - Knowledge Fest (Math events) (September)
Motor Zundung - Auto Fest. (February 3-5th)
Mukti - Open source fest (February 3-5th)
Seminars and workshops take place from time to time, of course.



Canteen/Mess:
Mess food, as you’d expect, isn’t too great. There are a few canteens in the campus which are quite decent, and the food is pretty affordable. Of course, once you get out there’s a mall called Junction Mall which has BIG Bazaar, KFC, Pizza Hut and an INOX theatre too.



Contact Address:
National Institute of Technology
Durgapur, West Bengal
India. PIN 713209
Phone : +91 343 2546397
Fax : +91 343 2547375
Website: www.nitdgp.ac.in



Verdict:
While the weather can sometimes get to your head, these will definitely be four years of your life which you won’t forget (for the good reasons). Fifth among NITs and pretty close to Kolkata, NIT Durgapur is the East Indians dream.

National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur (NITH)
Location:
Hamirpur is one of the few places in Himachal Pradesh that can qualify (just about) as a 'city'. To quote a student, "by Himachal standards, this is pretty urban." the college is located at a whopping 900m above sea level, so you can imagine how picturesque the surroundings will be. There's a decent amount of civilization around; the marketplace is just 5 minutes away from college, and there are a fair few restaurants nearby as well.



Infrastructure:
Started in 1986, NIT Hamirpur is one of the newer NITs, and that's probably why it has fantastic infrastructure. The facilities available here are better than most, if not all other IITs and NITs. Many of the dormitories and buildings are brand new, and there's one mega hostel (which would house 1400 students) coming up. There are separate buildings for every department, all of which are either new or under construction. The fully wifi campus also has an excellent library as well, with books available whenever required by students.



Courses Offered:




Rankings:
NIT Hamirpur is ranked among the top thirty engineering colleges all over India.



Faculty:
Students are full of praise for all the professors, most of whom are PhDs from respectable institutes. Both, senior as well as junior professors are said to be very approachable, and quite friendly as well. There haven't really been any cases of professors holding grudges and reflecting them in marks, but students warn against taking the faculty for granted.



Attendance:
They're quite strict about attendance here. You're expected to maintain a minimum of 75 percent, failing which you can get into all worts of trouble. If attendance falls below 60 percent in any subject, you'll have to repeat that subject. Of course, all these criteria get a little relaxed if you share a good rapport with the professor in question, but it's always advisable not to take a chance.



Crowd:
Considering that this is an NIT, the crowd is extremely decent. Most of the students are from Himachal Pradesh, which explains the calm, peaceful, friendly atmosphere. The general pleasantness is conducive to learning as well as mingling. The boy/girl ratio is about 5:1, but students say that it's improving every year. There is absolutely no ragging, but that doesn't mean that NIT Hamirpur is a boring place to be.



Hangouts:
Since Hamirpur is a small city, there's not a hell of a lot to do outside campus, apart from visiting a few eateries, some temples, a couple of rivers, and the theatre (a rarity in Himachal). Fortunately, there are enough 'chilling' options within the college campus itself. You'll find a number of joints that serve delicious food (try the paratha!), a few cafes like Indian Coffee House, and a couple of shops like Amul, etc.



Placements:
Although there aren't a terribly high number of core companies as compared to what other NITs see, the placement scenario in general is pretty excellent. NIT Hamirpur comfortably has 100 percent placements, with the average salary being around Rs.5 lac. Apart from the usual suspects like TCS and Accenture, the college is also visited by companies like Ericsson and Samsung on a regular basis.



Festivals:
The cultural fest, Hill 'Ffair and technical fest, Nimbus are major events at NIT Hamirpur and see participation from across the country.



Contact:
National Institute of Technology,
Hamirpur - 177 055
Himachal Pradesh.
Fax: +91-1972-223834
Website : www.nith.ac.in



Verdict:
National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur is certainly a nice place to be in. Lovely weather, a peaceful environment, and decent people around you. The only piece of advice students give is, "don't take it all for granted. Be nice to everyone and have a great our years."

National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (NIT Trichy)
Foreword:
The National Institute of Technology, Trichy is widely regarded as the best amongst all the NITs. One of the oldest NITs, its original name was Regional Engineering College (REC) Tiruchirapalli. Though Trichy might not be the most hospitable (at least in terms of climate) places, you’ll find a host of students who didn’t make the grade for the top IITs opting for this institute.



Location:
The campus is quite modern and located in close proximity to the cities of Trichy and Tanjavur(along the Trichy-Tanjavur Highway). Trichy is easily accessible through rail, road and air. Chennai is a 7 hour bus ride from the institute.



Campus and Infrastructure:
NIT Trichy boasts of a vast campus with ever-improving infrastructure (new lecture halls, bigger auditoriums, refurbished library, new hostels) to accommodate the increasing number of students. Hostels are just about okay, but fortunately there aren’t any problems with water supply at least. First years share their rooms with three other students, second and third year students with one more, while final year students normally have a room to themselves, although that may change a bit due to the increased intake of NIT Trichy. The entire campus will soon be WiFi enabled, but as of now they have huge computer rooms in each hostel which are open 24 hours a day. Specialised internet labs are also available. Students sometimes complain about the ‘not so great’ library, but that promises to improve too very soon.



Faculty:
The first thing students say about the faculty is that you shouldn’t bother comparing it to the IITs, because well, this isn’t an IIT. Professors are like what you’ll find in any other institution, some are good and some are not. Only one or two in each department are very good, well experienced, learned professors. Most of the time, it’s just like any other college focusing on studying by rote.



Crowd:
The crowd here is very multicultural; you’ll find students from every nook and corner of India. It promises to be an exciting experience for any student, regardless of where he or she is from. It should be noted, though, that like in any other good engineering college, girls are at a premium at NIT Trichy. The Boy/Girl ratio is quite awful, but fortunately other things cure the inevitable frustration. The campus life is really good, the small amount of state-specific ragging can also be opted out, seniors are normally very approachable and friendly, and most students find something (other than slogging) to keep themselves busy.



Rankings:
NIT Trichy is definitely among the top 3 NITs, and has regularly been ranked among the top 10 engineering colleges across the country.

You would need an AIEEE rank of anywhere between 1000 and 4000 to get a popular branch (like ECE, Comps, EEE) while a rank of anything above 14000 should get you a seat in a not-so-popular branch.



Placements and Internships:
The placement scenario is pretty good at NIT Trichy. A large variety of companies visit the campus each year: famous private companies, PSU’s, start ups, etc. Salaries offered are pretty decent, the average is about Rs.5.5 lac. Most favoured branch in this sense, like in any other college, is Computer science.



Festivals and Activities:
College life is filled with activities around the year. The annual cultural festival ('Festember') , Techno-management festival ('Pragyan') are complemented by department symposiums, inter departmental cultural fests, club activities (which include technical and cultural events). Technical and cultural fests are organised on a very large scale and the entire year is spent on making every edition better than the previous one. Individual hostels, inter-hostels, inter year events are conducted by various clubs, and the hostels themselves. Round the year there are sports events, social and cultural activities, technical competitions, workshops, and lectures (on robotics , computing , etc ).



Canteen/Mess:
Admittedly, the mess isn’t too great. This problem is compounded if you’re a North Indian, because it takes some time to get your taste buds used to (or numb to) the South Indian style of cooking. But things are looking up – the catering has recently been outsourced. Also, there is a nice canteen, small Bru, Nascafe, Lipton and Aavin cafes on the campus itself. When you step out of college, there are a number of ‘dhabas’, though the food isn’t terrific there either.



Contact:
National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli.
Tanjore Main Road,National Highway 67,
Tiruchirappalli - 620015.Tamil Nadu, India.
Phone : (0431) 2503000 / 2504000.
Website : www.nitt.edu



Famous Alumni:
Sidin Vadukut - author of famous financial comedy series “Dork”



Verdict:
NIT Trichy is known for its fantastic history and excellent placements, which is why students dream of going to it. And fair enough, because that’s what matters to most students at the end of the day. There’s also an excellent mix of curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular activity here which adds to one’s personality. That being said, it’s probably not for those who are hell-bent on high-end research, or those who can’t acclimatize to bad weather and worse food. Things are looking up, of course, but change takes time, doesn’t it?

National Institute of Technology, Agartala (NIT Agartala)
Introduction:
The National Institute of Technology, Agartala got upgraded to the status of an NIT only in 2007. Till then, it was known as Tripura Engineering College. Founded in 1965, the institute has been heavily involved in upgradation and reconstruction activity since only recently. NITA still isn’t quite up to the mark of the better NITs, but the management is trying to ensure that it reaches that level sooner rather than later.



Location:
If you know your geography, you’d know that Agartala is the capital city of the very beautiful and picturesque state of Tripura. It’s in North East India, if you’re still wondering. The institute is roughly 20 kms away from the city of Agartala, but is pretty well connected by buses and trains. And you can always hitch a ride with some truck driver, since it’s just 4km off National Highway 44. As for the place, well, it’s lovely! Although the massive amount of construction going on in and around the campus somewhat ruins the natural charm of the place, it’s quite breathtaking anyway.



Campus and Infrastructure:
The huge NIT Agartala campus is ever growing and ever improving. Although it’s fair to say that currently the infrastructure isn’t the best, the college is making vast improvements. As soon as you enter the campus, you can see cranes, cement-mixers and other machinery. Yes, this isn’t pleasing to the eye, but at least it shows the ambition of the college. A number of new buildings with state-of-the-art facilities are coming up and should be completed by 2014.

As for the current infrastructure, it isn’t too bad either. The library is very well maintained, complete with a reading room and a book bank. Lecture halls are well ventilated, and all computer labs are air conditioned. The campus is fully wi-fi enabled. There are 6 hostels for boys, and 2 for girls, all of which are quite comfortable and cosy. The messes are decent too; students don’t normally complain about the quality of food, which isn’t something you see everywhere.



Courses Offered:
Under Graduate Courses: B.Tech
Chemical Engineering
Civil Engineering
Civil and Transportation Engineering
Computer Science and Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Electronics and Communication Engineering
Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Production Engineering

Post Graduate Courses: M.Tech
Post Graduate Courses: Ph.D
Faculty:
Since NIT Agartala isn’t in the most metropolitan of places, it becomes hard to attract the best faculty. New professors are recruited every now and then from the better colleges around the country, so the situation is definitely improving. Old branches like Civil and Mechanical have excellent senior as well as junior professors, but the newer branches such as ECE and CSE (which were introduced here only a handful of years back) have relatively inexperienced and not-very-good professors.



Crowd and Campus Life:
The crowd here is quite decent; of course, there’s a majority of people from North East India, but you can safely say that people from all over the country come her. The Boy/Girl ratio is roughly 3:1, which is really not bad for an engineering college in a somewhat remote area. Many students are actively involved in sports and other extra-curriculars. One thing to be noted is that ragging is strictly prohibited here, and anyone found to be indulging in it is in for some serious trouble.

The mess food is more than edible and is often tasty, in spite of being healthy. And that’s a good thing, since there’s really nothing to do if you are to venture outside campus.



Rankings:
There aren’t any official rankings available, of course, but students rate NIT Agartala among the top 15 NITs.



Placements and Internships:
The placement record here is pretty good at NIT Agartala. Although the usual suspects like TCS, Patni, Capgemini, Accenture, etc visit campus and offer jobs in bulk, there are also a number of unique recruiters, especially for the core departments like Mechanical and Civil. About 90% of students get placed every year, and most of them in jobs of their choice. Regular recruiters, apart from the usual ones, include HCL, Maruti, Tata Motors, Powerwave, IOCL, Renault, Stone India, etc.

Internships are at a premium. Very few are offered, and even they don’t really pay too well. Most companies that pick up students for internships are local firms.



Festivals and Events:
The college doesn’t really host any major fest of its own, but various Hindu festivals are celebrated with great enthusiasm. Durga Puja, Ganesh Puja, Diwali are all done on a grand scale.



Contact Address:
National Institute Technology, Agartala.
Jirania.Tripura-799055
Website: www.nitagartala.in



Verdict:
Since it’s a college that was recently granted NIT status, NIT Agartala is certainly not yet at par with the best in the business. But a fantastic location coupled with its ambitious remodelling process ensures that it’ll definitely come up in the next few years.

Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT), Allahabad
Introduction:
Consistently ranked among the top 10 technical institutes in India, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT) was founded in the year 1961, and just completed its Golden Jubilee. Originally known as the Motilal Nehru Regional Engineering College and affiliated to the University of Allahabad, MNNIT now comes under the Centre. One of the top NITs, you’ll find a huge number of brilliant North Indians here.



Location:
MNNIT Allahabad is located about 5-6 kilometres away from Civil Lines, in the area known as Teliyarganj. While it’s not a huge metropolis, Allahabad is a fast-growing, developing city, so the location of the college is quite excellent. What’s more, the college provides a thrice-a-day bus service to and from Civil Lines at no extra cost to the students. How sweet.



Infrastructure:
In the past few years, MNNIT Allahabad has seen some great improvement with respect to infrastructure. The intake recently increased significantly, and this paved the way for a lot of construction activity, which has seen MNNIT become one of the best-looking government institutes in the country. All the classes are air conditioned, the hostels (seven for boys and one for girls) are well maintained, with a huge new one coming up. The laboratories are excellent as well, especially the mechanical and computer labs; the college has a three storey computer centre! The library, a common place for nerds to hang out, is spacious and extremely rich in terms of books. The college has decent facilities for a number of sports like cricket, football, tennis, badminton, basketball, etc. They also have a few cafes and tiny outlets here and there – a Bikaner outlet provides tasty snacks at subsidised rates, while there’s a nice Rich Cafe in the boys hostel. The best part, most students say, about NIT Allahabad is their internet, which is ‘ultra fast’. No wonder the college is one of the very, very few institutes in India to have a supercomputer of its own.



Courses Offered:
Bio Technology
Chemical Engineering /Technology
Civil Engineering
Computer Science & Engineering
Electronics & Communication Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Information Technology
Mechanical Engineering
Production & Industrial Engineering


Faculty:
Although you cannot possibly doubt the quality of the faculty here, it must be mentioned that an average student at NIT Allahabad doesn’t depend on the professors. Most students take it upon themselves to understand and learn their subjects completely, regardless of who’s teaching them. That said, the faculty as a whole is quite good. The faculty from the mechanical department is singled out for special praise. Most professors are old and very experience, and in spite of this share an excellent rapport with the students.



Attendance:
The college is quite particular about attendance in the first year. Over time, students get used to attending, so they normally don’t even realise that the professors become slightly lenient in the subsequent years.



Placements:
Really really good! Needless to say, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad has 100% placements, with some of the top companies from all sectors visiting the campus. The minimum salary here is about Rs.3.5 lac, while the highest can go as high as 16 lpa. Even students who have backlogs manage to get placed. To give you an idea of the hirers here, here’s a tiny list – Microsoft, Amazon, Netapp, Oracle, Yahoo, Samsung, Direct-i  for Comps/Elex. For the core branches, the major companies that come in are Pepsi, NTPC, General Steel, Coal India, etc.



Crowd:
The girl/boy ratio is a frankly awful 1:9, but other than this, the crowd at MNNIT Allahabad is like any other college. There is a rather higher percentage of UP-ites than the allotted 50%, because of the simple fact that many get in without the state quota.



Festivals:
The Technical festival, Avishkar, is held in September and is one of the more popular fests in India, which is why it attracts participation even from IITs.

The cultural fest called Culrav is held in January, while a unique literary fest called Gnosiomania is also hosted by MNNIT.



Contact Address:
Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT)
Allahabad - 211004
Website: www.mnnit.ac.in



Famous Alumni:
Saurabh Babu - IAS topper 1991 batch
S.C.Saxena - Ex-Director, IIT Roorkee
BC Tripathi - Chairman and MD, GAIL India
Saurabh Tripathi – DIG, CBI


Verdict:
“The best thing about MNNIT Allahabad”, in a students’ words, “is the versatility”. It’s a great platform for just about everything.

Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT) – Surat
Introduction:
Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute Of Technology, inaugurated in 1961, Surat was one of the 17 Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs) that were established as a joint venture between the Government of India and the Government of Gujarat. In 2002 it was elevated to the status of an NIT, and thus is now termed an ‘institute of national importance’. Just like almost everything else in the state of Gujarat, SVNIT Surat has also come up really quickly and is constantly rising up the ranks.



Location:
If you consider the NITs and IITs, most of them are located in the outskirts of cities. But this is not the case wit NIT Surat. SVNIT is located in a well developed area of the city, and is very easily accessible by autos and busses. It is located at Icchanath, at a distance of about 10kms from both, the domestic airport and the railways station. The location at the heart of the city gives students access to a number of restaurants and clubs, but unfortunately not bars (Gujarat is a dry state, remember?).



Campus and Infrastructure:
The huge 100 acre campus of SVNIT houses a sports center, the department buildings, a few small gardens and 14 hostels, the last four of which are newly constructed. Although the older hostels might show some signs of dilapidation, they have all basic facilities. What’s more, they’re going to be torn down and reconstructed very soon, and will then have all sorts of cool amenities. Work on a few of them has already started, and is going forward at a fantastic pace. A maximum of two students live quite comfortably in each room. All the hostels, departments and canteens are completely wi-fi enabled, and other parts of the campus are connected with high speed LAN. The laboratories in various departments are very well maintained, with ample amount of working equipments. The computerized central library has more than enough books, and is air conditioned. They have an excellent sports center where you’ll also find a hi-tech gymnasium; the college encourages all sorts of indoor and outdoor sports.



Faculty:
Of course, it would be unfair to pass a verdict on the faculty as a whole. The reviews from students vary from department to department. SVNIT has excellent faculty in their Mechanical, Civil and Electrical departments – a healthy mix of senior and junior professors ensures that students are happy. The other departments lag far behind in this respect; while the professors are no doubt quite qualified, some of them may not be experienced enough. But one thing is common among all professors – they are all sympathetic to students needs and are very helpful. Some of the deans can be slightly harsh and uncooperative, but they ensure that students are never suppressed.



Crowd and Campus Life:
As you would expect in any popular engineering college, the boy/girl ratio is prohibitively high. But not all is too bad; you see a very, very multicultural crowd at NIT Surat. The intake here is based purely on AIEEE, and the State Quota has also been scrapped, so what you get to see here is people from nearly every nook and corner of the country. Not just that – there are a number of students from neighbouring countries like Nepal, Afghanistan, etc. Students here, in spite of their varying cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, get along really well. SVNIT has been announced as a zero ragging institute and strict punishments are imposed on guilty students caught by the anti-ragging committee.

Students are heavily involved in various activities and sports the entire year. It’s a lovely place to be, really. The mess, well, is like any other mess – the food keeps you alive, but it’s certainly not a reason to be alive. Fortunately, though, Surat is known for its (vegetarian) food, and you can rest assured that you’ll never go hungry. There’s ISCON Mall, BIG Bazaar right in front of the campus gate, and a couple of malls with multiplexes just a short ride away. There’s also a small beach called Dumas at a fifteen minute ride.



Rankings:
SVNIT is ranked among top 50 Universities in India and it comes in Top 15 NITs.



Placements:
The placement scenario at NIT Surat is quite excellent. Every year, the institute has 100% placements. Most students have at least a couple of jobs to choose from. The average salary is about Rs.4 lac, but the highest salary offered goes as high as Rs.16 lac! Companies visiting the campus include the usual suspects like TCS, Accenture, Wipro, L&T, and also specialized firms like Crisil, CitiBank, etc (clearly Finance is the new IT).



Festivals and Events:
The major Technical festival of SVNIT is 'Mindbend' and is very popular in west zone, particularly in Gujarat. Along with this, the college also hosted 'Autofest', a fest mainly concentrating on automobiles, but it won’t take place henceforth. The main Cultural Festival is 'Sparsh' and this is also quite popular. Every year, hostel days are also celebrated by each individual hostel, organized by their respective hostel committees.



Contact:
S. V. National Institute of Technology (SVNIT),
Ichchhanath, SURAT-395 007.
Gujarat.
Office : 0261-2259571, 2259582.
Website: www.svnit.ac.in



Verdict:
Being an NITian is a big enough achievement for most students, but at SVNIT you get a chance to be a part of something which has the potential to be much much bigger than just another NIT. You also get excellent exposure, and remember that living in a metropolitan environment will always give you an edge over a student who’s from a college in a remote area.

Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology Nagpur (VNIT)
Location:
When it was founded in 1960, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology was located in a then very remote area on the outskirts of Nagpur. The location is still the same, but the surroundings have improved significantly. The city is now easily accessible from the college, though it still isn’t really nearby.



Infrastructure:
Visvesvaraya NIT is built on a nice 235 acre campus. It isn’t a high-tech or flashy campus, but it’s quite optimum. The department buildings, some of which are new, are pretty good and well maintained. The labs in general, and especially in the mechanical department, are great. The residential buildings are decent as well, though they aren’t extraordinary. In the first and second year, a student shares his room with three more students, but housing for third and fourth year students is single-seater rooms. The classrooms are just about okay; sometimes the fans don’t work and it becomes tremendously hot. There isn’t much the VNIT has to offer in terms of sports infrastructure; they have a couple of grounds and a few courts here and there, but there’s no swimming pool and the facilities in place aren’t much to be too proud of either.



Faculty:
The reviews about the professors have been, in a word, mixed. While all the professors are certainly qualified, students sometimes complain about their willingness to teach, and their experience, or the lack of it. The mechanical department faculty is excellent, but the students from the electronics department are full of complaints about their staff.



Placements:
This is probably why so many students flock to NIT Nagpur. The placements are excellent, with the college recording 100% placements on a regular basis. A number of students get what is called a ‘Dream Job’, and even those who don’t are normally quite happy at the end of the placement session. The average package is about 5-6 lac per annum. HPCL, IOCL, NTPC, Accenture, Infosys, Microsoft, Amazon, Samsung, etc are all regular hirers at VNIT.



Crowd:
The crowd is a decent mix of the highly nerdy and the rather useless. There is obviously a higher percentage of Maharashtrians, though you’ll not find too many Mumbaikars. There are a large number of clubs that students are heavily involved in, so there’s a good level of interaction between them.



Canteen/Mess:
The quality of food is surprisingly good, but some students just aren’t ever satisfied. There’s an all-night canteen on the campus, which is also a very common hangout for many students.



Contact Address:
Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology,
South Ambazari Road,
Nagpur - Pin 440010
Maharashtra.
Website : www.vnit.ac.in



Famous Alumni:
Samir Barua- Former director of IIM-A
Hemant Karkare- Former chief of ATS, Mumbai and martyr on 26/11
Dinesh Keskar- President of Boeing India
Pradeep Kar- Chairman and Founder of Microland


Verdict:
One of the better NITs across the country, VNITs legacy and location will ensure that you have a good four years here.

Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS Pilani), Hyderabad Campus, Shamirpet.
Location:
Located in Shamirpet, BITS Pilani's Hyderabad Campus is far disconnected from the major urban areas of Hyderabad. There’s wilderness around, with the terrain consisting of hillocks, and is about 5Km from the Nehru Ring Road. Once on that road, there are enough sign boards to guide you to the college.  And if you lose track of where you are, all you can do is hope to find a villager around, to guide you through. We had a tough time reaching the college, and it took us a 4-5km ride around hillocks, and tiny Ghats to get here through a village. So basically, it’s cut out from the world. Only one RTC route – 212 plies here from Secunderabad station, so students can use this when going to the city. 211 series of RTC Routes drop you around the college in a radius of about 1Km.
Being a completely residential course, everyone is supposed to stay in the college hostel, so students really do not have to worry about the daily commute. The campus seems isolated from the world, but in fact is a complete world in itself, and indeed a beautiful one.

 Infrastructure:
The sprawling 200 acre campus, welcomes you with its magnificent huge gates, and a couple of modern shinny glassy buildings. With the campus not landscaped into a flat piece of land, but rather left in its natural state amidst the rocks, and the hillocks. With the educational blocks (A to G) taking the higher ground, and the residential blocks downhill. The road leading towards the college blocks from the hostel is beautiful with a rock garden leading into the stairs carved into the rocks that must have existed there. Of course there are cement roads for the vehicles too, but none as beautiful as the one meant to walk.
The infrastructure of the academic block is absolutely world class, well furnished and well planned. All classes are air-conditioned. Blocks for various departments, libraries, the SAC (student activity centre) are all separated. An auditorium is under construction, and you can expect it to have the same standards. Library is mainly used for studying, peaceful reading, and using reference books. And as a trend, most buy books used by seniors, so that they get books which are reliable. Apart from that PDF’s and PPT’s are provided by teachers or seniors, which in a way are better resources than textbooks also. Literary work is also available at the library. Wi-Fi connectivity and internet is available in the main campus, for other places, there are LAN ports, for wired connections. Running at about 10Mbps, internet is fast and reliable.
Hostel: The hostels are also good, and are pretty well maintained. Single rooms are provided to everyone, from the 1st to the 4th year. The hostels again are planned in different blocks. Rooms are nice, and bathrooms hygienic. Solar water heaters are setup to utilize the free energy and provide students without hurting the environment additionally. Water coolers are installed at regular intervals around in the hostels. SAC (students activity centre) is a separate building, where students laze around, discuss things, plan events, and enjoy time with friends. At the far end of the campus are the football ground, basketball and tennis courts, all of them pretty decent. The hostel internet is comparatively slower, because of higher sharing. With regards to timings, the latest you need to get back to the college campus is 10 P.M.  Evenings are cooler, and strolling in the campus is enjoyable. Hostel food is good, and hygienic, but over time students have got bored, but there’s a student mess council which manages the menu, and tries to get in variety regularly. There’s a State Bank of Hyderabad branch on campus in CP. Connaught Place (CP) which is a small market place for the students, with a restaurant, laundry service, beauty parlours, a medical store, and a supermarket – MORE. A medical centre next to the CP block takes care of primary treatment and medication of the students.

Fees:
Rs.80,000 per semester not including the mess. But students say, it goes up to a lakh per sem including everything, the mess, the laundry, and the other random expenses.

Faculty:
Although BITS Pilani is a reputed institute, the Hyderabad campus is relatively new. Currently, there’s a combination of junior and senior professors. And essentially the senior professors take the core subjects that come in the later years. Senior Profs re experienced and good teachers. The less important subjects are taken by junior professors. But the issue here is that the college has very few senior profs, only 3 out of 10 would be senior. But luckily, there’s a system of course rotation in BITS, that ensures one teacher doesn’t keep teaching the same subject all his life, thus this system ensures the bad teachers are get better or thrown out. Qualification wise all of them are Ph.D. and masters’ and even have a few patents under their hoods, but when it comes to teaching a course, students are not totally convinced. But it’s also understood, that the IIT’s score above BITS in this case, here may be its comparable with the newer NIT’s. Technical knowledge and exposure might be more at the IIT’s but at BITS; the overall development is much remarkable. Students nevertheless study hard, and learning stays unaffected. Even projects that students take up are pretty interesting.

Attendance:
There is absolute freedom and choice left upon the students in this aspect. The college doesn’t believe in forcing the students to take lectures, and rather believe that they can decide what’s best for them. The college has provided for everything. People make a call on the courses and teachers, for the good subjects everyone attends, and there have been empty classes too. So technically even at zero percent attendance, the college will not really harass you. Although there are surprise tests (as an alternative to attendance), but students know about it pre-hand, so that also not an issue, that too only for some courses there are surprise tests, so it’s no tension.

Crowd:
A majority of the crowd hails from Hyderabad, and other surrounding districts of Andhra Pradesh, and about 60% of people from all parts of the country put together. There is absolutely no reservation of any kind, and every student has to take the BITSAT to be here. The crowd is quite diverse though, and people mix well. Student driven clubs are very active, and people are a part of a club that most interests them. Seniors and junior interact well. Most students, even if are not regular at attending lectures, are sincere, and hard working. The boy to girl ratio is about 3 : 1. In the hostel students mix well and group-ism or regional-ism is not observed, which makes it pretty cool for all the students.

Canteen:
There’s a nice and big cafeteria in the academic block, with decent variety of snack and meals available. This is popular with students during class hours, and while they’re studying in the library. Food at the cafeteria is tasty, and samosas, particularly are a favourite. At the CP, there’s a nice little restaurant also.

Hangouts:
By now, you must have realized that, the campus is an entire world in itself, unlike other city colleges. So there’s not really much to hangout around. But when students want to venture out, there’s Viceroy Family Dhaba. There are a few resorts around; Alankrit Resort, people go to celebrate birthdays, but it’s a little expensive to visit regularly though. On a day-to-day basis, walking in the campus after dinner is pleasant, and CP is busy in the evenings.

Festivals:
‘Pearl’ is the college’s national level festival, conducted in the month of February every year. Students say it’s the biggest fest of Hyderabad, and sees a massive participation. The entire campus is bubbling with activity during the entire festival. The college stays off for 3 days of the festival, and 2 more days of holiday follows. Students don’t look at it as a 5 day holiday to go home, but participate with enthusiasm. Pearl also hosts technical events since last year, and is a popular festival all over the country. BITS, Pilani hosts a popular sports festival, and students are equally enthusiastic about the sports fest too.

Placements:
Established in 2008, only one batch has been out yet, and the placements have been good in the first season. But this year on, students expect it only to get better over time.  Campus placement is the best for CSE departments, and about 80% placements overall. With a whole host of companies visiting the campus, from different sectors; like Financial Analysis, Software/ IT, Electronics, and big players including Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, Samsung, Morgan Stanley and many more. EPIC Systems offered 58 Lakh Rupees job to 5 students. Microsoft offered 10 students an offer of 16 Lakh a year. Qualcomm also recruits a few students. Mass recruiters, like TCS and Infosys came towards the end of the season. An area where it can work harder is; attracting more core companies for non software/IT branches, like ECE, and Mechanical Engineering. Although students say Honda and Shell had visited the campus, and hired a few students, but for a lesser salary. The trend that’s observed here, that almost 90% of the people take up jobs, and only about 10% people opt for higher studies.

Contact:
BITS, Pilani - Hyderabad Campus
Jawahar Nagar,
Shameerpet Mandal,
Hyderabad, 500078, Andhra Pradesh.
Telphone: +91-040 66303999
Website: www.bits-pilani.ac.in

Verdict:
BITS, Pilani has a big name, when it comes to technology studies in India, and Hyderabad campus inherits the same focus, and direction. BITS gives students’ freedom and opportunities, at the same time, and in the words of a student, “make use of it, or just keep sleeping” no one would really care expect for your own self. Environment is good, and facilities all up-to-date. Those students who want to take up jobs, would gets jobs here, and prospect of high paying jobs is also bright. Life is good and education better. Research opportunities and infrastructure is first class.

College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG), Anna University Campus
Location:
CEG is located in Guindy campus of Anna University. Anna University is well located when commuting is considered. There are many buses connecting Guindy to many other parts of the city. The campus has many other education governing bodies as its neighbours. Nearest railway station is Guindy but not many use it.



Infrastructure:
Anna University campus is huge and beautiful. The campus is well maintained with aesthetic beauty added by the lawns. There is a lot of open space in the campus which is marked with students almost all the time of the day.

The college labs are not the best and don’t live up to the Anna University brand. The equipment doesn’t work many times. The library is good with all the floors having AC. Book renewal process is easy and much appreciated by students.

University is Wi-Fi enabled including the hostels. Hostels are not very much liked by the students. Hostel charges are Rs 15,000 per semester including the mess charges.



Fees:
Rs 15,000 per year



Faculty:
Students have no complains about the faculty. They are very well experienced and highly qualified. The EEE faculty is said to be the best. Core branches have a better faculty compared to the newer branches. Many of the faculty members are alumni of the institute itself.

Although being so qualified, the professors are approachable and students do go to them with their doubts.



Attendance and Discipline:
Attendance is very strict. Students are expected to maintain 75% and when they say this they mean it. The defaulters are not allowed to take the exams. 2 days in a week students have labs where they are expected to wear only formals. ID has to be worn all the time.



Crowd:
Majority of the students are from Tamil Nadu, of which students from Chennai form a majority. Surprisingly, girls outnumber the boys. Students don’t have a problem getting along; they do have a good junior senior interaction. Although the college gets the top scorers of the state, they are not bookworms. They are into other extra-curricular activities.



Canteen:
Anna university campus has 3 canteens. Students usually go to the CEG one which is spacious and the food is good. A variety of juices are available which are hot favourites among the students.



Festivals:
There are many festivals happening on the campus. The intra-college cultural festival is called Agni, whereas Techofes is the inter-college festival. Each department conducts its own symposium.



Placements:
Great placements. CEG is one of the few engineering colleges in Chennai who could boast of 100% placements. Most of the students go for IT companies. Mining branch has only core companies coming and has great placements.

Some of the renowned companies visiting the campus are Microsoft, Qualcomm, Amazon and Caterpillar. Microsoft is said to have offered 12 LPA.


Contact Address:
College of Engineering Guindy (CEG),
Anna University Campus, Sardar Patel Road,
Chennai - 600025.
Phone: 44-2235 1579
Website: www.annauniv.edu



Famous Alumni:
Kris Srikkanth - Former Cricketer
Nagarjuna - Telugu film actor
Mendu Rammohan Rao - Dean Emeritus of Indian School of Business
Ravi Ruia - Vice Chairman of Essar Group



Verdict:
Great place to do your engineering. You may call this the best college in Anna Univ. The college will help you in developing your overall personality along with good academic performance. Rural students will benefit the most.

College of Engineering, Pune (COEP)
Note: College of Engineering, Pune (COEP) is an autonomous institute affiliated to the University of Pune

Location:
College of Engineering, Pune fondly known as COEP requires no landmark, the college itself is a well known place throughout Pune. It is located on the Pune station road in Shivajinagar. Nothing needs to be said about its accessibility, its absolutely fantastic.



Infrastructure:
The campus is never-ending. It stretches on both sides of the main road and can be estimated to be as big as 5 football fields on each side. There are ten buildings in the hostel campus and host about 1000 boys and 400 girls. Fees for the hostel are about Rs. 8000/- per year. Labs are well-equipped.



Fees:
B.Tech Fee: Rs. 51,000/- per annum

M.Tech Fee: Rs. 48,150/- per annum



Placements:
Probably the best placements amongst all engineering colleges in Pune. 100% placements, or even more than 100% if you consider the multiple offers that some students get. Companies like Google (19.95 lac) IOCL, BPCL, Barclays finance also visit the campus, athough they pick up just a few students. TCS  as well other IT companies are the major recruiters.



Faculty:
The teaching is very good. English communication is good and the students have a comfortable learning experience. However, the Dean is said to be very strict and reminds one of Viru Sahastrabudhhe (Virus) of the 3 Idiots fame. But not all others are the same “Our director deserves a good amount of appreciation, and we all love him.” quotes a group of students.



Attendance:
Very very strict. 75% is an absolute necessity. Defaulters are detained straightaway, even at 74.9% attendance!!



Crowd:
Crowd at COEP is more study oriented and the students get engrossed in technical matters. They love their college and cannot hear a word against it. But it’s a “ Ladkiyon ka registaan, hardly anyone worth giving a second look” says one student.



Hangouts:
FC road, JM road for varieties of food and E-Square, Mangla talkies for movies.  “Anna ki tapri” is one of the local favourites and many COEP students can be found lingering there. His speciality is that he doesn’t forget your favourite order and serves it to you as soon as he sees you approaching. Lake-side-seating or boating are another option.



Canteen:
The COEP campus hosts 2 canteens one on each side of the road. Cafe house is better than the boat club cafe. Chaat and missal is excellent. Food is decent and affordable.



Festivals:
Zest is the inter college sports festival of College of Engineering, Pune (COEP). It is held in Jan-end.  Mindspark is the technical festival which is held in mid-October.



Contact:
College Of Engineering Pune (COEP),
Wellesley Road, Shivajinagar,
Pune - 411005.
Website : www.coep.org.in



Famous Alumni:
Rajiv Bajaj- MD of Bajaj Auto
Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya- Bharat Ratna, eminent engineer and statesman
Vijay Kelkar- Advisor to the Finance Minister, Chairman NSE,India
Venugopal Dhoot- Chairman at Videocon


Verdict:
Definitely among the top colleges in Pune, with excellent opportunities for co-curricular activities. The college has affiliations with numerous organizations for technical benefits of the students. A HAM radio club, satellite launching system, E-cell are worth mentioning. “Aawaz konacha??... COEP cha” shouts everyone in chorus to end our conversation.

College of Engineering, SRM University, Kattankulathur Campus
  NOTE: SRM University is a private university. It conducts its own admission based on SRMEEE score.

Location:
SRM University is located in Kattankulanthur area of Kanchipuram District. Nearest local railway station is Potteri which is at a walkable distance. The college is very far from the Chennai city. There are many students travelling by their own vehicles and some of them do use the college bus. Majority of students though use public transport.



Infrastructure:
The infra here is amazing. The campus is spread over 300 acres. Yes you can imagine its expanse. There are 38 blocks in the campus. Even though it is so big, it is maintained very well. There is a lake on the campus where rowing facility is available. The classrooms are spacious and air-conditioned. There are projector and LCDs also available during teaching.

The hostels are very good here and consequently quiet expensive. Students can choose the kind of rooms they want and the number of people in a room; of course different pricing applicable.



Fees:
Fees for most undergrad courses are between Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh a year except for Aerospace & Nanotechnology for which it is Rs 350,000 a year.

Additional books fees are also collected.

Detailed FEE STRUCTURE for Year 2013-14
Sl No Degree Branch Description Tuition fees for the year 2013 - 14
1 B.Arch Architecture 200000
2 B.Des Interior Design 150000
3 B.Tech. Computer Science and Engineering 200000
4 B.Tech. Electrical and Electronics Engineering 200000
5 B.Tech. Electronics & Communication Engineering 200000
6 B.Tech. Mechanical Engineering 200000
7 B.Tech. Chemical Engineering 200000
8 B.Tech. Civil Engineering 200000
9 B.Tech. Biotechnology 200000
10 B.Tech. Information Technology 200000
11 B.Tech. Automobile Engineering 200000
12 B.Tech. Genetic Engineering 200000
13 B.Tech. Bioinformatics 200000
14 B.Tech. Mechatronics 200000
15 B.Tech. Electronics & Instrumentation Engineering 200000
16 B.Tech. Instrumentation and Control Engineering 200000
17 B.Tech. Aerospace Engineering 350000
18 B.Tech. Information & Telecommunication Engineering 200000
19 B.Tech. Software Engineering 200000
20 B.Tech. Biomedical Engineering 200000
21 B.Tech. Nanotechnology 350000
22 M.Tech. VLSI Design   150000
23 M.Tech. Computer Science & Engineering 150000
24 M.Tech. Structural Engineering 150000
25 M.Tech. Computer Aided Design 150000
26 M.Tech. Power Electronics and Drives 150000
27 M.Tech. Power Systems 150000
28 M.Tech. Chemical Engineering 150000
29 M.Tech. Software Engineering 150000
30 M.Tech. Information Technology 150000
31 M.Tech. Biotechnology 150000
32 M.Tech. Environmental Engineering 150000
33 M.Tech. Communication Systems 150000
34 M.Tech. Computer Integrated Manufacturing 150000
35 M.Tech. Construction Engineering & Management 150000
36 M.Tech. Embedded System And Technology 150000
37 M.Tech. Water Resourses and Management 150000
38 M.Tech. Biomedical Engineering 150000
39 M.Tech. Remote Sensing and GIS 150000
40 M.Tech. Robotics 150000
41 M.Tech. Geo Technical Engineering 150000
42 M.Tech. Information Security & Computer Forensics 150000
43 M.Tech. Multimedia Technology 150000
44 M.Tech. Database Systems 150000
45 M.Tech. Electronics and Control Engineering 150000
46 M.Tech. Food and Nutritional Biotechnology 150000
47 M.Tech. Knowledge Engineering 150000
48 M.Tech. Genetic Engineering 150000
49 M.Tech. Bioinformatics 150000
50 M.Tech. Telecommunication Networks 150000
51 M.Tech. Solar Energy 150000
52 M.Tech. Nanotechnology 150000
53 M.Tech. Cloud Computing 150000
54 M.Tech. Food Safety and Quality Management 150000
55 M.Arch. Architecture 100000


Faculty:
The faculty is experienced and well qualified. They do know their stuff pretty well. They are open to teach those interested in learning and really not bothered about uninterested ones. The faculty will not push you into studying; you need to cultivate interest for the subject yourself.



Attendance and Discipline:
Attendance norm of 75% is taken seriously. Students do bunk but calculatedly and make sure that they don’t exceed the limit. Here there is no restriction on the kind of attire you adorn as opposed to Anna University affiliated colleges. Formals are not compulsory. You will a see a striking change in the ambience and overall feel of the campus here compared to other Chennai colleges.



Crowd:
You can see from the fees that only kids from well to do families come to SRM. There are many North Indians here, almost half the batch comprises of them. It isn’t surprising to find students here wearing expensive brands or carrying expensive gadgets. You don’t really find many studious people here as most of the students are fun loving.



Canteen:
The whole campus has around 20 canteens. Yes it isn’t a mistake, it is 20! Techpark (CS & IT departments) seems to have one of the best canteens. There is also a food court where you will find a lot of options and it is always crowded. You will find almost all cuisine foods here.



Festivals:
'Milan' is the main cultural festival held in the month of January. 'Aarush' is the inter-college fest for all the colleges under the SRM University. These are quite a big festival and you see a good participation from students of SRM and other colleges too.



Placements:
Placements are very good here. The college does have good record for placements and claiming 100% for some batches. The average package got by students here is around 3- 4 Lakh per annum. Few of the students do manage to bag bigger and very high paying offers too.



Contact Address:
SRM University
SRM Nagar, Kattankulathur,
Kancheepuram District - 603203.
Phone: 44-2741 7100
Email: president@srmuniv.ac.in
Website: http://www.srmuniv.ac.in/SRM/



Verdict:
SRM University is one of the best private universities in Chennai. If cosmopolitan crowd, an air of freedom and good overall development is what you are looking at, then SRM should be your call. However fees and locations might be deterrents.

Delhi Technological University (DTU), Rithala
NOTE: Formerly called Delhi College of Engineering which has been accorded University Status as Delhi Technological University

Location:
Delhi Technological University (DTU), formerly known as Delhi College of Engineering (DCE), is located in far Northwest of Delhi in the region of Rohini. The accessibility to the college is quite good as the nearest Metro station is Rithala on the Red Line and Metro Feeders or Gramin Seva (shuttles) charge a nominal amount till the college gate from the station. There are college buses till metro station and thus connectivity is quite up to the mark. Some students prefer DTC buses which has an average frequency while most of the students stay in the college hostel.



Infrastructure:
Spread across 250 acres, the DCE campus is lush green with hundreds of trees and plants surrounding the buildings. This huge campus is excellently maintained and cleaned regularly. The air conditioned classrooms have comfortable benches and projectors. The 3 storey library, which is air-conditioned and have abudant books in stock, is open at odd hours as well. The campus is not wifi enabled, though the management is looking into the matter. LAN internet is going to be provided everywhere across the campus.

There are 3 hostels for both boys and girls (although one is still being constructed). First year students get the hostel near the college gate due to safety reasons. Students have to share the room for the first two years while third year onwards single seaters are available. The rental is roughly around 8,000 per annum which is quite affordable looking at the standard of rooms you get. Mess charges are separate and the food is above average with good variations in the food items. Students rarely complain about the taste and variety.



Fees:
Rs. 75,000 per year



Faculty:
Previously, the college was under the Delhi University board and hence had an amazing teaching staff. After getting the autonomous tag, DTU has hired some new teachers which are freshers and need enough experience. Having said that, most of the faculties are still the same and highly knowledgeable. Core branches like Electrical, Mechanical and Civil have a great set of professors who are thoroughly masters in their field. The faculty for Computers and IT are not that great compared to the core branches. Senior professors are highly experienced and very friendly. Most of the lectures are conducted in English.



Attendance:
Delhi Technological University (DTU) is quite strict during the first two years of engineering. Students have to maintain 75% compulsorily failing which loads of assignments are burdened on their shoulders. In extreme cases, a student gets a semester drop. Some are lenient while some are strict (like Math professors, says a student). Attendance at DCE is based on your rapport with the teacher.



Crowd:
As the college is an autonomous body now, students from various parts of India are seen at DCE, though Delhi-ites lead the list (85% seats reserved for students from Delhi and NCR). Some are from the NCR region as well. Ragging is reduced to a considerable level and freshers feel a lot safer with seniors around. The crowd is pretty much urban and from decent backgrounds, hence you don’t see any rowdiness within or outside the college.



Hangouts:
One of the drawbacks of being at DTU is the lack of any classy hangouts. Located really far from the main city, students don’t get enough time to bunk and reach the happening Connaught Place. Thus, some local malls near Rithala metro like G3S and City Centre are the standard places where you see college students loitering their time muching at local food stalls and watching movies. Adventure Island, the amusement park right outside Rithala metro station is one of the common hangouts in that area.



Canteen:
There are around 3 canteens in the DCE campus. Not all are as famous as the "MechC" (pronounced as Mexi), the canteen of the Mechanical department. It serves some awesome delicious food items at a nominal cost. The quality and the quantity of the food items is definitely something to look for. The canteen provides ideal breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner food and thus students always feel at home. Medu Wada and Maggi are a huge hit among the students.



Festivals:
Engi Fest and Renaissance are the cultural and technical festivals celebrated in the Delhi Technological University (DTU) respectively. There’s an E-summit (Entrepreneurship) held every year and famous personalities like Kiran Bedi and Chetan Bhagat are a part of the same.



Placements:
Computer and IT students get a whopping salary of around 6-7 lakhs per annum while core branch students get paid 5 lakhs per annum on an average. Accenture, TCS, Wipro, Birla are the standard recruiters during the placement season. Big and famous companies like Microsoft, Google, IBM also chip in during the placement week and offer a pay package of around 10-15 lakhs per annum. Rated as the best engineering college in Delhi after IIT, DTU has a record of 100% placements. Moreover, most of the students are offered multiple jobs and thus you’ve plethora of options to choose your domain after graduation. GREAT, isn’t it?



Contact:
Delhi Technological University (DTU),
Shahbad Daulatpur, Main Bawana Road,
Delhi - 42,
Tel: +91-11-27871018
Website: www.dce.edu



Famous Alumni:
Vinod Dham - Leader of Pentium project at Intel
Ashok Puri - Chairman and MD, BHEL
Ashok Baweja - Chairman, HAL
Anil Kumar Sardana - MD, Tata Power


Verdict:
In one word, BEST! Consistently ranked as one of the top engineering colleges in India (and Delhi, of course), Delhi Technological University (DTU) has all the elements that suits a students need. The reputed name and legacy will continue for years to come. 

Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information & Communication Technology (DA-IICT), Gandhinagar
Note:

DA-IICT is NOT under GTU but a private university.
DA-IICT follows a separate admission process.

Location:
Located on the road that connects the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway and the Gandhinagar bypass road for NH8, the road is itself called the DA-IICT Road. Getting to the college from the Airport or the Railway stations can be a little painful experience as you might end up paying exorbitantly every time you travel.  Located right beside the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and the National Institute of Design (NID) on the other side, the campus is pretty much cut-out from the activities of the city and is easy to locate.  But being a completely residential course you would never have to worry about daily travel to get to the college.



Infrastructure:
Starting with the campus; a very well planned and laid out campus, which includes separate blocks for various activities spread throughout.  The campus welcomes you with a nice little lotus pond and then you take the road towards your destination. On the left are the Academic blocks i.e. the lecture theatres and the labs. The halls of residence (hostels) for the boys and the cafeteria being close to each other lie in the northern part of the campus. Besides these are the Open-air-theatre and the Sports ground. All the campus is connected by an elliptical kind of a road.  Going ahead on the road takes you to the Halls-of-residence for the girls, and the faculty blocks. And the best part about the campus is the green cover. The spaces apart from the roads and the buildings are covered with plantations that include Bamboo, grasses and also some that are medicinal. And don’t be surprised to catch glimpse of beautiful peacocks displaying their feathers and making sweet noises during the monsoons, and also many more birds flock the eco-system created by the institute.  A blend of urban infrastructure amidst the natural environment makes the whole experience serene. Only thing you could expect apart from this would be a river flowing through the campus.

The educational blocks include 3 lecture theatres, with a capacity of 260, although is air-conditioned, but is usually very well ventilated and comfortable. The movie club of the college manages showing movies periodically at the open air theatre which people enjoy. For recreation there’s the club house, a gymnasium, footballers have a huge ground at their disposal, with basketball courts at offer too.
There is a separate block called as the Resource Centre (RC) which is basically the library and learning room setup over here, with a separate section for Audio-Video purpose too. Generally the RC takes care of all the educational books the students might need, with very few having to buy from markets. Professor notes, slides, and e-books are easily available on DC sharing over the college intranet. Labs are air conditioned and well equipped, and the better part is that the students find the lab staff very co-operative.

Hostel/Campus Life:Now that the course is completely residential, the hostels would be an important consideration too. The twin sharing rooms are decent in size, not too big, nor does it get cramped up. There’s house-keeping staff always around to clean up rooms, but the occupants generally get it cleaned once a month. There’s a bed, a study table, and a cupboard for both. The hostel warden is not very strict with the boys for timings and they’re allowed to roam around freely 24hrs a day. But the girls’ hostel stay shut from 12am – 6am. The boys are also allowed outside the campus all day, unlike the girls.

When you ask anyone here about a unique feature of the hostel, everyone will certainly speak of the LAN network of the campus. Everyone’s laptops are always hooked on the network, with some gaming or some just surfing the internet at high speeds. The intranet operates at around 10-12Mbps, which could translate to downloading a movie in just about 5 minutes or so. That’s fast!! With regards to making friends here, it’s not hard at all, because students are always roaming around here and there, so find a company and for all you know he/she might be a senior, but you bond over things and become pals. Ragging here is banned anyway, but the students are matured enough themselves to avoid it too. A women’s cell is particularly established to address any gender specific issues. A general store in the hostel enables quick access to public phones and mobile recharges and stationary. An AXIS Bank ATM outside the campus serves the banking needs of students. Respecting the status of Gujarat being a dry state, students camp out to other state borders to quench their thirst once in a while.



Fees:
Per semester the break-up of the fees would be:  Tuition fees - Rs.30,000; Hostel Fees – Rs.7,000; Examination fees – Rs.1,800. Now that’s about Rs.40,000 a semester. Anything apart from that is personal expenses, and generally doesn’t go beyond Rs.3,000  per semester.  But students find it all worth.



Faculty:
The students might not be full of praise for their faculties, but very firmly believe that all the professors are very knowledgeable, no denying that. The teachers comprising doctorates from big foreign universities, but not all can “teach”.  And here we talk about teaching as in making understand concepts, rather than just superficial completion of syllabuses. Although there is no disagreement among students over the aspect of teachers teaching with full enthusiasm every lecture, every time! The permanent faculties taking Algorithms & Databases is popular, favorite, and motivating as a person too. The mathematics department is also good and teachers, interesting. The department in charge of Humanities is not any behind when it comes to likeability. Those faculties who choose to stay on campus are offered accommodation and an office too, where students can approach them about academics or anything else with ease.
Generally the students pursuing masters or Ph.Ds’ are responsible to conduct the labs and they are not bad at it, also because they are also marked on their performance in the labs.



Crowd:
50% of the seats are strictly for Gujarat students, and the rest are available for students all over the country, with valid AIEEE scores. So now that mainly defines where the crowd comes in from. Students from diverse backgrounds make it here, but a lot of them are from Andhra and of course mostly others from all over the country. There are 5% seats set aside for Non Residential Indians, but there is absolutely no concept of management seats here. Everyone mixes up well; no one feels different or discriminated in anyway. People are nice and helpful, be it at academics or helping you set up an online gaming session. The interaction between girls and guys is good, with no attitude issues on one side, and harassment issues on the other.
Now when it comes to studies, as the system demands, the sincere self-studies happen only during the exam months, but over the period of the course, students come out as good engineers, and have developed a liking or inclination towards an area of their own, which is needed before you take up a job, or would want to pursue post grad studies in.
The academic schedule includes 2 mid-terms and 1 Final exam + Practical exams. 4 pointers are needed to pass and the ratio of students passing is generally very high, over 97-98%.



Canteen:
The food at the mess/canteen is priced reasonably, the place is clean and the food hygienic. Apart from being a very unusual kind of a canteen (which feels like a part of a resort), there are a couple of other small franchisee counters around too.  With wood benches ad rounded stones in the floor, it feels no less than a nature resort you would want to visit to take a break from routine.



Hangouts:
Friday Nights are what the students look forward to right from Monday mornings; movies shown at the open-air-theatre, musical performances, and other events keep happening. Outside the campus there is Infocity (An IT Hub) where you can find all the franchisee stores, subways, macs, and what not! And apart from that, frankly there is nothing much around in the city where you can hangout. Many Indian festivals are celebrated which would certainly keep you entertained and life enjoyable.



Festivals:
Synapse is the college’s annual cultural festival celebrated every year around February. iFest held in the month of November is a Technical Festival, with both being inter-college, and sees participants from various colleges in Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. The sports fest is called “Conquers”. All these festivals are so organized that no student on the campus would be idle, because if not participate there is always some co-ordination or volunteering work that is needed to make the events possible.
Also like the movie club, there are many other clubs which are “active” all throughout the year. Indian Cultural Festivals like Janmashtami and Holi are celebrated with equal enthusiasm at the campus.



Placements:
With college being established in 2001, and first B.Tech batch passing out in 2005, 8 batches have so far passed out from the institute. Over this period the average salary students say would be nothing less than 4 Lakh a year, with the highest having gone upto 16.5 Lakh a year. A trend observed here is that toppers have generally preferred off-campus placements over on-campus ones. The college has built a good name and reputation rapidly among MNC’s and Indian companies alike. Companies thus keep coming in all through the year. To name a few, directi, facebook, google, amazon would be the big IT names visiting the campus. The college tries to ensure that a student gets more than just a ‘job’, they get a career. Research work and industrial internships also expose students to more than just textbook knowledge. About 25-30% students opt for higher education, which is where the professor recommendations count a lot.



Contact Address:
Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information & Communication Technology (DA-IICT)
Near Indroda Circle, Gandhinagar 382007.
Phone: (+91) 079-3052-0000
Email: info@daiict.ac.in
Website: www.daiict.ac.in



Verdict:
Teaching could be enhanced if the very same Ph.D professors get good at teaching. Also very important is the mindset that you come in with to the institute; you have to be very interested in Information Technology, as the course is designed with strong focus in that area. A very small hitch would be the location and the convenience to reach the campus from railway stations or airports.

Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-D), Dwarka
NOTE: Indraprasth Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-D) is an autonomous institute.

Note:
IIIT-Delhi was created by Govt. of NCT Delhi and as it was created by an act of a State Legislature, it is a State University which empowers it to give degrees. AICTE has approved the BTech(IT), MTech(CS), and PhD(CS) programs of the Institute and has listed it as an Institute of National Importance.



Location (Current Transit Campus):
The Indraprasth Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-D) is located in Dwarka Sector 3; about one and a half kilometre from ‘Dwarka Mor’ Metro station on the Blue line Currently sharing its campus area with NSIT. Share-rickshaws are easily available from the station for just Rs. 5/- per seat. And if you wish to walk, you are sure to get some company. So, in terms of accessibility it’s not bad unless you are located in some far off corner of Delhi. The permanent campus is being developed in Okhla.



Infrastructure:
The infrastructure (for that aspect) is in transit, and the current infrastructure is a little problematic as there is nothing set aside for them particularly. But it’s going to shift to its Okhla Campus in the next semester, and that campus is going to be much better than the current in-transit campus. Nevertheless currently the labs are okay, and are said to be satisfactorily. Currently even the number of students is less, so it’s not really an issue when it comes to the number of computer/systems. The classrooms are also comfortable. And the sporting facilities are shared with NSIT, which are very good. The library is also good, and students get all the books needed and they are enough, so you can be sure that they will not get over during the exams. The students can access internet in the computer labs, and apart from that, the entire campus is Wi-Fi enabled, so you can do your work wirelessly away from your classes too.
IIIT shares its hostel with NSIT, and there is even a new hostel.



Fees:
The fees you would have to pay here is a fair 50,000 rupees a semester.



Faculty:
Now at an institute of National Significance, and a state university, the college justifies its reputation with professors that are equally good. Highly qualified faculties teach at the IIIT, all pass outs from IIT’s and IIT PhD holders, and more than half have their PhDs’ from some of the most reputed American Universities. But regardless of their high educational qualifications, all of them are invariably helpful and friendly when it comes to approaching them in the classroom, or outside. The faculties also apart from their great education have strong industry experience also to back themselves, and keep students informed about the same.



Attendance:
Students come here if they are seriously interested in learning Information Technology, so lenient  attendance should never be an important parameter. The management also keeping this in mind, has set no restriction on attendance, it’s not at all compulsory to attend lectures, nor would the teachers pick on you, if you have missed a few of their lectures. The fact observed here is that students themselves attend classroom lectures, and their selves maintain a healthy 75% attendance. So never has here been any case of a student getting debarred, or any other harsh action taken

Crowd:
As you must be now aware that IIIT, Dwarka has a separate logic based entrance test, students even from non-science backgrounds, who are interested in learning information technology, are also eligible to come to this college. The syllabus is totally different from the typical Engineering syllabus and the so type of students that study here are also different. You could call them nerds, who sit in front of the computer, all day, programming their very ambitious projects all the time. But when it comes to doing things together, you’ll not have a problem in making friends here. And just for some extra information, there are hardcore programming subjects right from semester one, which could give you the idea of how different their syllabus is.

Canteen:
There are two canteens, one is in the Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology (NSIT) campus; that’s called Zyaca and is the better among the two. It is well-ventilated and spacious enough so as to accommodate students even during lunch time. It serves excellent fast food and its light on the pocket. “Chilli potato” one of the most popular dishes is superbly cooked and is priced at a reasonable Rs. 30/- The other is more like an open shack, serves decent fast-food, bakery items, packet foods, fruit juices.



Hangouts:
Dwarka Sector 4 and Sector 6 have numerous of snack joints and parlours – KFC, Mc Donald’s, CCD to name just a few. Rajouri Garden is another favourite of the students although it’s a little far from the college. Occasionally, the guys also sneak out for a cheap drink at “Paharganj”.



Festivals:
The college organises a technical festival called, ‘ESYA’ and is an event to look out for.



Placements:
Summer Internships, training and placement are world class here. There is a dedicated Training & Placement office, which takes care of all these responsibilities. Students of the first batch itself have got internships at various companies in India and abroad, at places like Nokia, National Informatics Centre (NIC), Accenture, Uninor. The placements of the first batch have also been very good, with similar companies hiring students. As of now, more than 50% students have already been placed, and it’s the rest will get a job soon. Highest package offered to a student, has been Rs. 33 Lakh, with average salaries ranging from Rs. 8-9 Lakh. Students have also been placed in companies outside India too.



Contact:
Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology.
NSIT Campus, Dwarka, Sector 3,
New Delhi – 110078.
Phone No: +91-11-25099177 ; Fax:  +91-11-25099176
Website: www.iiitd.ac.in ; Email: info@iiitd.ac.in



Verdict:
Being just a 2 year old institute, this college promises to be among the top colleges for Information Technology, and is already an Institute of National Importance. Once shifted to the new campus, it’ll be a way better college. But, you should be warned that you should come here only if you are interested in IT, else you’ll be in for a torrid time. At IIIT, practical learning is focused.