The Clamor for Engineering Education

The rationale behind this phenomenon could be the burgeoning number of quality private engineering colleges in the country, the handsome take-home salaries offered by corporates, and the vast career options available after graduation.
The table below highlights the growth of engineering seats in the country for the past 6 years.

Data for Growth of Engineering Seats in India;
• In Year 2005-06 - No. of Seats 4,99,697
• In Year 2006-07 - No. of Seats 5,50,986 & It Increase 10.26 %
• In Year 2007-08 - No. of Seats 6,53,290 & It increase 18.57%
• In Year 2007-08 - No. of Seats 8,41,108 & It increase 28.75%
• In Year 2007-08 - No. of Seats 10,71,896 & It increase 27.44%
• In Year 2007-08 - No. of Seats 13,24,246 & It increase 23.54%
Source: AICTE Approval Process Handbook (2011-12)

Well-established and reputed colleges make concerted efforts to provide and further enhance students’ hands-on or practical skills and offer a conducive learning environment. All colleges are invariably to be accredited by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) while some of them are accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), New Delhi. Some of the best engineering institutions/ universities in the country offer both graduate and post graduate programs, and, they are located not just in Tier 1 cities but also in Tier 2 cities/towns. Further, today, students also have the option to choose between private, self-managed institutions and government-run institutions.

Choosing the Best Engineering College for Admission
While in the process of choosing the right college, both parents and the prospective student must visit the college personally and check the facilities and infrastructure there. Getting information from the internet alone and from some friends and selected sources may not completely help you in arriving at the decision to enroll in a particular college or not. Visiting the college and speaking with the HODs, faculty, and students can go a very long way in helping you take that important decision of your life.
Some of the parameters generally considered by parents and students alike in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of different colleges are:

1. Management History
Who are the people or the trust that manages the institution? What is their standing? Do they have the exposure and the ability to manage and successfully run an engineering college? Are they sufficiently qualified? Do they have prior experience in running educational institutions? What is their commitment to proving quality education to the society? Who are the eminent people on their Advisory Council? These are the primary questions you need to ask yourself as you embark on selecting your engineering seat.

2. AICTE Approval
Is the college recognized and approved by the AICTE, the governing body for engineering institution in the country?

2. NBA Accreditation
Is the college accredited by the NBA? This is an important criterion to decide the college you wish to enroll in. While this is not a statutory requirement, most colleges are going in for accreditation of the various programs on offer by them. The NBA accreditation ensures that these colleges meet and, in certain instances, exceed stated minimum requirements in terms of established metrics, such as student- teacher ratio, laboratory facilities, class rooms, computer centres, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, internet facilities, qualification and experience of faculty, research, library facilities, industry-institute interaction, conferences organized/attended, papers published/presented by faculty, etc. This gives you a closer look at the departments as every department is accredited separately. Some departments may be accredited while some are not; and, again, some for 3 years and some for 5 years.

3. Overall Infrastructure
Only a personal visit will convince you about the overall infrastructure at the college.

4. Training and Placement
Placement is given the highest priority by parents and students. Recognizing this, most engineering institutions have started and stepped up their placement activities by hiring dedicated training and placement officers/managers. As part of the placement initiatives, training is imparted to all students regardless of their branch in several areas of skills and competence. In fact, most colleges have made training mandatory for students because, after all, it is the student who has to perform well in the entire selection process, including the interview, in order to get his/her job.

When you visit the college, make it a point to meet with the training and placement officer and discuss at length the different training organized by it, and the campus drives and placement opportunities there. Meeting with senior students and some alumni can also give you good inputs.

On your part, after enrolling in the college of your choice, you MUST ensure that you attend ALL training sessions organized by it in order to get maximum exposure to developing and building upon the various skills you will be trained on.

It has been observed that students invariably choose colleges that consistently meet these criteria.

This article has been written by Ramya, working with Don Bosco Institute Technology an engineering college in Bangalore. DBIT stands at the 21st position. The institution strives to break into the Top 10 soon and leaves no stone unturned in this direction. DBIT is one of the top ranked engineering colleges in Karnataka in terms of placement.