With the new millennium having witnessed the mushrooming of engineering colleges in India, faster than that of real mushrooms, prospective engineers are naturally spoilt for choice every time a need to choose the right engineering college within the country comes up. This is a year-on-year trend.
Now in 2017, with results of competitive examinations having been recently announced in most states, there is an imminent need to check out the traditionally high-rated colleges and the other ones that have made the cut amongst the best institutes.
With top engineering colleges Pan-India being the criteria, we chose to speak to experts who with their insights could offer a list of institutions that could be marked as one among the list of top engineering colleges within India.
Parameters for evaluation of engineering colleges
“Basically, there are five parameters using which we can assess educational facilities offering engineering education in India,” states Ajay Godara who is director at Chandigarh-based Enovation Lab LLP. Ajay has been doing his bit to empower Indian youth through innovation.
The exact evaluation metrics, as per Ajay, are overall coaching (offered by a engineering institute), resources offered for learning, scope for research, placements facility, and the way in which students are counselled to perform in examinations plus the actual graduation results.
“Evaluation of engineering colleges in India can be done by considering the overall tally of students having received placements in premier companies,” states Dr Radhakrishnan HK – a Bengaluru-based counsellor who has nearly two decades of experience in guiding engineering students towards right career paths.
“Coaching in colleges is mostly the same across the country, expect for the IITs that lay emphasis on practical knowledge,” adds Dr Radhakrishnan.
“Engineering colleges in India are today truly world-class; but the sheer interest amongst the students to truly acquire knowledge should improve,” feels Harish Babu – an engineer and chief trainer at Karnataka based Keonics. Harish Babu also offers technical expertise to governmental agencies on multiple aspects.
Harish feels that even with moderate facilities such as infrastructure, engineering colleges can produce good engineers provided prospective engineers have the ability and capability. The trainer at Keonics is also of the opinion that evaluation of the colleges should be done on the basis of intelligence level of students.
Now, with the above aspects being considered as criteria, we requested experts to come up with a comprehensive list of the engineering institutions that they thought “had what it takes” to churn out quality and employable engineers.
Are these the best we have out there?
Foremost, experts we spoke out voiced one unanimous opinion with regard to an engineering college that could be considered as the best in the business. This is:
IIT Kharagpur – still the Numero-Uno?
Ajay even quoted a recent list of rankings released by the Indian government’s Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry. As per this also, IIT Kharagpur was the highly rated engineering institutes from amongst the ones present in India.
In fact, a lot of current engineering students also voted IIT Kharagpur as being their most-preferred institute for engineering studies.
“It is unfortunate that we could not make it to IIT Kharagpur,” was the general sentiment amongst engineering students and fresh engineers (numbering 10) in South India.
IIT Kharagpur
Established in 1951 by the government of India, IIT Kharagpur has 19 departments, and 8 research centres; to offer as many as 60 engineering courses along with design, humanities, law, and science streams. IIT Kharagpur also gets brownie points for being the moist-preferred with respect to post-graduation programs.
Its International Relations office also got thumbs-up from our experts.
Location: 120 kms from Kolkata, in West Bengal state.
Joining essentials: A valid score in the All India engineering entrance examinations conducted by the government of India.
IIT Madras
IIT Madras was established in the year 1959 and is considered to be the most prestigious to study in, by engineers and industry veterans alike. USP of this institute, as rated by experts, was predominantly the expertise amongst teaching faculty and the overall coaching imparted.
Another important aspect that was rated highly was, the instutute’s incubation opportunities for students to establish startups. IIT Madras also offers the IIT Madras Research Park that is set-up to further technology research in India.
Location: Adyar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Joining essentials: Valid score and ranking in the IIT-Jee Advanced examination conducted by the central government.
Vellore Institute of Technology
Also called VIT, engineers today rate the institute’s instrumentation engineering department as one of the highlighting factors, other aspects include placements and recognition that engineers get after graduation.
Research facility offered, at VIT, also found preference amongst the experts we spoke to.
VIT offers twenty-seven graduate level engineering programs. These are termed B.Tech courses.
Location: Vellore, Tamil Nadu
Joining Essentials: Valid score in the VITEEE examination; branches can be selected as per order of merit.
Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysore
This institute is better known as SJCE, was established in 1963 and is currently aided by the government of Karnataka. USP of the college are its Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) and Civil Engineering departments.
Placements offered by the colleges, along with its international connect, are also other factors rated highly by the general engineering community.
Location: Mysore city in Karnataka
Joining essentials: A valid rank in the Common Entrance Test (K-CET) conducted by the Karnataka state.
Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani (aka BITS Pilani)
Yet another engineering institution that is considered prestigious, BITS is a deemed university; the engineering community in general has rated the institute’s dedicated entrepreneurship focus, along with technical competitions, as a major USP apart from the coaching and the overall campus life on offer to students.
“I would rate BITS Pilani higher than the IITs considering its sheer competitive entrance examination, and the overall life that is offered to students,” states Dr Radhakrishnan.
Location: Pilani town in Rajasthan
Joining essentials: Valid score and ranking in the BITSAT entrance examination conducted by the BITS university.
Jaypee Institute of Information Technology (JIIT)
Career experts we spoke to rated JIIT’s placements as a major draw, in addition to the teaching faculty . A point worth noting here is that the university’s infrastructure also came under praise. JIIT’s research centre is also an aspect that deserves special mention.
Location: Noida, Uttar Pradesh
Joining Essentials: To join B.Tech, students should possess a valid score and ranking in the Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE).
Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology
The institute’s USP, as rated by experts, is its Computer Science and Electronics & Communications Engineering focus. The Electronics research groups, incubated within the college, are also actively working at promoting electronics engineering research.
Apart from the above, aspects such as the placements offered and the overall coaching have also been rated to be impressive by students.
Location: Gandhinagar, Gujarat
Joining essentials: A valid JEE score, along with a valid grading obtained in the twelfth standard examinations.
International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad
The IIIT, though not close to the Indian IITs, has been rated highly by experts for its placements and research centre incorporated within the campus. The IIITs focus on fostering technological blend of electronics for maximum societal impact is also a highlighting factor, apart from the usual academics that students undergo during their campus lives.
Location: Hyderabad, Telangana state
Joining Essentials: A valid score and rank in the JEE- Advanced examination.
RV College of Engineering
The whole on-campus environment on offer at RVCE was rated highly by experts.
“RVCE is one college that I would choose hands-down irrespective of the branches on offer as per merit,” states Harish Babu.
Location: Mysore Road, Bangalore
Joining Essentials: Common Entrance Test conducted by the state (K-CET), or a valid COMEDK rank.
Gandhi Institute for Technological Advancement
USP of the Gandhi Institute of Technological Advancement (GITA) is its placement offerings. GITA’s Industry Institute Partnership Cell (IIPC) also earned brownie points from our experts. The institute offers six graduate B.Tech programs viz computer science & engineering (cse), electronics & communications engineering (ece), electrical engineering (ee), electrical & electronics engineering (eee), mechanical engineering (me), and civil engineering (ce).
Location: Bhubaneshwar, Orissa
Joining Essentials: A valid score and rank in the JEE examination conducted by the central government.
Choosing the best engineering college
The priceless question is best answered from within, believe experts. Choice is made by thorough examination of strengths, weaknesses, and prevailing conditions at any given point in time.
“All colleges possess academically qualified teaching faculty, onus should be on students to master engineering effectively. Reputation of colleges is directly proportional to academic reputation of students. So, carefully choose your engineering specialisation,” advises Dr Krishna Rao who is professor and head of department of mechanical engineering at a Karnataka engineering college.
This means that the key to choosing effectively, and succeeding in engineering lies directly in eliminating ‘engineering doubt’. This is done through thorough evaluation of skills before even thinking about engineering.
Experts Consulted
| Ajay Godara | Director at Chandigarh-based Enovation Lab LLP |
| Dr Radhakrishnan HK | Bengaluru-based career counsellor |
| Harish Babu | Engineer, and Chief Trainer at Keonics Karnataka, Consultant to governmental agencies |
| Dr Krishna Bhat | Head of Department of Mechanical Engineering at a reputed engineering college in Karnataka |
| Engineering students numbering 10; spread out across India | |
Written by Rahul R, Senior Technical Journalist at EFY
