Karnataka - Bangalore   

Choosing the right engineering college

Rasheed Kappan

Students now have some criteria to make a decision

BANGALORE: For years, students seeking admission to engineering colleges had no way of determining the quality of the colleges. Word-of-mouth information was the only option. Now, with Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) listing 12 colleges for grant of autonomous status and the Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell making available three years’ results of each college on its website, students have some criteria on which to base their decision.

Placement record of the college, proximity to a candidate’s home, fee structure, National Board of Accreditation (NBA) rating and even age of the institution have emerged as critical selection factors.

Monday’s announcement by VTU declaring its intention to grant autonomy to 12 colleges will alter the equations. As academic experts put it, seats in all these colleges are bound to be filled up first during the engineering seat selection process.

The brand value of an institution, reflected in its placement record, is an obvious criterion students use to select an institution. One way to get this information is through former students. New colleges, even those with good infrastructure, take time to earn this “brand value” and, thus, fail to appear on the students’ radar.

A majority of seats left unfilled every year are in these new engineering colleges. “These colleges should upgrade their faculty and infrastructure. People have learnt the tricks employed by some colleges to boost their faculty strength during inspections,” noted Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) executive secretary S. Kumar.

Location of the college is also a key factor. Beyond the proximity to their homes, students prefer Bangalore colleges because of the job opportunities in the IT city. “Besides, a good number of students calculate the hours of travel and also the stress involved over four years before making a choice,” explained another official involved in seat selection.

With 55 per cent of government quota seats in private colleges available for Rs. 28,090 a year, many students opt for the concessionary fee no matter which college. If these seats are filled up in reputed Bangalore colleges, candidates keen on such institutions will have to opt for the 45 per cent management quota seats with a much higher fee of Rs. 1.25 lakh a year.

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