The next time you see a car on the road, remember that there is a mechanical engineer somewhere that made it all possible.
In this era of globalization, the field which is considered to be the backbone of any country is engineering. Every year, millions of students take admission in this exorbitantly demanding domain. Engineering is a career which not only enhances technical skills but also develops creativity and helps to increase problem-solving skills. Nowadays, almost everything is getting autonomous and engineers play a crucial role in making the same possible.
Categorization of colleges
Different colleges throughout the country offer different types of engineering courses such as Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering etc.
Colleges can be categorized as government and private colleges. Generally, government colleges are preferred by students because comparatively such colleges focus more on practical sessions and of course, the quality of lectures that are delivered is exceptionally good. But all this does not mean that private colleges are not good, some of them have shown notable results when it comes to the progress of their students.
Top engineering colleges
If we are talking about the government colleges of the country, supreme amongst them are IITs (Indian Institute of Technology); the quality of education here is incomparable.
- There are 23 IITs in the country at present and they are declared as institutes of national importance by the parliament itself. IITs offer two courses under engineering which are Bachelors of Technology (B.Tech) and Masters of Technology (M.Tech). Out of the 23 IITs, there are only 6-7 which are in high demand as far as the choice of students is concerned. These are ranked below by NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) based on teaching & learning resources, graduation outcome etc.
- Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (Rank 1)
- Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (Rank 2)
- Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (Rank 3)
- Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (Rank 4)
- Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (Rank 5)
- Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (Rank 6)
- Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (Rank 7)
All these IITs and the remaining ones offer elite education, are famous for a different specialized branch, and are unique in their way. For example, IIT Madras has the fastest supercomputing facility in India and it is famous for computer science and electrical engineering whereas IIT Bombay is famous for its mechanical engineering and computer science. Similarly, all of them have their respective qualities which should be taken into consideration at the time of the admission process.
- The second member that constitutes in this list are NITs (National Institute of Technology) and no doubt the standard of education here also is pompous.
At present, there are 31 NITs in the country and they receive grants and other assets from the government because of their commitment and excellence towards educating students. NITs also offer both Bachelors and Masters in the sphere of engineering.
- After NITs comes the private colleges. Some of them are doing their best to train future engineers and can be considered worthy of this diligent degree of engineering.
The admission process of colleges
Every year NTA (National Testing Agency) conducts JEE (Joint Entrance Exam), an exam where millions of students throughout the country appear with the dream of clearing it.
- JEE is conducted in two stages:
JEE-Main: Around 10-12 lakh candidates appear for this exam which is the preliminary stage i.e., anyone having science as his/her subject in high school can appear for this stage. The exam is conducted four times a year spanning from February to May.
JEE-Advance: Once an aspirant clears JEE-Main, he/she is allowed to go for this stage i.e., the final stage before admission. Every year around 1.5-1.7 lakh candidates can qualify for this stage after clearing mains. As far as JEE- Advance is taken into consideration, only 50-60K students can clear this stage every year.
- Those who clear mains, as well as advance, are listed for admission in IITs (according to their respective ranks) whereas the students that can qualify only the preliminary stage i.e., Mains are listed for admission into NITs (according to their respective ranks).
- Private colleges also offer admissions into engineering by conducting their entrance exam every year. For example, BITS Pilani (Ranked number 1 private college), VIT VELLORE (Under the category of top 3 private colleges), etc.
To summarize, IITs and NITs are the best engineering colleges in the country but one must not lose hope if he/she is not able to qualify for either of two because ultimately, it’s the calibre of the student which makes him/her that person which he/she always desires.
Also published on Medium.