IIT (BHU): The Oldest Engineering College in India

So, good thing first. I would say that our college, IIT(BHU) overall is a very good place to study four years of engineering. Definitely, going to the standards of IISc is still a far-fetched dream, but it still has very high potential of surpassing it. Given the number of projects underway, which have already been started, if that could be added with the revamping to academics that is driven by research and industry, IIT (BHU) can really become one of the best colleges in the country and abroad. The bad thing is that college management is slow and hierarchical which leads to delayed growth.

The course curriculum is well laid-out and clear, offering only major in the branch one is enrolled in. The provision to bring minor in other courses of one's desire is under the process. The exam structure is pretty fair, though sometimes professors fail to complete the whole academic syllabus due to less time allotted under the academic course. On an average, there are 35 lectures of an hour each for a course, which is less; it must be around 40-42, as I see from the courses on NPTEL and also the complaints of professors to have a week or two more for their course. Moreover, the syllabus really needs to revamped according to the latest industrial requirements. There were two industrial visits that were organized by our branch society only. The college is yet to take any initiative on its own. Our placements are more than simply good because of a strong alumni network. As far as research facilities are concerned, the college still lacks at it. Though according to the latest news, many research facilities are being set up - the most recent one being the set up of a super-computing facility at the college. The college has been the place where I have seen the best growth in myself. Various clubs, sports facilities, academics, they all have been major contributors in making who I am today. There are many opportunities to learn if one tries to.

The placement of our college is the best among the engineering colleges in India, thanks to the efforts of the Training and Placement Cell of the college. To name a few companies which come to our college during the placements, TATA Steels, Jaguar, ITC, Reliance, HUL, are the best ones that come to hire mechanical engineers. For the recruitment process, there is portal managed by the institute where the final year students wanting campus placements, fill a willingness form and choose companies they want to appear the interviews for. The placements start from December and continue till March in phases. The Training and Placement Representative manages all the placement process for a given branch/course. Those who want to go for off-campus placements can't sit for the campus placements. The percentage of the students placed depend highly on the factor that some choose to go for higher studies, while some prepare for MBA or IAS. But even then the percentage of students placed stands above 80%.

There are a total of four fests in our college. KASHIYARTA, the cultural fest, SPARDHA, the sports fest, TECHNEX, the techno-management fest, and FMC Weekend, the fest organized Film & Media council of the college. When it comes to the level of the events, they are indeed one of the largest across the country. TECHNEX boasts of being the Asia's largest techno-management fest. Even KASHIYATRA is among the biggest cultural fests in India. Leaving FMC Weekend, the annual fests see participation from all the major colleges across the country. And footfalls may be estimated at around 50 thousands in each one of them.

As IITs come under the ministry of human resources development, all of them have the same tuition fees which is 1 Lakh INR per semester (It's different for the foreign students). The students coming under OBC and SC/ST category can avail scholarships. The usual payment gateway for the half-yearly fee deposition is via the online SBI collect portal which offers all the online and offline modes of payments including Debit/Credit Card, Net Banking, E-Challan etc. The portal doesn't offer payment via NEFT or UPI yet. Apart from the tuition fees there is the mess fees plus some money for other facilities being provided in the college. The total fees per semester adds up to nearly around 1 Lakh 20 Thousand. There are no additional charges for the admission, and the college provides complete breakdown of the fees in its receipt with full transparency.

Yes, I receive a scholarship on my tuition fees. There are many scholarships offered in my college through the alumni network, by the college itself etc. The one I receive currently is the tuition fee waiver which are offered to economically backward classes. To avail the same, one must fall under the income slab as decided by the college. Those whose parents income is below 8 LPA, they are offered 2/3rd redemption on their tuition fees, and 100% waiver for the family with income less than 1 LPA. As I fall in the former category, I am only charged 1/2rd of my tuition fees which is 33,333. On adding the rest 20 thousand which is charged as it is, you see, my fees after the scholarship is 53,333 nearly for each semester. But, it must be noted here that the scholarship is only approved and hence provided after the thorough verifications of all the necessary documents asked by the college.

If there is something which every student likes about the college, it would be the ambience that the college offers. The college is strewn with tress and vegetation. Campus life at IIT (BHU) is simply amazing, which can be vouched by every student studying there. There are over 20 clubs under six councils which ensures that we have enough options to go after our hobbies and passion. The clubs include the Literary Club, The Aeromodelling Club, The Business Club, The Film and Media Club, The Robotic Club, The Kashi Utkarsh for social causes, The Club of Programmers among many others. Each of the clubs organizes competitions and workshops for the students regularly. It won't be an overstatement to say that the students learn more from these clubs than they do from their academics. Even the sports facilities are world class, there is an option for nearly every game- we have a cricket field, hockey and football fields, Athletics track, Lawn tennis and Basketball court. The construction of an indoor sports complex just recently begun in the lockdown. The availability of these facilities is the reason that we hold the largest inter-collegiate sports fest, SPARDHA, every year. The diversity we see in the college is also unique. The college even though situated in the Gangetic plains boasts of having the highest number of people coming from south India to this college than any other. One even sees many students from the North-East. The percentage of girls has significantly risen after the introduction of supernumerary seats by the government. Hence, the gender ratio has substantially improved from what it was three or four years ago. When it comes to tolerance towards the people of other race, gender, ethnicity etc. there is no doubt people respect others a lot. They are very encompassing the other people's beliefs and treating it with respect. As of now, there is no student politics in our college. There is this student parliament whose elections are held every year under the purview of the college administration itself.

Yes, I have opted for Hostel facilities. Most of the students live in the hostel, only a few among those who have their home in Varanasi lives in their home. The hostel room are to be shared with a room partner. A few of the hostel buildings in our college are very old which are under re-construction. The rooms in the old buildings are not that spacious, the newer ones are amazing. No student lives in PGs, hence I don't have any idea about their rent. The college charges very less for the hostel maintenance; out of the 20 thousand that is charged, 12 thousand is for our mess fees of three months only, rest 8 thousand incorporates fees like Gymkhana fees, Examination fees etc. So, one may see that hostel fees is very less, so that none of the students take PGs.

Our alumni network is very strong because of 100 years since our college inception. They are really helpful, and I am on a very good terms with many of them. Or for that matter, many students like me. There is a very strict policy (zero tolerance) about ragging in our college, which prevents any mal-treatment of the juniors and also leads to fostering of meaningful bonds with the seniors as well. On completion of the hundred years of our college last year, we had an global alumni meet where over thousand alumni came to the college, and we had an opportunity to interact with many of them who have achieved excellence in their careers. Many of those alumni now are the MDs and at other important positions in their respective fields. Even at the graduation ceremony of the previous batch, we got to meet our seniors again and had a lot of discussion about their new roles in the industries. Coming to seniors in my college life, they are more of a mentor to me. They have always helped me whenever I needed some guidance with my academics or I felt low. This has also helped me to become a senior (being in my second year) who could be of some help to my juniors.

Admission into any IITs happens through the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) in two levels - JEE Main and JEE Advance. I cracked both the exams in 2018, and through the counselling process got the Mechanical Engineering at IIT (BHU). The final admission process was completed in July 2018 after the due verification of required documents and fee deposition.

Currently, there are around 40 professors in our department. Their average age must be over 40, which implies that there is a dearth of young professors in our college. This is needed because young professors are aware of the latest industry requirements, having just finished off their industrial exposure and broader in terms of their vision and understanding. Every professor in our college has completed PHDs, most of them doing it from the colleges in India only. They also have the industrial exposure and certifications from various esteemed industrial and educational organizations. So, they are expert enough, but they lack at demonstrating practically the subjects being taught, which is so essential in learning engineering. When I see the methodology of teaching at foreign universities, I really feel that our college should take inspiration from that.