Kamal Krishna Patnaik's Review On NIST University, Berhampur

Students need to be encouraged to show their complete potential by paving the path for illustrative career opportunities. Students usually blame the lack of opportunities, for their under-performance. Sometimes poor communication with the HR departments results in a huge drop in placement. Apart from placement issues, the college management needs to take proper care of the basic amenities. The institution protects itself as a one which provides facilities and education comparable to IITs and NITs, but unfortunately commits the same stereotypical mistakes as other private engineering colleges. That, of course, doesn't mean that it lacks potential to achieve what it assumes itself of being.

I had attended the Odisha JEE examination and secured a rank within top 3000 to get selected in National Institute of Science and Technology, Berhampur. I had opted for Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

The college is affiliated to Biju Patnaik University of Technology. The course structure is same as the other colleges affiliated to the aforementioned university. In addition to specified courses, NIST encourages the students to develop skills in robotics, etc. Mandatory practical classes, which are not specified by the university include Linux and Open Office courses, Web design and MATLAB. These courses prove to be very helpful to students after securing jobs.

No, internship was not provided back when I was studying. Things might have changed by now. As far as I have heard from the students who have passed out recently, the exposure has increased dramatically.

An unfortunate fact about private engineering colleges is that most product companies do not visit those for recruitment. This is due to the negligence from the college placement team as well as the HR department of such companies. While there are people who genuinely want students to be placed in the top tier organizations, most of the people in the management wish to protect large placement statistics. Companies that visit National Institute of Science and Technology include Infosys, Wipro Technologies, Capgemini, Tech Mahindra, Sankalp Semiconductors. The average salary offered by these companies is around 2.75 to 3.75 lakhs per annum.

There are 2 social events in National Institute of Science and Technology - Sankalp and Waves, which are observed annually. These events are primarily organized by the students. Paper presentations, robotics, gaming tournaments are held in these events.

The fee structure is weird. The students are not allowed to deduct the canteen fees, even if they don't use the facility. Same goes for the books prescribed by the college. Students are not given the choice to purchase the books at a lower cost from other sources. The library has limited books. The facilities provided are minimal. There is a swimming pool, volleyball ground and billiards table, though.

I am aware that the college offers compensation for students with economic hardship issues. Along with that, the college also awards students who achieve recognition in other extra curricular activities. Academic achievements are appreciated and awarded in each semester. Technical events are conducted annually and the winners are awarded.

The gender ratio is pretty balanced. With increased awareness of importance of female education, a huge number of students from states such as Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh take admission each year. The number of female engineering students has significantly increased over the years. Racial bias and discrimination is minimal. Students have no orientation towards youth political winds. There have been no complaints regarding any secure harassment as far as I know. As I have mentioned before, technological events such as robotics, paper presentations, seminars are held regularly and students are encouraged to participate in the events. Voluntary involvement in additional courses such as ethical hacking, etc is encouraged. Students are provided the opportunity to exhibit their skills such as singing, dancing, comedy, etc in cultural events. There are awards for all aforementioned events.

The quality of food is horrible. That is a common complaint in all college canteens, but students are not given the choice to discontinue the facility if they don't like it. The feedback given by the students is never paid much attention. Students usually end up making a lot of extra expenditure for food.

Students maintain their ties with their senior students via social networking. There are usually no alumni meet organized at the college level. With the increase in the use of social media, alumni meets have become irrelevant. So, it is of minimal consequence.

Instead of opting for the regular 20 marks based class tests, the college implements a test system of 3 class tests, each worth 100 marks, followed by the end semester examination, in each semester. Apart from the regular examinations, the practical classes are essentially examinations in which each experiment carries marks. Each of the classes are held for 100 minutes which are tedious for students and are of no consequence as most of the students fail to channel their attention for such a long time.

As National Institute of Science and Technology is one of the most reputed colleges of Odisha, the seats of the college get filled within rank 6000, usually. The student is supposed to get admission in the counseling process, provided that a seat is secured. Verification of documents such as matriculation and higher secondary education certificates, Odisha JEE rank card is done during the counseling process.

The faculty of the Institute is a mixed bag, unfortunately. While there are talented and knowledgeable professors for certain branches, such as Computer Science Engineering; Electrical and Electronics Engineering suffers a lot due to inexperienced facilities. There are some exceptional professors in Electrical and Electronics Engineering as well, but for most subjects, students are left to fend for themselves. The worst part is lack of practical knowledge provided.