My experience at Heritage Institute of Technology

Compared to all the engineering colleges in Kolkata, I'd say Heritage Institute of Technology is a pretty good college. The faculties are well educated and knowledgeable, the lab facilities are good, and the overall environment is good enough for a student.

I'd say the course curriculum needs to be improved, especially the subjects in 1st and 2nd year of college. Subjects should be more focused on the respective departments instead of trying to teach the students everything under the sun. The same goes with the entire Indian education system in general. More focus should be given towards practical work and industrial training rather than theory papers. The curriculum should also be updated as per present industry needs. As for exams, our course is divided into periods of 6 months known as semesters. Each semester has two internal theory examinations of all subjects, oral examinations of all subjects, laboratory exams of certain subjects, and the semester examinations for all theory subjects.

Placements are pretty much standard, like most other engineering colleges. The primary recruiter is TCS with an average package of Rs 3 LPA. As for internships, I haven't seen any form of direct internship opportunities provided by the college. However, we can find internship advertisements in notice boards.

Our college conducts frequent activities of various sorts - from academic to sports to annual fest. The events are pretty much organized and happens under the supervision of the authorities. As for our fest, it is one of the biggest college fests in our city since big bollywood celebrities come to our college to perform.

The fee structure for lateral entry BTech course is Rs 3.2 lakhs. It's feasible for most higher middle class or middle class families as the fee is meant to be paid in a six monthly basis before the begining of each semester.

I do not know of any particular loan facility or scholarship but from what I've once heard, they often announce scholarships in their website for people whose family's annual income is low. If someone has a low family income, those scholarships can be of great help.

Our college has fully equipped labs with all the necessary equipments. The equipments are also updated or changed with time to meet the needs of present hardware requirements. As for activities and sports, our college frequently conducts tech fests, sports activities, quizes, debates, creative writing, and various other activities.

I know of a few senior students and they have been helpful so far. Before getting admitted to this college, I asked them about how the faculties are and how is the environment in college. They have also worked in collaboration with us during college events and helped us with those.

After completing my 3 year Diploma Engineering course, I appeared for JELET, which is an entrance exam to BTech via lateral entry, i.e, 2nd year of BTech. After our JELET ranks were revealed, we had to go through a counselling or allotment process where students had to choose the college they wanted to go to. This allotment process is done based on our JELET ranks, i.e, students scoring higher ranks will get the choice earlier than other students. Once we are allotted a college, we had to take the allotment letter to the respective college. From there onwards, you get admitted to the college after you submit the required documents and pay the fees.

The faculty of our college is good when compared to other teachers from other engineering colleges. However, teacher training programs and interaction skill sessions are necessary since knowledge and teaching may not always go hand-in-hand.