In the midst of counselling for engineering courses and colleges, students and parents are in a dilemma on choosing from the myriad courses and nearly a lakh of seats in 15-odd popular disciplines.
Senior professors caution students not to make hasty decisions in choosing the course and the college based on peer’s advise but going through a serious exercise including visiting the college, understanding the faculty quality, research facilities and reputation of the college management.
Students will not be joining for just a degree but to acquire the life-long learning process in a changed world, feels N.V. Ramana Rao, Director, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Warangal. How best the colleges are equipped to instil the skills to learn and adapt to the changes is important than mere placements or buildings.
Prof. Rao advises students and parents to check where the faculty have obtained their higher degrees from. The Ph.Ds obtained from national and international institutions are likely to instil a different experience among teachers and students can be assured of such experience passed onto them. A good teacher produces better graduates is his argument.
It’s natural that good colleges hire good teachers as they are willing to pay them well. So a teacher is the important component of the engineering wheel. The research activities of teachers are an important element while judging the teachers. “What kind of projects they handle and for which companies they consult for reflect their calibre.”
The second important aspect is the infrastructure. Laboratories, equipment, connectivity and their availability to students are important. Check what kind of e-journals do the libraries subscribe to and also what student events like seminars, workshops, festivals including sports activities. “They all contribute in making a good graduate.”
NIRF rankings
The best way to judge these facilities is to personally visit the colleges, speak to the senior students and interact with the faculty before finalising the college. However, the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings provide a positive overview of the quality of colleges.
Prof. Rao reminds that the NIRF rankings approved by the Ministry of Education draw from the overall recommendations from the parameters covering “Teaching, Learning and Resources,” “Research and Professional Practices,” “Graduation Outcomes,” “Outreach and Inclusivity,” and “Perception”. So these rankings give a clear idea about the quality of the technical institution.
Which branch?
Another question that haunts students is which branch to choose? Prof. Rao, who earlier worked as JNTU-H Registrar, says the answer is all branches have equal employment opportunities. “But before choosing a branch, one has to assess himself with questions like what are his intellectual and physical abilities to study that particular branch, competencies and skill sets required.”
In fact, all branches of Engineering have good potential for career prospects, employment and entrepreneurship. So passion for a particular area of study comes into play. Companies don’t look at the scores alone but lot of emerging skill sets apart from interpersonal and language skills.