Nothing mechanical about it

K.K. Garg

Using Whatsapp to share with friends,  Flipkart to buy, Quikr to sell, a calculator to calculate, bridges to cross rivers, fly in aero planes, meeting moon and mars is being made possible by  young men and women, who dreamt of being engineers. Although, at one time or another we all behave as engineers when we use our ingenuity to help solve a physical problem and make life comfortable for our fellow beings.

Who are these people who make things happen? An engineer has a keen power of observation, is full of curiosity, is always ready to learn, enjoys working hard and is interested in science and maths. An engineer solves the problem when others fail; tries to make things simpler and cheaper through constant innovation. Remember, it is this continuous innovation through which you have a new modified version of your mobile phone. But one thing should be clear in the beginning that just a degree in engineering from any institution is not a passport to do all these things. Your attitude in and out of the college, your capabilities to work hard, curiosity to learn, courage to lead and be lead will always be more important to build a successful land happy career in engineering.

Is engineering really for me?

The jokes on social media on Indian parents forcing their kids into engineering or medical streams are common. Doing engineering just for the heck of it would never be a good idea! But do not be biased against this stream by just going by what is trending. However, it should definitely be an informed decision. Before you opt for engineering, it is extremely important to figure out exactly what courses you would be opting for, what kind of colleges there are, what kind of job opportunities there will be (as these would be both engineering and business/analytics related) and hence where does your true interest lie? The best way to do this is to read about this on the internet, get in touch with people from various backgrounds and talk about their experience. Once you decide that you want to do engineering,

The next two years of study are extremely important as they serve as a foundation for performance in the entrance exams for different colleges.

Now if you have done Plus II with Science and Maths, you are eligible for engineering and can get admission in an college as the number of seats in engineering colleges is much more than total number of students who apply for these seats.

Institute mantra

How to zero in on a good college out of the over 3,500 colleges with more than 16 lakh seats in the country, is another major concern for students and their parents.

Apart from Tier I and Tier II colleges, certain Tier III private colleges and universities are also serious about the quality of education and help students in getting placements in good companies. Broadly the institutes can be divided into three groups

First for generating knowledge, Second for educating and generating knowledge, Third for educating for employability in this age of knowledge. 

First Tier: The IITs remain the flag-bearers of technical education in our country and are the dream destination of the students’ best in maths and physics. Entry remains through JEE advanced for which eligibility is based on JEE mains.

Second Tier: Next to the IITs are the institutes like NITs, PEC Chandigarh, DEC Delhi, Thapar Patiala. Here, too, the admission is through JEE except few of the institutes like Birla institute which have their own BITSAT, VIT and Manipal having its own test.

Third Tier: These institutes constitute majority of the newly set up engineering colleges, which are producing more than 90 per cent of the total engineering graduates passing out each year. These colleges got the boost at the end of last century and more than half of the colleges were established after 2006. Though most of the colleges were opened by entrepreneurs for their own economic growth, still many students have been able to fulfill their dreams of studying engineering and making their careers at par with the students of the first and second tier colleges.

Match branch with aptitude

Though each year, some new branches are being introduced engineering is broadly divided into two fields:

Circuit Branches: These consist of branches like Electrical, Electronics and Communication, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, Instrumentation,

Instrumentation and control Engineering and any other branches which are not mechanical in nature.

Non-circuit or Mechanical Branches: These are basically Mechanical, Civil, Metallurgy, Aero, Production, Industrial Engineering, and Chemical Engineering.

Though both streams require a sound background in maths and physics, circuit branches need more mathematical skills, while non-circuit branches need an aptitude for physics. 

Integrated courses

Engineering +MBA: Another query that most fresher’s have while selecting an engineering course is that whether they should one go in for a simple four-year BE or BTech degree or a five-year integrated engineering plus MBA course which will save one year and give a dual degree in engineering and management? With a majority of engineering graduates going in for an MBA degree after engineering, the choice of an integrated course seems to be an intelligent one. But according to experts it is better if one gets work experience of at least two years after a graduation degree before going in for an MBA. So choose your integrated course carefully as this can pave the way for getting a  good management job in future.

— The writer is Associate Professor and former Dean, Student Welfare, Training and Placement Officer, PEC University, Chandigarh

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Once you enter college

Take interest in the basic foundation courses in maths and physics as they will always be important for building up higher technical knowledge. 

Most of the tier three college students, have to show their worth by competing in tests like the Graduate Aptitude test in Engineering (GATE) to get into PG courses in top colleges. Now most of the PSUs also prefer a GATE score. 

Apart from this, in the beginning of third year, try to find out about various competitions for higher study abroad also — GRE for doing master’s in USA and GMAT for doing MBA. Though most of the good MBA colleges in USA require few years’ work experience also, you can take the test during your under-grad itself.

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Top engineering colleges

PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh
www.pec.ac.in
Seats: 385 for BTech.
USP:  Research is the strong point of this institute that is rated among the top 10 engineering institutes other than IITs in India. 

Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar
www.lpu.in
Seats: 2,000 (approx)
USP: Industry-academia Innovative courses and a state-of-the-art campus.

National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra
www.nitkkr.ac.in
Seats: 540
USP: A 300-acre campus with facilities for advanced research in science and technology, with hostel facility it enjoys the status of an Institution of National Importance as granted by the MHRD, Govt. of India.

National Institute of Technology,  Hamirpur, HP
www.nith.ac.in
Seats: 509 for UG
USP:  It is a premier technology institute of the state and is ranked as 14th among the top 50 engineering colleges of the country. 

J P University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, Solan
www.juit.ac.in
Seats: 400 (approx)
USP: All -India ranking of universities ranked it at 82nd place. The university has filed 10 patents out of which three have been published and one granted. Projects worth Rs 10 crore are underway in the university . 

UIET, Chandigarh 
www.uiet.puchd.ac.in/
Seats: 373 for BE/B Tech
USP: Scores a point in industry academia tie ups. A member of Campus Connect programme of Infosys Technologies Ltd. 

GND Engineering College, Ludhiana
www.gndec.ac.in/
Seats: 720 for BE and B Tech
USP: The Training and the Placement Cell is dynamic and several MNCs and Indian corporate giants visit the campus for placements and tie-ups.

(Based on selected lists from India Today, Outlook and other national surveys) 

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Engineering excellence — Thapar University, patiala
Thapar University, Patiala, follows an interdisciplinary approach with  emphasis on specialised courses, outcome-based teaching to give its undergraduate engineering students an upper hand. The 16 undergraduate programmes offered by the university in all the core branches of engineering present a fine mix of conventional courses like BE in civil and mechanical engineering and new-age BE courses in computer animation and gaming, and mechatronics — an interdisciplinary field driven by applications of mechanical and electronics engineering. Keeping pace with the latest trends in Industry, the university keeps upgrading its courses, which is what makes it the top institute in the region. The university is going to offer two new undergraduate courses this year — BE Electronics and Computer Engineering and BTech Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. These are interdisciplinary in nature, thus catering to the industry’s growing demand for well-rounded technical professionals with specialised skills in overlapping disciplines. The new BE course in Electronics and Computer Engineering integrates the two domains so as to equip students with the requisite skills to manufacture, install, operate and maintain computer devices that are automated with electronic control systems, something which traditional engineers are not trained to handle. 

The BTech in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering involves the creation of advanced materials which can be put to use as ceramics in energy applications, composites in aerospace, bio-materials in tissue engineering, eco-friendly materials in green technologies, semiconductors in electronics, polymers in telecommunications and magnetic materials for storing information. Students opting for the BE Computer Engineering honours courses introduced by the university in the futuristic fields of computer animation and gaming and machine learning and data analytics will get to pursue five additional courses in four years. While the degree in computer animation and gaming can translate into highly lucrative careers as content developers, layout artists and 2D-3D animators, graduates in machine learning and data analytics can carve a successful career as research scientist in top-notch companies.