Essentials for a Top Engineering University

Problem solving and Out of the box Thinking*

Top engineering colleges in India need to move beyond the conventional approach, and to encourage students to become problem solvers instead of Computer, Mechanical, Civil Engineers, by providing an environment which encourages students to take risks try new things and not to be afraid of failure. Students are put into rat race and they pass courses without even realising the intent of the course. Students should be taught how the developments they are studying came into being, what triggered the need to move over current generation to next. This will enable them to identify “The Next Big Thing” and lead the change.

International Exposure

As companies grow they spread across the globe, creating international career opportunities – and these are expected to increase dramatically. One of the best things about studying in an international environment is that it brings you into contact with people from all over the world, meaning that you can create a global network of contacts. Among them could be the future chief executive of a major company in the industry you end up working for, or a future business partner or client. Students from the top engineering colleges in India get to interact with people from all over the world through exchange programs which expose them to a variety of different cultures, not to mention viewpoints they might not previously have considered.

Our cultural background can have a big bearing on how we respond to different situations or issues, and getting a variety of fresh perspectives on such things can be very intellectually stimulating, helping you look at things in a completely new way.

Wherever in the world you end up studying, you’re likely to encounter different styles of teaching from what you’re used to. Different countries inevitably have different ways of doing things, so trying out the educational offering of another country will help you expand your academic horizons and develop your ability to adapt to different educational environments. This will doubtless help you adapt to the very different style of teaching at university.

Should allow students to pursue multiple streams (Dual Degree) And also offer multiple courses in similar fields like CSE, CS, IT and Software Engineering

By doing this in the top engineering colleges in the country, universities can help those students who are interested in CSE but may opt for Civil, in which they are not at all interested, just because of their rank.

Enterprises look for talented and bright minds who can don dynamic roles, and for that they are most likely to turn, as the first preference of course, to the graduates from the top 100 engineering colleges in India. Candidates are not only expected to have the profound technical knowledge, but should also understand the business acumen.

The B.Tech dual specialization at BMU, one of the best engineering colleges in India, is designed in such a way that at the end of 5 years, our students are very employable. And if a student enrolled for B. Tech in civil engineering is also interested in IT, then Dual Degree can work for him/her. Civil Engineering Students are exposed to an exhaustive curriculum that includes hands-on practical experience, industrial visits, problem-solving sessions through a unique and interactive learning platform. Four years of B. Tech in civil engineering will give students an in-depth understanding of civil designing, township, planned development, waste management etc. which are the cruxes of modern and smart city planning.In addition to civil engineering, if a student spends an additional year and pursues Computer Science, his or her skill-sets is bound to improve. An additional specialization in computer science engineering opens more avenues for students. In fact, civil engineering is no longer a standalone field in the top 100 engineering colleges in India; this field now requires the understanding of computer science and software for the creation of 3D blueprints, mapping, etc. Similarly, an understanding of the principles of civil engineering is required to work on a computer design project for a real-estate agency or city planning.

Encourage Learning by doing

We all are proud studying engineering. Every year there are at least a million engineers graduating from every stream imaginable. Yet, only a handful of them are capable enough to convert their knowledge into something useful - a solution to one of our problems. Considering the exhaustive number of problems we have today, the efforts put in the direction are practically less. We both waste the resources by creating an engineer who isn't able to contribute and waste a brilliant mind in undermining his true potential.

Ability to adapt as per the industry requirements

Add new subjects and topics and make them elective so that students can opt for them based on their goals and industry requirements. We need to be in continuous adaptation mode rather than "design it once and then forget it" mode.

There is a significant increase in the opportunities for students to do internships (why not 3 months every year or 6 months every two years?). It does not matter, even if it's not paid. Make the internship, also a serious curriculum requirement rather than just a formality. On the job experience is really vital for two reasons:

Attract talent for teaching

Unfortunately, the teaching job is not very lucrative in India and hence it does not attract best talents. An ideal engineering college should have more industry projects (it should be encouraged), so that professors can also earn equivalent to their corporate counterparts. This will help in raising the overall standard of our engineering college.

Semester long combined projects

Most of the college graduates are unaware of why did they study what they did and how it relates to anything in life. What all they do is believe that these small jigsaw puzzle pieces will somehow connect in the future to form a Big Picture. But the rat race forces them to lose track of connecting the pieces and just accumulate it in their brains. The System gives marks for the collection of these pieces rather than the student's capability of connecting them to form a bigger picture.

Flexible evaluation process

Weightage to Core subjects should be more as compared to others, for instance computer science student should be given more credit for his programming skills than his ability to operate lathe machine in workshop, I am not saying student should not have diverse skill set but weightage to core subjects must be higher than secondary subjects.

Importance should be given to Soft Skills

A common misleading belief that has seeped into the very mindset of the engineering students from the top engineering colleges as well as from other colleges, is that communication skills is only meant for those who want to adopt a managerial career in the years ahead.

Communication skills do not only involve speaking in front of a large crowd, but it also incorporates the sense of managing the resources alongside effective written skills in order to convey the message to rest of public. If you are a computer engineer, one of the prominent part in the software development lifecycle tends to be the role of business analyst. While gathering requirements for the project, an analyst needs to have pure command over the subject as well as be an adequate communicator so that information can be flown to both the concerned parties in a channelized manner. Same goes for electrical or instrumentation engineers who are supervising large scale mechanical equipments, if they are not dealt with properly and their usage is not well known to them, communicating at a low level to their associated might come across as a planning task.

Should encourage students to take part in MOOCs

Engineering is an intense field and lectures alone might not be enough for new students. Students don’t need a degree or previous knowledge to follow a course, only the willingness to learn.

MOOCs bring people together from all over the world and encourage engagement between staff and students of a given university/ institution to interact with the wider public.

They offer diverse classes on different topics makes it easy for learners to keep up with the latest news and trends and be on top of their professional field.

You learn at your own pace, following your own schedule. Some of the courses have deadlines for tests and assessments, but they are easy to keep. Usually one have weeks to finish the quizzes and it is not seldom the case that learners the option to finish a course whenever they feel like it, whenever they have the time. In other words learning happens in a more informal setting, at a place of your convenience and often around your own schedule A lot of MOOC classes are freely accessible and are offered in different languages! It doesn’t matter if you speak English, Chinese, French or Arabic or you live in India, USA or Australia. Subtitles are available for hundreds of courses and they are just a click away.

Should encourage students to work in teams, collaborate with students from various other domains

A crucial part of managing people is getting them to be as productive as possible, whilst working in teams. This is something that we strongly advocate at BMU, one of the most progressive private engineering colleges in Delhi. Team working is common in technical or engineering environments. Whether it’s a project team, product development, a production line, a maintenance team or a manufacturing cell, effective teamwork is the basis for most modern technical operations.

In industry it’s very common for people from different religions, regions, countries, time-zones to work together and companies spend a lot of resources to ensure internal conflicts are resolved, employees get used to working together, complement each other’s efforts and increase productivity. If students are made to work together from early stage then it becomes easier for them to adapt to different environments.