20 Things to check during Engineering campus visit

Things to keep in mind for Engineering campus visit

Yes, it is true that only hard work and preparation for engineering entrance exams is a sure shot way to secure admissions in your desired college. However, the college you should seek admissions in should not be decided only on the basis of its ranking but by adopting a more scientific approach and doing a bit of research on your own account.

And this can be done by visiting the campus of the college you want to secure admission into and thereafter get a feel of the college life as well.

Here, you have two options, one way is to go by the legal channel and get in touch with the college authorities to help arrange a campus tour. The other and more common approach is when aspirants simply drop by the college and ask current students to explain and walk-them-through the various facets of the college.

We advise that such visits are a good approach as they can help you in deciding which college will prove to be the most beneficial for you.

However, most often students are not aware about what all they should ask at the campus which they head out to explore.

So, we at Shiksha.com have made a list of 20 things which aspirants should seek when they head out for their campus visit and thus decide the right college for them.

Engineering Campus Visit: Check Library

Library

Aspirants need to make sure that all the popular and required books along with all their volumes are available in the college’s library.

Shamshul Husain, Chief Engineering Advisor on Shiksha.com shares that, “Aspirants should try to find out if the variety of books both technical and non-technical are there in the college library or not. Students should also find out if the required variety of magazines, books, journals, employment magazines and newspapers are available in the library or not”.

Classrooms

Things that aspirants should check in the classrooms of a college as per Husain is: “Lecture halls should be well-ventilated and isolated from the noisy environment. Proper facility of lighting, boards, etc. should be there.  Air conditioned lecture halls equipped with projectors is good”.

Classrooms should have AV facilities and the seating arrangement should be spacious and comfortable.

Campus facilities

Husain shares that the college campus should have, “A common computer center for students to learn software skills under the guidance of experts appointed there. This is not included in the programme but is just for the sake of good programming skills. One cannot understand the programming skills just by using a laptop or Wi-Fi in the campus or at the hostel and also the students don’t have that much time to spend on private tuitions”. Apart from this he feels that, “Big auditoriums for seminars, documentary movies and guest lectures are also required and they improve the infrastructure of the campus”.

He further added that students should ensure that, “There should be shops to purchase the stationary within the campus. Green-belt should be there. Games facilities and playing fields should be there. Café, canteen or refreshment room should be there. It would be good if the campus has just one entry gate and one exit gate i.e. it is an enclosed campus”, as this would make the campus safer.

Conference halls

Students should also visit the conference halls and ensure that they are well-equipped and can accommodate atleast 20-25 people at a time.

Labs

Check Labs in Engineering Campus Visit

Labs play a very important role in engineering programmes and so students should thoroughly check the equipment available in the college’s labs while on a campus visit. Apart from this, candidates should also try to see the seating capacity as well as size of the lab.

Goutam Chatterjee, Shiksha.com’s Chief Advisor says, “Labs must have experiment lists and manuals to perform each of them. It must be capable of skill development and hands-on practice. Majority of the labs should have simulation tools and software to perform experiments, especially in mechanical, civil, electrical labs. Lab must have seating capacity for minimum 30 students”.

Hostels

Most students opt to stay in a hostel when pursuing an engineering degree and here one needs to figure out if the college has adequate accommodation to house all the students who have applied for hostel facility.

Elaborating on the same, Husain feels that candidates should also ensure that the college’s hostel/s has proper rooms, electrical supply, sanitary fittings, small library, generator facility and common rooms.

Mess/Canteen

Most residential colleges have a mess and apart from this they even have a canteen or a small Nescafe stall. Food is mostly a touchy topic for hostel students at majority of the colleges. Thus, aspirants should definitely enquire about the quality and variety of food they can find on campus.

These days, due to ever increasing cases of adulteration, aspirants should also find out if clean drinking water and healthy food items are being provided at the college or not.

Clubs/recreation facilities

Similar to the above point, in order to make college life fun and to bring about some change in the daily routine of a student, it is advised that candidates find out if the college has any good club. Most colleges these days have a dramatics society, dance club, music club etc. wherein students can meet like-minded people and enjoy their stay at the college. Apart from this, these activities lead to all-round development of an individual’s personality.

Engineering Campus Visit: Check Sports Facility

Sports facilities

Engineering is a very taxing degree programme to pursue and students need to unwind on a regular basis. For this, students need to find out if the college has ground/s for outdoor games, area for indoor games, swimming pools and facility for crowds to sit during fests/tournaments/events.

Internships

Candidates need to seek information regarding the college’s policies around summer trainings during the programme and apprenticeships after completion of the course. Here, students need to find out how they need to apply for the internship programmes. It is ideal if the college manages acquiring these trainings programmes on behalf of the students.

Aspirants can also enquire if the internship/training programmes offered by the college are for India only or also for abroad.

Placement cell

Students need to definitely enquire about the campus placements conducted for the previous year. Husain shared, “If placement of the college is good then it attracts more aspirants and thus college finds more quality”.

Govind Sharma, Chief Advisor at Shiksha.com shares that in order to figure how good or bad a college is, one should find out the list of companies that visited the campus for placement a year before. Apart from this, students should also seek information regarding, “Lowest CTC offered, median CTC offered and highest CTC offered, along with finding out the average time taken for RoI (Return on Investment) of the course”. Students are advised to find out the kind of roles for which placements are offered at the college.

Candidates should also try to ask for information regarding the alumni of the college and what they are doing, where they are placed now. Govind revealed that, “If more of them are placed in higher positions in good companies, chances of getting placed through the college are high”.

Location of college

Location of a college is another factor students should examine very closely. The college should not be isolated in its approach because this tends to make it difficult for students to have access to shops to get their daily necessities. Also, remotely located colleges generally do not have any good eating joints close to campus and this tends to be a put-off for most students.

Isolated colleges also tend to have a problem regarded safety. So, aspirants are advised to take all these points into consideration before taking admissions in a college.

List of courses offered

Students should definitely enquire about the courses/programmes taught at the college. Husain elaborated on the same by saying, “There should be variety of degree, diploma and certificate programmes offered at the college along with of subject specialisations. Engineering colleges running masters in applied subjects are good as they invite pure sciences, commerce and arts graduates also”.

Course accreditation

Candidates need to enquire if the course for which they are seeking admissions is recognised by the central board or not. Husain shares that there are some educational bodies like UGC, NAAC, AIU, DEB, AICTE, AIMA, PCI, etc. and one should ensure that the course which they plan to pursue is accredited from a credible source.

Govind Sharma further shared that, “If the courses are offered through collaboration with a foreign university, students should find out whether prior approval of UGC and AIU has been taken or not”.

Faculty

Find out how is the faculty during campus visit

A college is known by the faculty that it houses and so students are advised to ask and interact with as many faculty members as possible.

Apart from this, students are advised to find out about the educational qualifications as well as teaching and industry experience of the college’s faculty members.

Student to teacher ratio

“It is one factor which holds a lot of importance when determining where the college stands in the world ranking. Obviously, it is directly proportional to a very high quality in education. Thus, more teachers to teach a few students, would ensure that good quality education is imparted to students and each student is given adequate attention in class”, states Husain.

Overall fee

Another very important factor that students should enquire clearly at the time of admissions is the fee structure. Most engineering programmes have tuition fee and apart from this have separate charge lab fee, mess fee, hostel fee etc. Candidates are advised to enquire about the fee they will be charged in a semester as well as in an entire academic year, that too, under different headers.

Scholarships

Most engineering colleges offer scholarships to students. Some of these scholarships can be for students from economically weaker sections or for meritorious students. Candidates should enquire about the same and also find out the eligibility criteria to avail any scholarship offered at the college.

Anti-ragging cell

It is worth finding out about the anti-ragging cell. Engineering colleges have earned a reputation for themselves to be the institutes where immense ragging take place, thus, one should be well-aware of the contact details of the grievance cell that look into serious matters related with ragging of newbies and also monitors if the “no-ragging” scenario is followed in the college or not.

These are some of the things engineering aspirants should definitely find out before they shortlist a college for admission.