Where merit is the norm

CAMPUS WATCH

Established in 1980, Dr Ambedkar Institute of Technology (AIT) in Bangalore, is ranked sixth among the best institutions in Karnataka. The institution spread over 23 acres and having a current strength of 5,000 students, has become the first option for many engineering students.

There is an array of courses offered by the institute. For the bachelors in engineering, there is a choice of civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, industrial engineering and management, electronics and communication engineering, telecommunication engineering, medical electronics, information science, computer science and engineering, and instrumental and electronics engineering.

 At the Master’s level, students can avail an M.Tech. degree in computer science and engineering, VLSI design and embedded systems or opt for and MBA or MCA. Ph.D degrees in civil, mechanical, electrical and electronics engineering along with instrumentation technology, physics, chemistry and mathematics are offered as well.

Unlike other colleges, 95% of the seats at the institute are filled up purely on the basis of merit through the Common Entrance Test. For the remaining 5% of the seats, the eligibility criteria is a minimum 50 per cent in the pre-university board exam. The eligibility and fee structure is in tune with that of the government standards.

There are 68 classrooms with an average of 30 students in UG and 20 in PG in each class. For a more effective teaching method, and to provide hands-on experience to the students within the campus, the college has a machine shop, computer-aided modelling centre and laboratories for data acquisition, networking, communication, measurement and metallurgy, quality control and control systems. The students also have the provision of an air-conditioned library that contains around 68,000 books, both for reference and recreation.

The college provides state-of-the-art facilities to students and enforces strict disciplinary norms when it comes to attendance for both teachers and students.
The Institute was recently granted autonomous status. It was previously affiliated to the Vishveshwariya Technological University. After autonomy, the principal Dr Martin Jebaraj P, has put in place stringent rules for students and teachers. Every teacher has to submit a research report and sustain a 100% attendance rate as well.  The institute has employed 27 teachers in addition to that prescribed by the government to maintain a student-teacher ratio of 1:30.

One of the most important things for a student is the placement opportunity given by the institution. Companies such as TCS, HCL, Mindtree, Titan, Oracle, Sasken, Eureka Forbes, Tata Consultancies, Infotech and Act TV are attracted towards the impressive standards of the students of AIT when in comes to campus recruitment.
“Our college never saw recession when it came to placements.” says the proud principal.
To prepare final year students for the interview, the college appoints one member of the faculty for every 20 students.  Companies like Wipro and Infosys have conducted soft skill training programmes for the final year students, in accordance to the training that is given to the employees of the respective companies. This helps them develop a sense of leadership, says the Principal.

Students from across the country are studying in the college, and at present, there are a lot of students from the northern and eastern parts of India. For them, the institute has made lodging provisions. On campus there are two hostels for boys and one for girls.
Not only does the college have a brilliant placements track record, but it also has an unstoppable sports team. Be it, kho-kho, basket ball, swimming or badminton, the students of AIT have aced it all. The college secured an overall second position in the VTU zonal sports tournament. Culturally, the students never lose an opportunity to express themselves.

Each department is known to organise a cultural event for its students. As a whole the college organises inter-collegiate cultural fests called ‘Rhythm’ and ‘Samskruti’, and to give a warm welcome to freshers, a cultural programme called ‘Maitri’ is organised.
A few interesting facts of this college is that they have never faced any instance of ragging. Moreover, they provide an industrial training programme where hands-on training is provided to the students. They have also implemented the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) of the government of India to support the efforts of the government to raise the standards of education. For students who come from rural areas and who may not be well versed with spoken English, special classes are in place to help them adapt to the language, thereby increasing their employment potential.