Ebizinstudy

New Delhi, June 16 - Where private engineering colleges are concerned, the Hindustan Times-C fore survey ranked the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani, at number one. PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, IIT Hyderabad and BIT Mesra, Ranchi, followed at number two, three and four, respectively.

Scoring 555 out of 700 for its intellectual capital (See ‘Methodology,' page I, Book II); 443 out of 500 for its pedagogic sustems and processes and 381 out of 450 for placements, the overall points BITS scored was 2,302 out of 2,800.

There are several features that make BITS different. The institute has a curricular system that merits mention.

Says Prof LK Maheshwari, vice chancellor, BITS Pilani, "Academic planning of curricula is such that there is commonality between engineering and science disciplines where students are given core knowledge of all engineering, maths and science subjects which helps them in their careers."

The other aspect is industry interface - where BITS notched up 403 out of 450 in the survey.

"We have very strong linkages with the industry", active through the Practice School programme. During their four-year programme, students need to spend seven-and-a-half months on industry assignments, two months after the second year and five-and-a-half months after the final. "They work on projects given by the industry, which improves various soft skills," says Maheshwari.

And then, there's something about the place. "The environment is such that it brings out students' creativity be it in academics, extra-curricular or co-curricular (areas)," adds Maheshwari.

What started in the early 1900s as a small school, blossomed into a set of colleges for higher education, ranging from the humanities to engineering until 1964 when all these colleges amalgamated to form a unique Indian university of international standing. This university was named the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, known to many as BITS, Pilani. It is located in the Vidya Vihar campus adjacent to Pilani in Rajasthan.

Integrated first-degree programmes

These degrees are offered at the first tier have nomenclature like BE (Hons.), BPharm (Hons.), Master of Management Studies, MSc (Hons), MSc (Tech), and MA (Hons). These are level wise equivalent degrees. These degrees are based on a modular structure and their academic requirements are spelt out in respect of the number of courses rather than the number of years. All these programmes are structured in such a way that a student will be able to finish a programme in eight semesters. The flexibility allows a student to do her/his programme at a faster pace and finish it earlier than eight semesters or at a slower pace to finish it later than eight semesters.

Higher degree programmes

ME/MPharm/MPhil: The requirements of these programmes are described in terms of the total number of units, which a student is required to complete rather than the duration. However, a normal student may be able to complete such a programme in four semesters, wherein the last semester may be spent for either of the two available alternatives, namely, dissertation and practice school. Certain motivated and hardworking students who are in the dissertation stream may finish the programme in three semesters by starting the dissertation component right in their first semester. The programmes are intended to give a penetrating professional experience and an opportunity to acquire further competence either in one's own discipline or in many other traditional areas of engineering, pharmacy as well as interdisciplinary areas, like, electronics and control, embedded systems, microelectronics, software systems, biotechnology, manufacturing systems, design engineering, materials science and technology, transportation engineering, public health, etc.

MBA: The institute has been running a management programme namely Master of Management Studies (MMS) with a strong foundation in science and engineering. Based on feedback from the industry, a new MBA programme has been formulated with input requirement as first degree of BITS or its equivalent. While principal input will be students already possessing an engineering degree, those who have other qualifications like BSc, BA, BCom may also apply provided they have aptitude towards having training in science, mathematics and technology as well.

One notable feature is the institution's admission process. BITS conducts a three-hour unique online entrance test - taken by about 1.4 lakh candidates this year - staggered over a month. Test-takers can know their result "even before they leave the computer terminal."

In short, Maheshwari says they follow a "very transparent process from admission to graduation." In addition, there's no seat reservation for anybody, "including the Birlas. Admission is only on the basis of merit."