Jamia Millia Islamia University B.Tech Review By Ayaz Ali

Founded in 1920 at Aligarh, Jamia Millia Islamia has been unstoppable to date. It is a NAAC accredited ‘A’ grade central university in New Delhi that covers all the aspects of schooling, under-graduate, postgraduate, and Ph.D. education. Let’s talk about its ranking, Times Higher Education has placed JMI in the 601-800th category in the World University Rankings of 2021 and the 192nd position in Asian University Rankings. According to NIRF Rankings of 2020, JMI has been ranked at 10th position in the category of ‘University Rankings’ and in the 16th position in ‘Overall Category’. For most of the courses, JMI conducts its own entrance test which is MCQs based, but there are few exceptions too. For example, to be able to take admission in the B.Tech program of the university you need to have a decent score in the JEE MAINS examination.

I had applied for B.Sc and B.Tech programs back in 2018 and cleared both of them. So, I find myself suitable to give you insight into these two courses at least. I got admission in B.Sc in Applied Mathematics course and start taking classes in August. Back then they had a common MCQs-based test for all B.Sc programs but for the last two years, they are conducting separate entrance tests for each B.Sc course. Eligibility criteria are different for each program, but if you have more than 60% in your class 12th board, then there is no reason to worry about it. After attending classes for more than a month in the B.Sc program, my name finds a place in the 9th or 10th admission list of B.Tech in the month of October. I left the B.Sc and choose to pursue a career in B.Tech in Civil Engineering. To take admission in the B.Tech course of JMI you have to clear JEE Mains.

Talking of the professors, a large number of them are either IIT’s graduates or have pursued some level of education there. They are very friendly, you can call them or message them anytime you want for any clarification or guidance that you need. They treat students like their own children, I mean it. In the first year, most of the teachers you will be getting will be guest faculty with little experience. Later in subsequent years experienced professors will be teaching you. Our classes are held from 9 am to 5 pm with a lunch break from 1 to 2 pm.

If we talk from the placement point of view, then, of course, computer science and electronics & communication students grab the highest paying packages which are on average Rs. 6 LPA (1 or 2 exceptional students even get more than Rs. 15 LPA). Students of mechanical, electrical and civil branches mainly go for GATE and ESE examinations. It is not that companies don’t recruit students of the above-mentioned branches, but the fact is that from a batch of 80 students they select only 3 to 5.

JMI has separate hostels for boys, girls, and its faculty members. Hostel fees are between 10k to 20k yearly! You read it right, under 20k you can spend one whole year in the NCR of India. Hostel food is not very much great, but it is ok. Chances of getting a hostel room are very less for male students. Factors that affect your chances of getting into the hostel are your hometown distance, family income, in which year you are in, grades, etc. Each hostel has multiple security guards at the gates 24x7, the playground, and the mess. One boy hostel even has a gym for students.

Its campus spans over 254 acres (103 hectares). It has dozens of separate buildings for each faculty and in some cases for each department. You will find more trees here than students. Some of the classrooms are air-conditioned, others are not. The central library of the campus has a massive collection of more than 400k artifacts including books, manuscripts, microfilms, etc. Most of the resources of the library can be accessed online through JMI’s website. It has a separate library and a reading room for the engineering students. We have a whole separate building of four floors for labs. We have two auditoriums, namely the Ansari auditorium which hosts campus-level events and can accommodate around 1000 people at a time, the second one is the Engineering auditorium, a smaller one for department-level functions. We have over a dozen canteens spanning to every corner of the campus offering a wide variety of foods at an affordable range of price. You can enjoy a veg thali with 4 chapattis for 30 INR of chicken biryani for 50 INR. Its sports complex has a standard level of a playground for cricket, badminton, table tennis, football, volleyball, basketball, lawn tennis and even has a world-class gym with more than 10 treadmills. It has hosted University Cricket Championship in 2013. It has a hospital within the campus to meet the medical needs of the students and staff members free of cost.

The best part of JMI is its affordable education. You can finish your B.Tech of four years by just paying under 40,000 INR tuition fee, for example. There are numerous scholarships too that you can apply for, but the condition is that your parents should not have a government job and you have to maintain good grades. Almost every department has its own club. Dozens of fests are organized in the months of February and March. You have a freshers party, farewells, fests, sports competitions going around throughout the year to participate and show your skills to the audience. You have a business club, dancing club, singing club, writing club, Xtacy, Enactus, etc. to join and develop your skills.