Academy of Technology B.Tech Review By Anubhab Biswas

Academy of Technology (shortened to AoT) is a private engineering college situated by the side of the part of the GT Road that runs through Adisaptagram in Hooghly district in West Bengal. It has a compact but beautiful campus, replete with a pool, two grounds for football/cricket and volleyball (though not big), a basketball court and a gymnasium besides the essential stuff like a decent canteen and an auditorium (the latter is quite small in its capacity). It also has the facilities of a hostel. The courses provided are B.Tech in streams like CSE, ECE, EE, ME and – starting this year – Computer Science and Business Management (CSBS) and Electrical & Electronics Engineering (EEE), replacing IT and AEIE (Applied Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering) respectively, which were taught till last year. Two postgraduate courses are also offered – MCA and MBA. The college is affiliated MAKAUT and its programmes are approved by the AICTE.

The admission fees for 2020 are Rs. 59,000/- for admission through general category and Rs. 24,000/- through TFW. This fee is a consequence of some discount being given for the ongoing pandemic – the full fee breakdown can be found at the college website. Point to be noted here is that the tuition fee mentioned on the website for the rest of the semesters is not the only money to be paid – for even semesters (that is, 2nd, 4th, 6th), an additional Rs. 10,000/- is charged for job training purposes and Rs. 1,200/- for the college fest is to be paid for all four even semesters (both of these additional payments are mandatory)

I joined the Electrical Engineering (EE) department of AOT in 2018. My admission was through my score in the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE), although a part of the seats is filled through the score in JEE Mains as well. Ten per cent of the seats are filled through the management quota following state guidelines. The total number of seats in EE as of now is 60, cutting down from 120 which was in place till last year (by contrast, there has been a spike in the number of seats available for ECE and CSE – from 120 to 180 as of now. All the other courses have 60 seats Joining EE, to be honest, was the last option I had.

I wanted either ECE or CSE but my score didn’t allow me to. But it hasn’t been that bad a ride as far as my interests are concerned. Through the entire first year, the subjects – typical of most other engineering colleges – are the same for all B.Tech courses and include bits of subjects from every course. The core subjects are taught starting with the third semester. Last SEM, we had subjects like Electrical Machines and Power Plant Engineering which were interesting enough. In all fairness, the syllabus is outdated in parts, but we are also taught computer science subjects like JAVA and Algo so that we don’t miss out when sitting for interviews. Our department has the third highest placement in the college, as I have expanded on in the placement review below.

There are a total of 106 professors in the college, with some of them having been professors at IITs as well. Look, if I’m being honest – and as is the case with just about every third tier college – most of the time you will not be listening to the teacher, exceptions arising in only a few handful cases. The Maths department has a pretty nice faculty. And from what I have seen till now, our department also has a good batch of professors who guide students enough to clear concepts, as well as trading the rote-learning method for fun, interactive and fresh methods of teaching. You will find them bringing a projector in class if things can be better explained that way.

On average, the professors in AOT have been working in the college for ten years, as a result of which all issues that arise get dealt with an experienced hand. As far as PhD studies are concerned, 30 regular faculty members are PhDs and 13 assistant professors are pursuing PhD, so the employment prospects aren’t bad either. The placement faculty also handles students with utmost care (will be expanded on in the placement reviews section). Dr. Dilip Bhattacharya – an ex-IIT faculty - is the Director of AOT.

The placement scenario is actually quite good when compared with other third-tier colleges, keeping in mind the tuition and other fees. This year, for example, an upwards of 95 per cent of the students have been placed, comparable with last year’s (this - given the covid 19 situation - is pretty hopeful I would say). In EE, 62 placement offers came for a student strength of 86, resulting in 72 per cent placement overall. One student from EE has been hired by Amazon out of a total of four; the other three being from ECE. The highest package offered to a student this year is Rs. 8 LPA while the lowest being Rs. 3.65 LPA.

The major recruiters from AOT are TCS, WIPRO, Cognizant, Capgemini, and Cyient. This year the college has been awarded with a Certificate of Appreciation from TCS for having maintained a good collaboration track over the years. In 2020, the major recruiters for EE have been TCS and Cognizant, with ITC Infotech close behind. A few have been hired by MPhasis, Kreeti Technologies and Mindtree as well.

The placement cell does a pretty fine job of training the students for interviews: English classes are given in the beginning, followed by aptitude and coding classes in later years. Needless to say, students get adept at the thing.

There are two separate in campus hostels for boys and girls. The boys hostel has a capacity of 250 and the girls hostel has a capacity of 130 students. At the time of admission, the fee required is Rs. 30,000. This is followed by a payment of Rs. 12,000/- every semester. The hostel is decent. It is moderately spacious. All hostelites are needed to take up the hostel mess membership. The food, as I have heard, is average.

As per tradition, there’s an annual bonfire party and cricket competition for hostel members. There’s a time limit for how long students can stay outside the hostel (it was 7.30 PM at night till last year). For hostelites, however, there’s a higher percentage of mandatory attendance – they have to attend eighty per cent of the classes instead of the 75 per cent required for day scholars. Most hostelites are also chosen for various event duties in the college around the year – from managing fresher’s parties to helping in puja celebrations and the college fest. The hostel community is kind and helpful. No day scholar can stay for the night at a hostel room, of course, but it can be attempted with caution. Ragging does not take place, but fresher are required to go through giving ‘intros’ to their seniors as is the fashion everywhere else.

The AOT campus is spread over 10.66 acres of land. There are 4 blocks to accommodate the departments – The A block is for the first year students and post grads, B block is for the EE and AEIE departments and lies attached to A block, the D block is for CSE and IT, and the E block for ECE and ME (Note that the college is being renovated which might lead to a change in all of these after the pandemic). The auditorium is situated in the D block, and the gymnasium beside it. There are laboratories with adequate instruments, although in quite a few cases the instruments don’t seem to work all that well. Also, some of these labs and classrooms get too hot to stay in during the summer, especially in the E block.

A library is situated on one end of the A block. It has a pretty good collection of academic books, along with a reading room that’s quite large and quiet. There’s also the facility of a digital library but no one really seems to know how to get access and thus no one cares. A mechanical workshop is situated in a different building, which is the laboratory for the mechanical workshop subjects. Next to it is the administrative building. Beside it lie the sports ground, while the basketball court lies in front of the canteen. The computer labs and auditorium are air conditioned.

The campus life in the college is pretty limited to be honest. There are no cultural or science clubs. Around the time of the fest, however, the college comes to life with students showcasing their talents in various extra-curricular activities. Events like making robots and drones etc. can gain you an entry to higher level competitions. There are other events as well, including dance, music, sports, quizzes, coding etc. The fest takes place over two days, while these events begin a week beforehand. On the first day of the fest, students take the stage, while the second day is reserved for celebrities. The entire fest is an experience like no other. A fresher’s party is also held a couple of months after the first semester have begun, organised by second year students. That’s a fun thing as well.

Certain workshops and seminars are also held in a year where trained professionals visit to teach about subjects like IOT, AI, etc. Apart from these, there’s little else that goes on in the campus. Being situated by the highway in what is practically a village, there’s not a lot to explore beyond the college gates either. The remote placement and odd transportation services make it a cumbersome experience to go to the cities of Kalyani or Sealdah.