VITAL STATISTICS

WHAT IS IT? An engineering and management school. WHO’S THE BOSS? Chairman Satish Sharma. HOW TO GET IN? You can get into the engineering courses either through the WBJEE or AIEEE. For the management course, you must take the MAT or the JEMAT and for MCA you will have to take the JECA test. For BBA and BCA, it is the WBUT-conducted entrance test. WHERE TO STAY? BCET has got three hostels that accommodate 1000 students. HOW CHEAP IS IT? The course fee Rs 31,400 and hostel charges are Rs 22,000 per annum. WHERE IS IT? Shahid Kumar Banerjee Sarani, Bidhan Nagar, Durgapur. Ph: 0343-2533189-90. E-mail: skset_dgp@rediffmail.com Website: www.bcetdgp.ac.in.

When the Bengal College of Engineering and Technology (BCET) started in 2002, it had a tough job at hand? competing with the National Institute of Technology, (previously REC-Durgapur). It has done so reasonably well and is now counted among the better private engineering colleges in the state.

Set up by S.K. Sharma, an entrepreneur, it is one of the three engineering colleges located in Durgapur. According to the authorities, the aim was to provide more seats for students from the state who struggle to get into private colleges in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. ?I have seen how our youngsters and their parents are made to run from pillar to post, to get admission. Not to speak of the huge amount of money they have to spend. I realised we needed more technical institutes to prevent this harassment and decided on the project,? says Sharma who is the chairman of the SKS Trust that runs the college.

Sprawling campus

He was encouraged by local people and supported by political leaders who were eager to set up the college in Durgapur. ?Everything went very smoothly. I faced no problem in acquiring land or in completing the other formalities which are a hassle. The higher education ministry went out of its way to help us,? Sharma recalls. Construction was completed in a record nine months and that included the three main buildings, an auditorium and a workshop. They are spread across a sprawling 22-acre campus in the heart of the town.

The buildings are nondescript but spacious. They are separated by gardens and a huge field, which is sadly devoid of grass thanks to the annual sports meet held recently. Construction work is still on and you will chance upon building materials at several corners of the campus that gives it a shabby look. These will soon be removed, the authorities assure you.

Over the last four years, the college has augmented its facilities. It already has two computerised libraries with over 9000 books, seven computer labs with 30 computers each and 20 electronics labs with state-of-the-art equipment. The biotechnology department has eight labs and a language lab has been introduced recently to help students brush up their spoken English skills.

Third and fourth year students have round-the-clock access to the Internet right from their hostel rooms. Even laptops are used in class. ?Our aim is to provide the best facilities. But we also make sure that technology is not over-used and students get the chance to interact with teachers,? says senior teacher Prof. M.K. Das.

Courses offered

BCET offers computer science and engineering, electronics and communication engineering, electrical and electronics engineering, IT, applied electronics and instrumentation and biotechnology. It also has three-year courses in MBA, BBA, MCA and BCA.

A note of caution, however, comes from the chairman himself. If the fees are not revised by the end of this year it could be difficult to maintain the facilities let alone upgrade them, Sharma points out. ?Running an institution of this size is an expensive proposition. With the present fee structure it may not be possible to implement the plans that we have. We are not ready to compromise on our standards so let?s hope the government raises the ceiling on charges,? he says. BECT plans to introduce BPharma, hospital management and mechanical engineering in the years to come.

Some may find it a little strange that students have to wear uniforms at the college. A dress code helps to maintain discipline, explains registrar Dr J.P. Gupta. Students don?t seem to mind. Everybody is excited about the campus placements as the first batch is passing out this year. In terms of numbers, it hasn?t been very impressive so far. But the good news is that several big companies like IBM and Wipro have visited the campus. ?Unfortunately, more than 50 per cent of the jobs on offer are from ITES companies. That is the general trend so it?s not our fault,? says a teacher.

Campus life

Campus life is vibrant. Despite the uniform, BCET is not a school. They have cultural programs, sports meets and fests throughout the year. Last week, students had a ?wild time at the fest where Bangla band Fossils played some great music?. Every afternoon, the canteen bursts at the seams. ?They serve brilliant fish curry and samosas. Our teachers enjoy the fare as well,? says third-year biotechnology student Aishwarya Bhattacharjee. Durgapur hasn?t got much to offer in terms of entertainment. ?So, we have to stick to the occasional movie. But going out in groups is great fun,? says Rajdeep Sarkar, his classmate. And the best part of studying at the college, according to IT student Neeraj Upadhyay, are the teachers. ?They are always there to help you out,? he says.

Prithvijit Mitra