Vital Statistics

• WHAT IS IT? A private engineering college. • WHO’S THE BOSS? C.M. Ibrahim is the chairman. • HOW CHEAP IS IT? You have to pay a tuition fee of Rs one lakh per annum. • HOW ABOUT JOBS? The college has a placement cell and organises campus recruitment. • WHERE TO STAY? There are three separate hostels for boys and girls. • WHERE IS IT? HKBK College of Engineering, S No 22/1, Nagawara, Bangalore 560045. Phone: 080 2544 1722 / 3690 / 3744 / 3698. Website: www.hkbkeducation.org

There are perhaps as many private engineering colleges in Bangalore as there are IT companies in the city. But what sets HKBK College of Engineering apart is its top-end infrastructure, says the institute?s administration head, Abdul Hameed.

?The college has 10 computer labs and a digital library comprising books, journals and newspapers. There are six labs dedicated to the electronics and communication engineering department alone,? says Hameed. The college is located on a 14-acre campus in the heart of the city.

Set up in 1997, HKBK College of Engineering ranks among the top 15 private engineering institutes in Karnataka, says Hameed. The college is affiliated to the Visveswaraiah Technological University (VTU), Belgaum, and is recognised by the All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi. HKBK offers BE courses in six fields ? computer science and engineering, information science and engineering, electronics and communication engineering, mechanical engineering and medical electronics. ?This year, the institute will launch an MBA programme as well,? adds Hameed.

Discipline counts

HKBK believes strict discipline is essential to achieve success. Eighty-five per cent attendance is compulsory for all students. ?The teachers are over-dedicated. If students don?t keep regular attendance, they report it to their parents,? says Maria Vidya Kala, a final-year electronics and communication engineering student.

The institute also offers tutorial and extra coaching classes to weak students. ?The college has a support programme for weak students, besides regular merit scholarships and financial aid for students coming from economically weaker sections,? says Hameed.

Discipline has produced results. ?Not a single student has failed in the past three years,? says Hameed. About 250 students graduate from HKBK every year.

Help in career planning

Apart from academics, the college focuses on overall personality development. ?The institute runs regular personality development programmes. Besides, a team of in-house HR professionals looks after the training, counselling, personality development and placement of students,? says Hameed.

Keeping placements in mind, the HR department focuses on pre-placement technical and non-technical training, motivation and counselling of students. ?This ensures that they face interviews and aptitude tests with confidence,? says Hameed. The institute has also devised programmes to develop students? communication skills. ?Mock tests and group discussions are conducted regularly,? says Hameed.

Beyond academics

Students are also taught to keep in mind their social commitments. ?We organise blood donation camps. Recently, our students collected huge sums for tsunami victims,? says Hameed. Insofar as extra-curricular activities are concerned, HKBK encourages sports and its teams have participated in several city and state level sports meets.

Placement pool

Hameed says HKBK follows a one-of-a-kind placement procedure. ?We have a pool placement system. We invite 10 to 20 colleges to our campus, so that the companies have a wide array of students to pick from,? he says. The college has held pool placement programmes for several IT majors.

Hameed says over 50 companies have already visited HKBK for campus recruitment this year.

Varuna Verma

OLD MEMORIES

Relton Alexander, associate developer, Aztec Software, on his HKBK days

HKBK SCORES OVER other private engineering colleges because of its well-equipped laboratories and excellent infrastructure. During my four years in the college, I found that a good lab goes a long way in honing technical skills.

The student-teacher interaction level is quite high. We were almost like friends with our professors. Also, they were accessible all the time. The college had made it mandatory for all professors to provide their mobile phone numbers to students. We could call them anytime to clarify doubts.

The college has a pro-active HR department that conducts training programmes to improve communication skills and excel in aptitude tests. This prepared us to face job interviews with greater confidence.

As told to Varuna Verma