The Future Institute of Engineering and Management (FIEM) and Future Business School (FBS) were conceived and set up by Silajit Ghosh, director of FIEM, and Mousumi Ghosh, director of FBS. The institutes share a common campus, a few minutes away from Sonarpur railway station and easily accessible from Kavi Nazrul metro station on the outskirts of Calcutta.

FIEM is much sought after for engineering and management studies outside the city premises. It has a large number of students from other eastern states like Tripura, Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam and Orissa. It came into being in 2002 with just 240 students in four streams — electrical engineering, computer science and engineering, applied electronics and instrumentation engineering, and electronics and communication engineering. Mechanical engineering and information technology were later introduced. Today, the institute has over 2,400 students. Management courses were begun in 2004-06.

The demand for business programmes grew and in 2006, FBS was established under the aegis of the Future group. “It began with 60 seats in a section. The requirement was such that we now have two sections of 60 students in each, plus those registered for management studies in FIEM,” says Shamita Mukherjee, assistant professor, FBS.

Approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and affiliated to the West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT), FBS offers dual specialisation in marketing, finance, human resources and systems. A student can choose one major and one minor stream in the final year. “To be eligible, one has to secure 50 per cent in graduation and clear the Management Aptitude Test,” informs S.C. Bhattacharyya, director-management studies, FIEM. For admission to FIEM, one has to clear the joint entrance exam. The two-year MBA at FBS costs Rs 4,50,000 while the four-year BTech at FIEM costs Rs 2,80,000.

“We have separate full-time faculty for FIEM and FBS. Guest lecturers with industry experience are also invited,” says Bhattacharyya. While the curriculum is for WBUT to revise, “we do a lot of things outside the syllabus to enhance the students’ analytical skills and make them industry ready,” he adds.

One such endeavour is the language and communication class. Both FIEM and FBS have high-tech language labs to help the students with communication skills. FBS also runs a film club in association with S.V. Raman, programme consultant of the Victoria Memorial Hall. “Through this, we try to sensitise the students about social and environment issues. Feature films and documentaries are screened after which they are encouraged to debate on them. Sometimes they are asked to add dialogues to silent films,” says Raman.

“For an MBA student, wide angled learning is a must,” says Mousumi Ghosh. “We have staged several corporate plays. Currently, we are planning some activity based on The Maruti Story by R.C. Bhargava.”

FBS also offers a programme in enterprise resource planning (ERP) to make the students corporate ready. Special attention is paid to the summer internship programme, held at the end of the first year. “Some firms come back to recruit those who might have performed well,” says Bhattacharyya. Campus recruitment starts by the end of the third semester. However, while most things are satisfactory, some students feel that seminars should be held more frequently.

Campus recruitment is a vigorous process. Says Irish Bhattacharya, among the first batch of engineering students of FIEM, “Companies like IBM, Tata Consultancy Services, Pepsi Co. and Usha Martin visited the campus for recruitment.”

“Two of four students in our batch who interned with Pepsi Co. were later recruited by the soft drink giant,” recalls Prakash Babu, an ex-student of FBS.

However, not everything is hunky dory. Abhishek Dutta, also of the first batch of FIEM, was recruited through campus placement, but did not finally join the firm because it wasn’t “good enough”. Samantak Bhadra, a fourth-year engineering student, has other fears. “We have heard that not everyone gets placed. Anything could be the issue — merit or percentage in higher secondary.” Placement is around 95 per cent.

What about the institute’s suburban location — does it pose a problem? Any reluctance in this regard dissipates as soon as one reaches the campus. The appearance of the institute is very much in keeping with the corporate culture that prevails within. With all the amenities for study and relaxation in place, few students worry about it not being within the city.

Faisal Qasim, a first-year student of MBA at FBS who hails from Jharkhand, says, “The institute does not yet have a hostel. But there are many lodging facilities nearby. Information on these is available at the institute.” Of course, the authorities run a check to see they are good. “We send students only to those whose quality satisfies us,” says Bhattacharyya.

As for commuting, it’s no difficulty, feel Anirban Chakraborty and Mridul Chakraborty. The Future group provides bus services to and from various parts of the city, they point out.

Vital Statistics

WHAT IS IT? An engineering-cum-management institute, and a B-school

WHO’S THE BOSS? Silajit Ghosh is the director of FIEM and Mousumi Ghosh of FBS

where is it? Sonarpur Station Road Calcutta-700150
Phone: (033) 24345640 / 9830088984
Website: www.fiemonline.org

PROS
Language lab, vibrant extra-curricular activities

CONS
Not many seminars, placement is 95 per cent.

Moumita Chakrabarti