MCKV Institute of Engineering was established in 1999 in Howrah as a self-financing engineering college. It was founded by a group of industrialists, educationists and social workers under the leadership of S.S. Kejriwal, an industrialist with a vision to impart quality technical education. Thirteen years down the line, MCKV is now a National Board of Accreditation institute. It has also received ISO 9001:2008 certificate.

The institute imparts knowledge in six branches of engineering at the undergraduate level. They are mechanical, electronics and communication, electrical, computer science, information technology, and automobile. The institute also offers masters degrees in electronics and communication, computer science, and automotive technology, besides a three-year course in master of computer application (MCA). The college is planning to introduce doctoral programmes in engineering disciplines soon. MCKV is the first institute under the West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT) to introduce automobile engineering in both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Admission is based on Plus Two and engineering entrance exam results. Diploma holders can get direct admission to the third semester of BTech after clearing the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination for Lateral Entry. Students who want to join MTech, need to pass the common entrance examination conducted by WBUT. The BTech course costs about Rs 70,000 a year and MTech about Rs 90,000 a year. For MCA courses, the tuition fee is Rs 80,000 per year.

Spread over 2.5 acres, the college has around 1,600 students. There are two hostels for boys with total capacity of 120 students and one hostel for girls, which can accommodate 80.

The college has a well-stocked library and a state-of-the-art English communication lab and project lab, a gym and a meditation centre. “Students are attracted to our college due to our excellent academic results and many placements in top-notch IT companies,” says Tirthankar Datta, vice-principal, MCKV. The students have made the institute proud by winning awards at various national-level project competitions. They have also presented research papers in international and national conferences.

The institute plans to introduce a masters degree in electronics and communication engineering with specialisation in VLSI and embedded system from the next academic year. “We have sent the proposal to WBUT and All India Council for Technical Education for approval,” says Datta.

The institute has received Rs 4 crore from the World Bank to enhance the quality of technical education. It plans to develop several new laboratories for the new postgraduate programmes along with one interdisciplinary project laboratory to facilitate exposure to new technology.

“Students are motivated to participate in various electronics-based system design in analog and digital circuit domain. During their second year, a three-day hands-on workshop on electronics circuit design is organised to give them exposure to analog-based discrete components and PCB circuit design. Again, during the beginning of the third year, the advanced version of the same workshop is organised,” adds Datta. Every year, an in-house innovative project design competition called Technotica is organised. The best projects are sent to various national level project competitions. But it’s not all work. Students also participate in various extracurricular activities.

The students are all praise for the infrastructure of the institute. “Our department has an engine-testing lab where we can check fuel efficiency and performance of an engine,” says third-year automobile engineering student Madhusudan Khabra.

MCKV’s placement record has accelerated from 50 per cent to 80 per cent, an increase of 30 per cent in five years though this year it is not so good because of the recession.

The companies which usually recruit from the institute include Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Siemens, Wipro, EMC, Cognizant, Infosys, Ericsson, Sankalp Semiconductor, Amdocs, Accenture, Tata Elxsi, Tech Mahindra, Teradata, Volvo-Eicher, Godrej & Boyce, Mahindra & Mahindra, L&T, Huawei, Tata Motors and Reliance Engineering, among others.

“I loved every moment there. I got campus placement in Cognizant Technologies. Within three years of passing out, I was able to open my own software development company in Calcutta,” says Sreyansh Jain, an information technology student of the 2006 batch.

Vital Statistics

WHAT IS IT? A private engineering institute in Howrah

WHO’S THE BOSS? Parasar Bandopadhyay is the principal

Where is it? 243, G.T. Road (N), Liluah, Howrah-711204, Phone: 26549315 / 17
Website: www.mckvie.edu.in

Pros
Great infrastructure, good placements

CONS
Students get less exposure to industrial training due to fewer industries in the region, inadequate research funds

SHARMISTHA DAS