Vice-president of Jaipur-based NIIT University Sunil Rai addresses the seminar at the Boring Road branch of the institute in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Students should choose a tech institution they take admission to only if it satisfies four essential features — good infrastructure, efficient faculty, up-to-date curriculum and its connections with the industry.

Sunil Rai, the vice-president of Jaipur-based NIIT University, had piece of advice for aspiring techocrats on Sunday. Rai was addressing a seminar on careers in engineering, organised by the Boring Road branch of the institute on its premises.

Enthusiastic students got an opportunity to interact with the varsity vice-president on various aspects of an engineering career. Rai told the students about different fields of engineering, how to choose the right field based on their interests and aptitude and the plethora of career opportunities available to engineers.

“According to the Nasscom-McKinsey perspective report, 2020, the Indian IT (information technology) industry is expected to grow more than three times and reach $225 billion by 2020. The sector continues to be one of the largest employers in the country, directly employing about 2.8 million professionals. Around 2,30,000 techies joined the industry in February this year. This is estimated to increase to 30 million job opportunities by 2020. India has the potential to emerge as one of the top three global IT innovation hubs in the near future if it focuses on value creation now,” said Rai.

He also discussed the different streams of engineering including maintenance, production, plant and design.

“Design engineering is the most popular stream today. Most budding techies opt for it. This is because the students of design engineering usually get a better package than their counterparts in other streams,” said the senior official of the university.

He added: “The industry connection of a particular institution is the first thing that a student should look for. It not only helps in the placement of the students but also provides them with a good exposure. Apart from it, students should try to find out if the institution has proper faculty. For tech colleges, the faculty should not only have teaching experience but also industrial experience.”

If they do, the teachers can help the students learn about recent technological advancement. “Besides these, an engineering college should also have good infrastructure. Instead of looking for a good college building or hostels, students should try to find out if the institution of their choice has proper laboratories. The curriculum that an institution follows is also very important. A student should take all these aspects into consideration before taking admission in an engineering college.”

Students who attended the seminar were very happy to receive the nuggets if wisdom.

One of them, Rahul Kumar, said: “The seminar was very educative. Rai cleared many doubts related to engineering courses.”