Ankit Mathanker's Review On ISM Dhanbad - Indian Institute Of Technology - [IITISM], Dhanbad

Few good remarks about IIT Dhanbad are that, it is old and prestigious and has its own renowned reputation. It stands as number one college for earth science in India. Well few bad things about IIT Dhanbad is its administration is weak and quite ineffective, further as it recently got the IIT tag so it will still need time to establishment its name in field of core branches.

I cracked IIT-JEE exam in year 2013. I prepared for this examination during 2011-2013 along with my 11-12 standards at Kota, which is popular and is hub for IIT-JEE coaching. I scored a total of 186 marks in JEE mains and 127 marks in JEE advance. My overall rank was 2813 (OBC). The very first reason to join this college was actually my JEE rank. I could have joined few old IIT's too with this rank but, I don't want to compromise with my field of interest. It’s always better to struck to your interest. And finally I am about to complete my Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from IIT(ISM) Dhanbad.

Well the course curriculum is always well defined in all of the IIT’s. Although, I will rate it 8/10 points. When I am asked to assess the course curriculum I mainly focus on it based on the view of students who are more towards the goal of taking masters of PhD in future in the same course. I am one of them, so for me I can say there are many flaws in the current course structure. Firstly, the course structure for Chemical branch is still in process of modification according to the current need. We made many changes in the course structure to strengthen it. Secondly, the progression of course structure right now is pretty good, starting with the basics and leading to major subjects. One you have completed your 2 year, and if you are having an overall grade point average above 7.00 you will automatically be allotted with an honours degree in same field, apart from that you also have an opportunity to pursue a minor degree in other branch. Now, from point of view of a person who wants to do GATE after B.Tech and want to join PSU’s a major in chemical engineering will provide him with all the sufficient knowledge to clear GATE exam and work on their future. But one who by interest want to go for masters and PhD need to focus on honours too. Because courses covered in honours plays a very important role when applying outside India. Foreign universities do seek few Humanities and Social Science courses with allotted credits and also few economics and related courses to be there in you degree. The course structure of B.Tech Chemical Engineering covers them in all required details. Apart from this, the practical’s and projects go hand on hand with regular classes.

In perspective of chemical engineering department, the department itself don't provide with any internship, although it do encourage students to apply by themselves. This year two of the department students did their summer internships in Canada and United Kingdom both were fully sponsored by the host institute and also few students got selected for internship programme offered by Indian Academy of Science and did their internship at top IIT's. The institute do attract many companies which offer internship during summer, but it is up to you and your performance to secure your position there.

When we talk about the placement and job opportunities, then the university just because of the IIT tag attracts many companies. The major companies that visit for placement round are in field of coding, software development and analytics. The companies are mainly open to all and everyone is eligible to try their luck to get placed. Although being a new department, the department of chemical engineering do face a bit difficulty to attract major companies in its core sector. Also the packages offered by companies visiting specifically for core chemical are not to the mark of IIT level. The job opportunities for chemical engineering are very vast and diverse. One with bachelors in chemical engineering is eligible to apply for FMCG sector i.e. dealing all types of manufacturing work. The few major sectors in which chemical graduates can apply is Oil refinery, fertilizers, cement industries, software development, modelling and simulation and research and development. The major portion of these need an additional qualification and that is GATE result. Once you get the gate results you are eligible to apply to all maha-ratnas, nav-ratnas that means major oil, fertilizers and cement industries. In addition GATE candidates from chemical engineering also do apply for DRDO and ISRO. Each year post of these research sectors remains empty due to shortage of applications. Each year almost 40 percent of present strength of final years graduating from chemical engineering at IIT Dhanbad gets placed through GATE, and joins firms like Oil and Natural Gas Corporations, Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited. While 20 percent do prefer to do masters and PhD.

IIT Dhanbad organises many fest throughout the year. It includes the techno-management fest called Concetto, Intra college cultural fest named as Pratibimb, Inter college sports fest called Parakram, annual sports fest, annual flower show, alumni meet called Basant and finally and end of term the inter college cultural fest goes by the name Srijan. Concetto is one of the main technical fest conducts many events from various societies, conducting many workshops, guest lectures, competitive events. The main attraction during is the events and workshops organised by robotics society. I personally like the robo-war most. Parakram invites many nearby colleges to take part in various sports events ranging from athletics events to basketball, cricket, volleyball and football. The sports fest goes on for 3 days and 2 nights. Basant invites alumni from 2 and 50 years old batches to visit college and experience all the old memories. Apart from this many discussions are also conducted to solve issues of institute in which alumni can contribute, further musical bands are also called all over from India to celebrated on last night of Basant. Srijan is the main attraction of whole year. It is the second greatest cultural fest organised in east India after IIT Kgp. The main attraction is avalanche that is the competition of various rock bands and their mind bobbling performances. Also on every evening of Srijan band from all over the world and singers from Bollywood are called to perform and entertain. It is the only event during which you can observe every face of college outside enjoying different kinds of events and performances.

Those who got enrolled in IIT Dhanbad by year 2015 have to pay fee according to the rules of ISM which is quite feasible. But new batches have to pay fees as par the regulations of IIT. The tution fee for each semester is roughly near 1,00,000 per semester for new inmates. The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes gets complete tuition fee waiver. The current students who got admitted by 2015 have to pay roughly 1, 00,000 per two semester, so the fee is just double today. Although, when we discuss about fee structure of IIT Dhanbad it is much all similar to all other IIT’s. The fee is very feasible in comparison to private colleges like Birla Institute of Technology, VIT and SRM University. New inmates have to submit fee receipt during the process of admission either in form of Demand Draft, Cheque or Online Transection. Later for each semester the fees is collected during last month of previous semester. Mostly students pay their fees in form of online transection through online SBI account facility provided by the Institute. If a student is unable to pay the fees during the allotted time interval without any prior information or application, he will be charged with a late fee depending on the case or number of days after which he is depositing. Many students also submit fees by taking loan from banks. The process getting student loan is quite easy especially if you are from IIT. In nut-shell the fees can be paid quite feasibly and can be managed in present education scenario.

The college do provide opportunities to apply for many scholarships. One of the major scholarship facilities available is for one who gets opportunity to present his or her work in international conferences. The college provides fund for the best paper shortlisted through its ISMMA fund and this fund covers the overall travel and accommodation of the author student going to present the paper on international level. The college also provide funds and scholarship in many other ways, like by supporting education by grants for lower cast students and prize money for top three students from each year of each branch.

The campus life at IIT Dhanbad is good. The first year students don’t have to worry about anything like ragging. The campus provides free space to students to perform other extra-curricular activities and do spend sufficiently on it. The girls to boys ratio at campus is poor, which is still a question in mind of administration. The end time of hostel entry is 11:30 pm for boys and 9:30 for girls. The campus side road is still used by the localities as a mode of transportation and campus administration is looking forward to overcome it. The students have opened many clubs and society for dance, dramatics, yoga, debate and literature. All these clubs runs under the governance of student society. Each year general election is conducted. Based on teachers opinions about candidates and student’s outstanding skills and performance in that field student committee team is formed which is responsible to maintain and manage these clubs and societies. Students from all years contribute their different role in the society and keeps society in progress. These societies also conduct online events and welcome participation on their online platforms. The Abhay dramatics club performs many plays throughout the year. The music society and dance society also organises events like Alive, in which they perform on the various songs that the club members have prepared. One can see a huge gathering of students who performs yoga and pranayama of different kind in Yoga club regularly. The societies and clubs are one of the best sources of recreation at IIT Dhanbad.

At IIT Dhanbad students need to share room with one roommate. There are in total 6 boy’s hostel and 5 girl’s hostel. The total strength of the college is roughly 6000. So to accommodate such big number the structure for room allotment defined by administration asks students to share room with a roommate. The names of the hostels are given based on precious stones, which goes well with the heritage of college. The boy’s hostels strength vary from hostel to hostel, Jasper and Amber are currently two giant hostel with total rooms near about 1000 accommodating a strength of 2000 each. The other boy’s hostels are Diamond, Sapphire, Topaz and Emerald each with strength of 500 students approximately. One new boy’s hostel is still under construction, going to finish by 2017 which will be of 15 floors and having strength of 2000 students or more. The rooms are pretty much same like other old IIT’s. With newly established girl’s hostel named as Rosaline, almost half of the female inmates gets easily accommodated in that particular hostel, while first year and PhD girls utilize Ruby and Opal hostel. Each hostel has their centralised mess system. The menu of food for each mess is pre-decided and is almost same for all messes. The mess serves three times in a day, which is breakfast, lunch and dinner. Each year inmates have to submit mess fee at the time of monsoon registration and submit the receipt at the time of room allotment. The food quality at IIT Dhanbad is poor as comparison to other IIT’s and even after many complaints from student side the quality is still same.

Well when it comes to Alumni network, I will say IIT (ISM) Dhanbad stands far ahead than other engineering colleges. ISM was established in 1926 resulting in vast amount of pass outs. Most of these alumni are serving at head positions of top firms in sector of mining, petroleum and in many businesses. Every year college organises fest for 50 year and 25 year old pass outs to keep them connected to college and to include them in well-being of the institute. If a present student is having any problem related to career and goals and if he wants to discuss it with an alumina in his field, they will surely welcome him with open arms.

Initially the exams were quite frustrating due to regular paper without any gaps, but with new IIT system both pattern and conducting of examination is greatly improved. Each department conducts practical exams at least one week before final semester exams. The practical and viva general takes one half of the day. The exams are organised on alternate days of week and the schedule of exam is provided well before first exam day. Students are provided with one week preparation time in advance before exams. All the exams are conducted in strict checking and any act of disobedience and disturbance during exams can result in suspension of respective student from exam hall. One of the major criteria to appear in exam is to fulfil the required 75% of attendance in each subject class. If the student fails to meet the requirement he is not allowed to appear in exam. The exam pattern gives equal weightage to both lectures and course materials. Each paper do contain 40% classroom discussion related questions giving chance to each student to clear exam and 60% is what finally decides the grades. After the exams are over final project presentation and grand viva of overall semester is conducted during winter semester, covering whole year project presentation and discussion and also viva related to all subject taught till date. Evaluation of marks is strict but transparent. Students are allowed to see their answer sheets few days after exams and all types of problems are entertained and once all marks are submitted results are announced within 10 days after it.

Once I got my IIT-JEE rank, I started consulting people who I thought are better in knowledge than me regarding admission procedure. Step1: I downloaded the admission brochure from JEE site and read from beginning to end twice. Step2: I shorted all my priorities in order branch of interest, university, Place university is located, and placement scenario. Step3: I now go through the cut-off list of various universities and shortlisted possibilities according to them. Step4: Apply; I applied the list of Branches and Colleges in my priority order in descending order. I kept all ambitious branches and universities at top and then moderate and at last the safe one. While arranging the order of branches I always gave priority to 4 year B.Tech course over 5 year Dual degree course. And I always gave priority to core branches over other. After few days I got shortlisted for Bachelor of Technology in Mineral Engineering at IIT Dhanbad. I went to the regional center Kanpur on due date and submitted all the required documents and confirmed my acceptance for the branch and university. Finally, I visited to the IIT Dhanbad one day before the due date of admission. Although, my admission was confirmed, but still need to do many formalities. From medical report, original document verification, internal shifting formalities, fees submission, and finally hostel allotment. Internal sliding is a very important factor to get a shift in branch of your choice and I used it wisely. After one month I again got a sliding up in my branch option during internal sliding and got allotted in Bachelors of technology in Chemical Engineering.

As I am final year student I am well aware of all the faculties that are presently serving at Chemical Engineering department at IIT(ISM) Dhanbad. The head of the department Professor I M Mishra is a very renowned professor, who is having a teaching experience of almost 30 years. He recently joined our department at HOD, before that he was a professor at IIT Roorkee. Apart from that there are three professors, one associate professor and six assistant professors at our department. Some of the professors have completed their Phd’s from IIT’s AND IISc and two of the professor have also done their post-doctoral from reputed foreign universities. Most of them have completed their Phd before joining department and few are working on it. Although, department still lacks with faculties, their qualifications and work experiences. The department lacks with proper faculties for every subject. Most of the major subjects are taught by the experienced professors only but the concepts of basic subjects taught in 2 year generally remain weak as they are taught by inexperienced assistant professors who have barely completed master from some universities. The department also conducts guest lectures by faculties from IIT Delhi and Kanpur to teach certain important topics in field of chemical engineering. Overall I will say the department do needs to hier new qualified and experienced professor not only to provide better teaching but also to attract handsome projects from government and renowned firms.