At an engineering institution of national fame, you expect to find geeks who have time for little else but studies. However, things are different at the Delhi Technological University, formerly the Delhi College of Engineering.
The DTU has students who play the guitar at a rock show as deftly as they make unmanned aerial vehicles. Students rehearsing plays at Wind Point — a hangout place where the breeze blows round-the-clock — also work on innovations in labs.
Famous for:
Campus placements here are good. The average pay package offered last year was Rs 5.25 lakh.
Also, DTU’s state-of-the-art research facilities have fetched industry projects and tie-ups with foreign universities of note.
The DTU is one of the very few universities in India that made self-designed unmanned vehicles in all three categories — ground, underwater and aerial — displayed at a competition in the US.
Programmes:
BE (electronics and communication, computer, electrical, mechanical, civil, production and industrial, environment, polymer science and chemical, information technology, biotechnology); BTech (civil, electrical, electronics and communication and mechanical); MBA; ME (civil, electrical, electronics and communication, mechanical, applied chemistry, computer, biotechnology, genomics and bioinformatics, polymer technology); MSc in applied physics (part time) and a range of PhD programmes.
Extra-curricular activities:
The DTU has three music bands and one dramatics society, Pratibimb. Chirag Garg, a final-year student of BTech (chemical engineering) has performed at eight cultural festivals. “I would give 10 on 10 to the DTU in extra-curricular (activities),” says Rochak Chadha, a third-year student of BTech (electronics and communications) who runs a robotics club on the campus. Garg adds, “We do theatre with a technical bent of mind. We give mathematical names to our plays. Our last production was named 1729, known as the Ramanujan number.”
Infrastructure:
The university has a Centre of Relevance and Excellence (CORE) in fibre optics and optical communication, started by the government’s Technology Information and Forecasting Assessment Council. The campus also houses a biodiesel lab, an Intel Planet Lab and a knowledge park.
The hostels accommodate 1,100 male and 250 female students. Students have a couple of hangout zones — the Open Air Theatre and the Wind Point.
Extra-curricular activities:
The DTU has three music bands and one dramatics society, Pratibimb. Chirag Garg, a final-year student of BTech (chemical engineering) has performed at eight cultural festivals. “I would give 10 on 10 to the DTU in extra-curricular (activities),” says Rochak Chadha, a third-year student of BTech (electronics and communications) who runs a robotics club on the campus. Garg adds, “We do theatre with a technical bent of mind. We give mathematical names to our plays. Our last production was named 1729, known as the Ramanujan number.”
Infrastructure:
The university has a Centre of Relevance and Excellence (CORE) in fibre optics and optical communication, started by the government’s Technology Information and Forecasting Assessment Council. The campus also houses a biodiesel lab, an Intel Planet Lab and a knowledge park.
The hostels accommodate 1,100 male and 250 female students. Students have a couple of hangout zones — the Open Air Theatre and the Wind Point.
Found on campus:
“Students with a knack for research are encouraged to innovate during graduation,” says S Shyam, a third-year BTech student, who co-organises the inter-college DTU E-summit, where engineering students submit business ideas to be judged by industry experts.
Famous alumni:
Vinod Dham, known as the father of Pentium; Raj Soin, businessman in the US; Karnail Singh, JCP, Delhi Police.
Wishlist
“As the number of students has increased, the infrastructure should also expand. The library and hostels should accommodate more people,” says a BTech student
Factfile
The Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) was established in 1940 as the Delhi Polytechnic. It offered diploma and certificate courses not only in engineering but also in commerce, architecture and arts. In 1952, it was affiliated to the Delhi University and started BE programmes. In 1963, the polytechnic made way for an institution focused only on engineering and technology. Two years later, Delhi Polytechnic was renamed DCE. This year, DCE became a deemed university