From faculty quality and research culture to internships, flexibility, and peer learning, experts argue that students need to look beyond rankings and salary figures while making one of the biggest academic decisions of their lives.

India has more than 3,500 engineering colleges approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), making the admission process increasingly complex for students navigating thousands of programmes across IITs, NITs, IIITs, state universities, and private institutions.

“A good engineering college today is not defined by buildings, brochures, or even rankings alone. It is defined by what happens to students after they enter the campus,” said Professor V Ramgopal Rao, Group Vice-Chancellor of BITS Pilani and former Director of IIT Delhi.

“Do they become more curious? More confident? More capable of solving real problems?” he said, adding that institutions must help students develop adaptability, communication skills, and the ability to continuously learn.

According to Professor K Umamaheshwar Rao, director of NIT Rourkela and chairman of the Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB) 2025, a strong engineering institution must combine academic excellence with industry readiness.

“In the Indian context, a good engineering college is defined not only by academic excellence but also by its ability to prepare students for industry and society,” he said.

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For many students, however, the first instinct remains to compare rankings and placement data.

“I was initially only looking at NIRF ranks and average salary packages because that’s what everyone around me discussed,” said an engineering aspirant from Bengaluru, Karnataka. At first, I assumed the highest-ranked college would automatically be the best choice,” he said. “But after talking to seniors and looking at internship opportunities, faculty interaction and branch-specific outcomes, I realised that some lower-ranked institutions can actually offer a much better learning environment depending on what a student wants to pursue.”

Rankings matter – but only to a point

Experts cautioned students against treating rankings as the sole indicator of quality. While the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) has improved transparency and data orientation in higher education, they said rankings cannot fully capture the undergraduate learning experience.

Although NIRF rankings, released annually by the Ministry of Education, offer a structured assessment based on factors such as teaching quality, research, graduation outcomes, and perception, experts say they cannot fully capture the day-to-day undergraduate learning experience.

“A difference of 10 or 20 ranks between institutions may not mean much in practical terms,” Professor Ramgopal Rao said.

Students should instead evaluate factors such as faculty accessibility, curriculum flexibility, research exposure, peer learning environments, internships, and campus culture, he added.

The distinction between rankings and student preference is visible even among the IITs. While IIT Madras has topped the engineering category in the NIRF rankings for 10 consecutive years, IIT Bombay — particularly its Computer Science Engineering programme — continues to remain the preferred choice for a majority of top JEE Advanced rankers.

According to counselling data released by the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA), 73 of the top 100 JEE Advanced 2025 rankers opted for IIT Bombay. During the same period, six rankers opted for the NIRF-ranked 1 institute — it’s highest in the past five years — compared to just two in 2024.

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Mukesh G, a scientist at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Hyderabad, said rankings can sometimes create a misleading perception of undergraduate quality. “A college may rank high because of strong research output from senior faculty, while undergraduate teaching quality may not necessarily match that reputation,” he said.

Experts also noted that students are increasingly influenced by social media narratives, peer pressure, and online discussions while choosing institutions.

“One major mistake is focusing excessively on short-term perception rather than long-term learning,” Professor Ramgopal Rao said. “Students often chase trends, social media narratives, or isolated placement statistics without understanding the broader educational environment.”

AI is reshaping engineering education

Educators said the rise of artificial intelligence and rapidly changing technology cycles are transforming what students should expect from engineering education.

“Technology cycles are moving so fast that many tools students learn in their first year may become outdated before graduation,” Professor Ramgopal Rao said.

“The focus, therefore, has shifted from static knowledge to adaptability, interdisciplinary exposure, and problem-solving.” Industry today increasingly values graduates who can work across domains such as AI, electronics, sustainability, biology, design, and data science, he added.

Mukesh G argued that engineering institutions should function as “active learning hubs” rather than centres of rote learning. “A college that provides access to maker spaces or fab labs and encourages interdisciplinary learning is fundamentally superior to one that only focuses on standard classroom instruction,” he said.

Why placement figures can be misleading

Placement statistics continue to dominate admission discussions, particularly in branches such as Computer Science and emerging technology streams. But experts warned against evaluating institutions solely through salary packages.

“Engineering education is a 40-year career investment, not merely a first-job transaction,” Professor Ramgopal Rao said.

He noted that students should examine the nature of roles graduates receive, long-term alumni outcomes, research, and entrepreneurship opportunities, rather than focusing only on average salaries.

Mukesh G pointed out that salary figures themselves can sometimes be misleading because a small number of international offers may significantly inflate averages.

“Students should instead look at median salary, diversity of recruiters and the nature of roles being offered,” he said.

Professor K Umamaheshwar Rao added that technological disruption is rapidly changing employment patterns and institutions that build strong fundamentals and adaptability are more likely to remain relevant in the future.

For parents, too, the process has become increasingly complicated.

“As parents, we naturally want stability and good career prospects for our children,” said Priyanka Panchal from Ajmer, Rajasthan, whose daughter is preparing for engineering admissions this year. 

“A college is not only about jobs anymore. Mentorship, exposure and the learning ecosystem matter equally.”

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Parents, meanwhile, often worry about balancing financial investment with long-term outcomes. “We are willing to invest in education, but not blindly for a brand name,” said Mantu Pathak, a parent in Duliajan, Assam, whose son is pursuing BTech at a private deemed university in Chennai. “The difficult part is that families often understand the quality of teachers, mentorship and academic culture only after students spend some time on campus. Before admission, most people only have rankings, placements, and online reviews to rely on. But if a lesser-known college offers stronger faculty support and practical learning, that can sometimes matter more than a famous tag,” she added.

Internships, projects and peer learning

Experts repeatedly emphasised the growing importance of internships, undergraduate research, and project-based learning.

“Engineering is fundamentally about applying knowledge to solve real problems,” Professor Ramgopal Rao said. “Students understand concepts much more deeply when they build systems, work on real-world constraints, and experience failure during projects.”

Anindya Basu, Professor at NIT Rourkela and chairman of the local organising committee for CSAB 2025, said internships have become essential because industry needs cannot be fully integrated into classroom teaching.

“They bridge the gap between academic and real-world applications by providing practical exposure and skill development,” he said.

An alumnus of NIT Silchar who now works at a Bengaluru-based technology firm said the importance of institutional branding often reduces over time.

“When I joined engineering, I was very worried about whether a college brand alone would decide my future,” he said. But over four years, I realised internships, coding projects, networking and consistency mattered much more,” he said. “The college gives you a platform through peer groups, clubs, competitions, internships, and exposure to opportunities, but what you do with those opportunities matters more in the long run. Students from all kinds of colleges are building strong careers today if they keep learning, stay updated, and actively work on their skills outside the classroom as well.

Is the gap between tier-1 and tier-2 colleges narrowing?

Many educators believe the gap between elite and lesser-known institutions has narrowed in some areas because of online learning platforms, open-source tools, and greater access to educational resources.

“A motivated student today can learn almost anything from anywhere,” Professor Ramgopal Rao said. However, he noted that important differences still remain in terms of research infrastructure, faculty depth, peer ecosystem, and industry exposure.

At the same time, experts said students from smaller institutions increasingly have opportunities to demonstrate capability through coding platforms, internships, competitions, and startup ecosystems.

“Technology is democratising opportunity,” Professor Ramgopal Rao said. “What matters increasingly is not only where students study, but how actively they use the opportunities available to them.”

Ultimately, experts say students should evaluate engineering colleges not only through rankings or salary packages, but through the kind of learning environment they offer over four formative years.

“I studied at a state engineering college and initially worried that not having a big institutional tag would limit my opportunities,” said a Dibrugarh-born engineer who graduated from Assam Engineering College (AEC) Guwahati before working in Bengaluru’s technology sector and later moving to Australia. “But over time, I realised skills, consistency and the ability to keep learning mattered much more. Your college can give you a foundation, but what you build on top of it ultimately shapes your career.”

“Choose a place that will challenge you to grow continuously, not merely a place that looks impressive from the outside,” Professor Ramgopal Rao said.