VIT University

VIT University or VIT, formerly called Vellore Engineering College, is an Indian institute of higher education and a deemed university under Section 3 of the UGC Act. Founded in 1984, as Vellore Engineering College, by Mr. G. Viswanathan, the institution offers 20 undergraduate, 34 postgraduate, four integrated and four research programs. It has campuses both at Vellore and Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. VIT has ranked as one of Top Private Universities in India by Careers 360 (Magazine) in 2015.^[1]

History

VIT was founded as Vellore Engineering College in July 1984 by Dr. G Viswanathan, a former parliamentarian and minister in the government of Tamil Nadu, with three undergraduate engineering courses — Civil, Mechanical, and Electronics & Communication.

The college was affiliated with Madras University. In 1999 Vellore Engineering College was awarded the ISO 9002 certificate for three years by Det Norske Veritas (DNV) of the Netherlands, making VEC the first educational institute in India to achieve this recognition. In June 2001 the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development conferred VEC as a ‘deemed university’ and the college became VIT University.

Accreditation

• The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), United Kingdom and the Energy Institute, United Kingdom have audited the teaching-learning processes at VIT and accredited the programs in 2004, with the highest validity of five years.
• VIT has been re-accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) with an 'A' grade.
• Programs at VIT are accredited by the Institution of Engineers, India (IEI). The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) of the US accredited the Civil, Mechanical, Information Technology, Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, Electronics & Communication and Electrical & Electronics Engineering programmes.^[2][3]

Recognition

• VIT was the first educational institution in India to be awarded International Organization for Standardization 9002 certificate for three years by the Det Norske Veritas (DNV) of Netherlands for management of the cultural festival 'Riviera' in 2011.^[4]
• VIT is the first educational institution to be honoured with the TVN-KIDAO-NIQR award instituted by the National Institute of Quality and Reliability (NIQR), for maintaining exceptional quality.
• VIT University was the first Indian engineering institution to get ABET accreditation for both civil and mechanical programs.^[2] VIT has also got ABET accreditation for its Bio Technology, Computer Science, Information Technology, Electronics & Communication Engineering and Electrical and Electronics Engineering programs since academic year 2012.^[5]

Admissions

Admission is conducted on a merit basis only, through an online entrance exam. VIT organises its own entrance exam, called the Vellore Institute of Technology Engineering Entrance Examination (VITEEE). 2014 saw over one lakh ninety-three thousand (one hundred ninety-three thousand) students appear for the entrance examination. The exam has been conducted online since 2013.^[6] VITEEE 2016 will be conducted from April 6 to April 17, 2016 in three sessions.^[7][8][9]

Admissions to postgraduate courses is done through a separate exam VITMEE held in the first week of June every year.

Academics

VIT offers academic programs in Engineering, Technology, Applied Sciences, and Management. It offers 20 undergraduate programs, 34 postgraduate, four integrated MS courses and four doctoral programs. VIT has consolidated its disciplines into 10 Schools of Study with the addition of the VIT Law School at its Chennai campus.^[10]

Research centers are part of the schools to encourage collaboration between the research and coursework areas and provide opportunity for coursework students to participate in research projects. The university organizes industrial workshops like Automotive Engineering, organized by ParaMek Technologies in GraVitas Fest.^[11]

The university is among the first in India to implement the Fully Flexible Credit System (FFCS) which gives the students flexibility to make their own time tables by choosing the subjects and the faculties under whose guidance they want to study. ^[12]

The institute follows a credit system for evaluating academic performance. The grade point average (GPA) is on a scale of 0 to 10. Courses are allotted credits according to their importance. Each academic year is divided into two semesters, and teaching programmes are organized around the credit system. Teaching includes lectures, tutorials, practicals, projects, seminars, dissertations, and field and industrial training. The grades are allotted on the basis of relative technique where class average and standard deviation is taken into account so as to ensure fair grades for all students regardless of different marks evaluators.

The CGPA is not the same as the American one. In India some credits might be awarded during Bachelor studies for co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, while during the Master programme this is not allowed.

Schools

Teaching at VIT is structured around nine schools listed below. A student is registered in one of these schools according to their field of study.^[13]

• School of Computing, Science & Engineering
• School of Bio Sciences & Technology
• School of Information Technology & Engineering
• School of Electrical Engineering
• School of Social Sciences & Languages
• School of Advanced Sciences
• School of Electronics Engineering
• School of Mechanical Engineering(SMEC)
• School of Civil and Chemical Engineering(SCALE)
• VIT Business School
• VIT Law School
• School of architecture

Research

VIT's research strength spans disciplines like CAD/CAM, Rapid Prototyping, Manufacturing, Product Design, Energy, Biomedical Research, Information Technology, Nanotechnology, Optoelectronics and Materials Engineering.

The research output of many educational institutions is steadily growing - as indicated in the recently released report of Scopus, an abstracting and indexing database that includes over 19,000 titles from more than 5,000 international publishers. While IIT-Madras, Chennai tops the list of institutions in the state with the highest number of research papers indexed by the database, VIT University is a close 2nd. On the nationwide level VIT University is ranked 4th, placing it ahead of IIT Delhi and Bombay, with Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore ranked first. ^[14]

Campuses

Vellore Campus

VIT has a lush green campus which spreads over 350 acres. It is divided in two by the Chennai–Bangalore railway line. The academic portion of the campus and the women's hostels are to the south of the railway tracks while the northern portion houses the men's hostels and the outdoor stadium. Both the parts are connected by three subways. The campus resembles a city, with lake, gardens, lawns, residential complexes, food courts, hair salons and wide roads. The campus has its own water supply and backup electricity supply along with shopping complexes to cater to the needs of residents.

VIT university Reviews ^[15]

Location

VIT is in the city of Vellore in India's southern state, Tamil Nadu, between Chennai and Bangalore. It is 130 km west of Chennai and 180 km east of Bangalore. The nearest airport is Chennai (two and half hours drive). Vellore-katpadi Junction is the nearest railway station, just 3 km from VIT campus and accessible by train and road from Chennai and Bengaluru. It is just 5 km from the Andhra Pradesh border and approximately 25 km from Chittoor.^[16]

Hostels

The men's hostel strength is about 15000. The hostel area includes an outdoor stadium, an olympic sized swimming pool, basketball courts, badminton courts, squash courts, tennis courts and an indoor stadium, where students can play table tennis and badminton. 18 hostels are on VIT campus. There are 15 men's hostels, which accommodate students in single-, two- and three-, four- and six-bedded rooms. AC and non-AC rooms are available in all categories allotted on the basis of merit.

The six women's hostels have room for 3200 students. Women students have access to gym facilities, swimming pool and a salon inside one of these hostel premises.

The hostels are named after pioneers in science, literature and peace.

Sports and activities

Its outdoor playgrounds and indoor courts are spread over a 20-acre area.^[17] Sporting facilities include an athletic track and field stadium, gym, basketball courts, tennis courts, two swimming pools (one is Olympic size), a football ground, two A.C. gymnasium, badminton court, and squash.

The campus is WiFi enabled.^[18]The campus has a good music scene and has a music room to encourage students to form bands and create music — everything from classical to heavy metal.

College festivals

Two main college fests are conducted in VIT: GRAVITAS and Riviera.

GRAVITAS is a techfest (technology oriented festival) conducted in August/September.

Riviera is a sports and cultural festival. According to organizers for Riviera 2011, it pulls more than 300 participants from over 20 colleges and universities. Rivera 2013 saw popular names like Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Sukhwinder Singh, Chiyaan Vikram, and many more. ParaMek Technologies from New Delhi conducted a workshop on Automotive Engineering during the fest which was attended by more than 450 students.^[19]

The most recent edition, Riviera 2015 from February 6-9 included the Swachh Bharat Marathon and a multi-cultural parade called Aikya.^[20] The performances by Bollywood playback singers Mohit Chauhan, Vasundhara Das, Benny Dayal, Suresh Peters and the popular fusion rock band Indian Ocean ^[21]during Riviera 2015, were attended by more than 20000 internal and external students. MTV VJ Bani J also had an interaction with the students during VIT's own Comic Con. The chief guests for the inaugural ceremony and valedictory ceremony were ace Indian cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth^[22] and Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor respectively.^[23]

Chennai campus

The Chennai campus is on the Vandalur-Kelambakkam road. The campus is known for its greenery and is called the Green Campus which spreads over 180 acres. It has an open-air auditorium called 'amphi-theater'. It has a library, ATM facilities, and food spots as Gazebo, Nescafe Point and others.

Chennai Campus

University sporting facilities include an athletic track, basketball courts, badminton court, tennis courts and a football ground. The campus is WiFi enabled. The campus has a music room and a dance room to encourage students to form dance groups and create music.

Location

The campus is midway between Vandalur Zoo and Kelambakkam in South Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is 30 km from Chennai International Airport and 42 km from Chennai Central Junction. It is accessible by Metro train and deluxe buses from Chennai Airport and Central Railway Junction. The nearest Metro Station is Vandalur Zoo, which is 9 km from the campus. The campus can be reached by MTC buses from Tambaram bound for Tiruporur. From Vandalur Zoo, van services are available.

Departments

Gender discrimination

Gender discrimination has been a common issue raised in universities across India.^[25] Some students have complained that VIT University has much more restrictive hostel rules for female students, compared to their male counterparts and regard this as an evidence of gender discrimination in VIT. University officials, however, maintain that stricter female hostel rules are a necessary safety precaution given the rise in crimes against women.^[26][27] University officials have also stated that, while they agree that men and women must be treated equally, they have at times been faced by irate parents who have insisted on stricter codes of conduct. Measured steps, however, are being taken to ensure that both genders are treated equally thus allowing both male and female students equal opportunities to access the university resources.

In October 2013, two female students were suspended after they helped to organize an online opinion survey of female VIT students, focusing on issues of female safety and inequality.^[28][29] Dr. Theodore Moallem, a VIT Professor who supported the students and filed a public petition in their defense,^[30] was simultaneously fired from the university.^[31][32] Less than 10% of the female students living in VIT's female hostel took part in the survey, only after knowing that their identity would not be revealed. Of those who did participate, roughly 84% of respondents indicated that they were dissuaded "from speaking out publicly against VIT’s management decisions" by "fear of expulsion, suspension or other academic devastation".^[28][29][33] Commenting on the issue, VIT University Vice President Sekar Viswanathan said: “The students started a campaign based on the misplaced notion that the university discriminates against women, which is not true. They were taken home by their parents”.^[34]

Gallery

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  Technology Tower, Vellore

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  Academic block, Chennai

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  MBA Block, Chennai

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  Men's hostels, Chennai

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  Gazebo, Chennai

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  Men's hostel, H block, Vellore

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  Central library, Vellore

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to VIT University.

• Official website