Vardhaman College of Engineering - [VCE], Hyderabad

There are two ways by which you can reach Vardhaman Engineering College. You can check them out below:

Public Transport: 

1. You can go to Medhipatnam, catch a bus and go towards the airport. 
2. After that, go to the Shamshabad bus stop to catch a bus or an auto towards Kacharam. You will reach the college then.

Using private transport:

1. You can go to the outer ring road and then straight to Shamshabad. Turn at Shamshabad bus stop and drive a stretch of about 4 to 6 km. You will have reached the college.
2. Another method is to drive towards Medhipatnam and take a right at Rethi Bowli Flyover. You will then go straight to Aram Ghar, take a right towards the airport and go straight to Shamshabad bus stop. From there, take a right turn and go straight till you reach the college.

With today’s technology, Google maps should help you navigate much faster and easier if you are new to the city.

Some of my friends studied at Vardhaman College of Engineering. According to them, it is a highly rated, well-equipped, and well-known college in Hyderabad. Let me share some facts I gathered from them about the college.

• The infrastructure is good. The campus and hostels are well maintained.
• The hostel food is hygienic and edible.
• There is a big library, but it lacks some important books. You can request the books, but it will take time to arrange them. The library is not always accessible. Certain times are fixed for that.
• The computer labs have better facilities, unlike the other labs.
• The faculty is average. You have to do most of your course-related work like projects, etc. yourself. The faculty will be there for basic guidance.
• The college has both indoor and outdoor sports facilities. But they generally do not encourage students to take part in extracurricular activities.
• The college has strong administration and excellent marketing skills.
• Many popular companies participate in their placement program. But major placements are in corporate or IT firms.

Lastly, the college is like any other engineering college, with a required amount of exposure. Some may claim that the college is good in every way but in reality, it is the same as any other engineering college. If you want to study CSE or IT, it is a really good place. But for other departments, the same cannot be said.

Overall, the campus is definitely strict and has quite a few rules and regulations but it will depend on you whether you wish to follow them or not. Here are some of them:

• Male students are not allowed to dress in T-shirts unless there is a fest going on.
• You are not allowed to carry a mobile phone with you. The college has even issued an order from the Supreme Court to allow the seizing of mobile phones.
• You have to wear closed shoes or sneakers. Wearing sandals or flip-flops is not permitted unless you are appearing for an exam.
• You cannot bunk lectures unless you are clever about it but there are very spots for you around campus to actually relax in.
• You cannot stay in the canteen after 9:45 AM as the lectures begin then. You will be driven out by faculty and staff from there.
• If you are planning to leave college post 4.30 pm, you need to get written permission from the HoD. And yes, do not try climbing over walls since they are lined with barbed wires.
• Your parents will have to attend parent-teacher meetings with you once a year up until the final year. You cannot escape those since they follow up and might threaten you too.
• Your parents will be notified about your daily attendance in each class. For example, XYZ has attended 2 out of 6 lectures conducted on 23rd August 2019.

If you are looking for laid-back college life, that would be hard to find here. You will obviously find some way around these rules once you are properly settled in. Many of my friends have skipped classes and not attended PT meetings.

My brother is a student at Vardhaman College of Engineering and here are their timings for class.

1st Year: 

• Your classes will start at 8:30 am, and you will have 3 periods till 11:30 am. 
• Lunchtime is from 11:30 am - 12 pm. 
• There will be classes again from 12:30 pm to 3 pm.
• Laboratory classes are usually held in the morning or afternoon for 3 hours.
• Buses start from 3-3:30 pm.

2nd, 3rd, and 4th Year: 

• Your classes will start at 9:30 in the morning. There will be three classes till 12:30 pm. 
• Lunch break is from 12:30 pm -1 pm.
• After lunch, there will be 3 periods again from 1 pm - 4 pm. 
• Labs are either in the morning or afternoon for 3 hours.
• Buses start from 4-4:30 pm.

The library stays open till 6 pm for day scholars and 7 pm for hostellers.

Mobile phones are not allowed anywhere on campus. You could be on a bus, at a cafeteria or even at the library but you will not be allowed to carry a mobile phone. Even if you are considering going around using a bike, it is prohibited.

The college authorities can conduct a surprise check. They have confiscated the mobile phones of various students and returned them once the final exams are done. It is quite horrible and of course, you will end up buying another phone later which is an added expense.

Usually, checking becomes less frequent in the second year as compared to the first year. But my advice to you would be to avoid getting a phone to campus at all. You will only get it back after you earn your degree.

Vardhaman is affiliated under Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University and approved by AICTE. It is ranked 143 for BTech by NIRF 2020 and 151 overall by NIRF 2020.

GRIET is affiliated under Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University. They consist of 4 blocks, 2 seminar halls, an open air theatre and an auditorium.It is ranked 172nd for BTech by NIRF 2020 and ranked 29th for BTech by TOI 2020.

Tabulated below is a brief overview of both institutions:

Admission Details - 

• Students should have 50% in their 12th standard or equivalent.
• Students pursuing MTech and MBA should have 55% in their graduation.
• Final selection will be based on the entrance exams.

Placements:

Vardhaman- 

• 522 students and 40 students from the UG and PG course respectively got placed in the year 2018-2019.
• TCS, HCL, IBM, Byjus, Jaro Education, Synopsys, Deloitte, DBS, Host Analytics, Elixir, Virtusa, Infosys, Capgemini, Wipro, Genpact, Prolifics, etc.

GRIET - 

• 780 students were eligible for the placement program.
• 405 students were placed.
• The recruiting Companies include Microsoft, Capgemini, Google, Wipro, Infosys, Dell, TCS, IBM, Deloitte, etc.

Tabulated below is the placement statistics of both institutions: 

Faculty 

Vardhaman College

• Vardhaman college has 257 faculty members among 8 departments.
• 31 of the faculty members have been awarded for excellent performance from central government agencies like MHRD, International Organization of Scientific Research.

GRIET

• Faculty Members of GRIET are all PhD holders.
• They also provide E-Learning to GRIET students.

Infrastructure

Vardhaman College

• Vardhaman is well equipped with all the facilities like Central Library, Computer Centre, Sports Gymnasium & Yoga Centre, Hostel & Dining, Transport.
• They have separate hostels for boys and girls accommodating 300 students each.
• They have a cricket ground with floodlights, 2 basketball courts, 1 tennis court, 2 volleyball courts, two badminton courts, two badminton courts, four indoor table tennis tables, long jump and high jump arenas.

Yes, but it comes with its own risk. This happened in my sister’s class at the end of the semester and the class had full attendance since everyone wanted to satisfy the minimum attendance criteria.

During a lecture, three college officials entered the class to carry out a surprise checking. About 20 to 25 mobile phones were seized and they were only returned once the students completed their degree.

Vardhaman College of Engineering has been tough on its students for a long time and you should be careful if you want to bring your mobile phone to class.