Abna Shamsudeen's Review On TKM Institute Of Technology, Kollam

Being an orthodox Muslim college a level of strictness is expected. But not allowing girls to go out for projects is a bit to far. Considering that both the genders pay equal exorbitant fees to study the same course it is not just reasonable it is the right of every student to get equal opportunity.

I took MAT 2010 and score 94 percentile. I chose to do MBA in TKMIM because it was the second oldest private MBA college in the state. Admission process was simple apply online or directly submit the entrance score details and you are shortlisted according to merit. There was 2 rounds of interview which was more of an introduction session and informal round with the head of the institution.

The course curriculum was basic. First semester gives you a general awareness about all the subjects. This was particularly helpful for the engineering graduates for whom Accountancy,Economics,Business etc were completely new. For B.Com and BBA students first semester papers were easy. In 3rd semester you can choose your electives. My batch dint get much choice because Marketing was made compulsory. This was not a condition told to us during our initial interview when we joined the college and quite a few of us protested against it. I chose Marketing and Finance. We had just 4 papers for Finance and they were completely useless when you look at from the employability line.

Placement was good and many reputed companies like ITC,Airtel,HDFC,Indian Express etc had come for recruitment and many of us were placed. Usually they conducted an orientation for all the students then a preliminary test and the selected were asked to go for further interviews in the company offices. The starting packages varied from 8000 per month to 30000 per month.

There was no technical,cultural or management festivals in our college. We did have a inside college fest for the first year where the entire students were divided into 4 groups and competitions were held against each other. The second year the same fest was to happen in the second year. The whole program was cancelled after day 1, reasons unknown.

Fees is quite expensive with many of us having taken an education loan. For my batch it was 1 lac rupees per semester with additional expenses of hostel and travel. There were very few scholarship opportunities. The major one was 50000 scholarship for 6 students who had highest marks in the entrance exams.

There were very few scholarship opportunities. The major one was 50000 scholarship for 6 students who had highest marks in the entrance exams. No loan facilities were available. The toppers in every semester exam were also given a reduction in the fees to be paid.

Extra curricular activities were few. Boys could play in the nearby ground while the girls were not allowed such luxury. We never had a tour but went on industrial visits to nearby places and factories. We did have a dozen or more of workshops and seminars taken by eminent personalities. Students were from every ethnic group and all over the state and there were no issues on any basis. The tolerance was very high to quote an instance,during Ramadan when the Muslim boys were fasting the non muslim boys would also join and keep the fast. And together they broke the fast in the evening.

We stayed in 2 hostels over the period of our course. The first one was the girls hostel of TKM Engineering college. The rooms were crowded in the old building and the food was average. Many a times we fished out worms from our food and the overall cleanliness was questionable. We were provided college bus to go to college. The second year however we were transferred to the brand new hostel right beside our college building. Food was from the common mess and it was quite if only very fattening.

Alumni functions are held every year in different places in Kerala. I am yet to attend one. There was also an alumni meet held overseas for all the NRI alumni. The helpfulness of the official alumni network is not much. But the senior students with whom you keep personal contact have always helped us in times of need.

Exams happened every 6 months. We had a final year project and viva. It was not very frequent and the days were not very hectic. There were occasion were exams were postponed by the university because of Hartals. On the whole exam time was the only time all students were totally absorbed in their books.

The faculty consisted of some brilliant experienced professors totally committed professors who went out of their way to help the students and also some lecturers who were new and couldn't help or relate to the students in any way. The problems came in when it was time for faculty allocation for projects. Those students including myself who got the new teachers struggled a lot and often had to resort to the guidance of older faculty.