A brief of everything you need to know about B. Arch in TKM college of Engineering, Kollam

The B arch course is eligible for all students who have chosen the science or maths stream in school and attended the NATA entrance exam. The exam applications start early as October and all the details regarding procedures, and fees can be found on the official NATA website. There is also a JEE paper 2 entrance exam for architecture to apply for central govt colleges like SPA- Delhi ( one of the topmost colleges for architecture) and NITs and IITs.

Architecture to me was born out of a passion to explore more and experience everything around me through a creative process and I am happy about the decision although there are hectic times and submission schedules throughout the course. Our college offers a faculty-student ratio of 1:12 with very experienced and diligent members who involve in the student molding process through the course. Although most of them follow conventional teaching methods with notebooks and PowerPoint presentations I believe these can be well altered with some creative teaching methods and hands-on experience that too in a field like architecture. For each semester lasting almost 5 - 6 months, the college conducts 2 initial series tests according to the university syllabus and the exams are pretty easy to pass if understood the theories well.

There is a student-centric placement and career guidance cell on our campus which are open to all students with placements happening usually in the final year. Major companies visited include ORACLE, TCS, TATA, IBM, and MITSOGO, and offered placements to almost 60% of students in a class. Although architecture placements are not very common but with the curriculum students are trained well to get jobs after the course with their skills.

The fee structure followed in the college is the same one for government colleges all over Kerala almost 10000 per year. In addition, the architecture course pertains to a lot of stationery in the initial years of the course which consumes a whole lot of money. Also in coming years, the works may turn digital and a good compatible laptop is a must. Our college offers money for buying laptops for needy students and even offers laptops in case of some mis happenings of our own laptops. The course and hostel facilities can also be availed easily by needy students with the aid of scholarships. In the 4th year of architecture, all the students are to join an established architecture firm as per the course. The internships are done by submitting a portfolio of our work to all leading firms. I got into an architecture firm at Calicut with a total stipend of 10000 for 100.

The annual tech fest conducted in our college - HESTIA is widely known in south India with numerous workshops, tech shows, band events, and talks involving famous personalities from all over India. It usually happens in an even semester in the month of May. Apart from that, there are sub-events like CRESCITA conducted for technical events, and LOVE LOCKS on valentines day in which we visit orphanages, hair donation camps, and other activities happen. We have an extensive library with workspace just near the campus with an area of 930 sq.m. It contains a total of 9346 books and 15112 e-journals and other learning resources and is open to all from 9 am to 9 pm. The classrooms that have been built way back have been maintained to an optimum standard with adequate ventilation and wooden benches and chairs and smart class facilities still some classrooms remain dingy and accumulate dust The sports events are also a highlight of the college with extensive football grounds and other facilities.