Government College of Technology B.Tech Review By Kartikhey Nishad

The Tamil Nadu State entrance exam for engineering plays a significant role in getting admissions to GCT. Hailing from Coimbatore, like all other kids, I wanted to go to Chennai and study in some of the top colleges like IIT Madras, SRM University Vadapalani, and College of Engineering Guindy. During counseling I was getting SRM but when I checked the fees of SRM, I decided to stay back as GCT is one college that has made students come here from various parts of the country. Once I got involved with the college culture and environment, I started loving college more. Each day spent at the campus was a unique experience in itself. Everything as in every event or function is managed totally by the students of the college. Right from placements, to inviting chief guests, to workshops, to organizing conclaves, etc. Students held the full authority and the power to do whatever they wanted. GCT is one of those rare colleges of the world that has received financial aid from none other World Bank for renovating the college departments.

The college functions only from Monday to Friday. On Saturday, it was all co curricular activities or sports so it was not a compulsion for students to come. Only if extra classes were organized, it became mandatory to come on weekends. Academic wise the college is one of the best in the state as the syllabus was up to date and we were made to learn the latest technologies. Being a mechanical engineering student, we had workshops for most part of the week. Most of our projects were done in labs unlike other branches students who had to relax in their classrooms.

GCT was not that college where faculty will spoon feed you. They will do what they should and that is to guide students. Engineering is no more a niche and mechanical for that matter is the toughest. The industry challenges that we would be facing and how to cope up with that made student clear on whether they should continue engineering or try their hands at something else. I wanted to be called a mechanical engineer but for further studies couldn’t continue as I am not made for or ready for facing the challenges that even a master’s student of Mechanical engineer has to. It was our friendly faculty who took me take one of the toughest decisions but since it has paid off, I would always be thankful to them.

GCT may or may not help you with the placements. All said and done, Mechanical engineering jobs are sparse in market. Many capitals good companies like Cummins India, L&T, and BHEL have recruited students from the college in past. During our batch though, we had a terrible time as the crude oil prices were tumbling and capital goods companies hardly needed any man power. Some of the names I mentioned have attended the campus drive but denied many opportunities. Most of us were left stranded because even after rigorous work for four long years, we couldn’t find placement opportunities.

There are seven boys and four girls' hostel blocks. Hostels were quite reasonable and the mess was run by the students committee. The boys' hostel blocks were huge and I have been to Kaveri and Bhavani boys' hostels. For non-hostellers a waiting room is there and we could see our friends there. The hostel were little filthy but what else can one expect from a boys hostel block. Since, I haven’t stayed there; I don’t know what else to write on hostels. My friends from other cities who stayed at the hostels were not in awe of the hostels neither critical.

GCT Coimbatore is the biggest colleges of Coimbatore. The college is spread in over 100 acres and has miles and miles of spaces that are used by students for their own advantages. The college was built by Britishers in 1944 just before the second world war ended. The mechanical and civil department is the oldest department of the college and therefore we were stuck in the main old building of the campus. The way to building was probably one of the best to take a walk and smell fresh air. The campus road had trees surrounded to it from all corners. The labs were advanced and full of equipment required. The college has won time and again the state’s most green campus award because the number of trees at the campus is more than the number of students that the college has. So, if I calculate the college strength was somewhere around 3500. Thus, there is more than that number of trees in the campus.

Being a small town of Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore is a city where people are orthodox. The college would never allow boys and girls to mingle at the campus. There were no group events during the fests and so there were an all-boys performances or all-girls performances. These are some of the issues that GCT should move one from because other than that, one will always be in awe of our college.