Four years ago, in this very month of June, JEE Mains results were out. I had
screwed up my JEE Advanced, so I had to settle for an NIT. My AIR was good
enough to get me a seat of Computer Science and Engineering in any of the NITs
except the first three (at that time Trichy, Warangal, and Surathkal). I was
skeptical about going to NIT Calicut because of its
distance from my native place, so NIT Allahabad was the most suitable choice.
However, in the end, I decided to give preference to NIT Calicut over NIT
Allahabad. One of the many reasons for this decision was an excellent
article
by Dr. Dheeraj Sanghi, a retired professor from IIT Kanpur. His blog post was
the primary reason; I decided to go with NIT Calicut. Now that I have graduated
from NIT Calicut, I think it is the right time to document my observations about
the CSE department of NIT Calicut from the perspective of a student.
My exposure to the CSE department was limited to the facilities provided to
undergraduate students only (almost everything except some academic facilities),
so I am not entirely sure if this article will help any of the postgraduate
students out there. However, some points below might help you decide about the
non-academic activities of the department.
Like every other NIT, NIT Calicut also suffers from the lack of permanent
faculties. Most of the faculties in the department are recruited on a contract
basis (ad-hoc). It is not necessarily a
bad
thing, but many a time, an ad-hoc faculty gets to teach a subject where one does
not hold strong command. In that case, the subject becomes a burden for both
student and teacher. It happened to me many times when I was stuck in a
situation that I ended up losing my interest in the subject as well as grades.
Most of the core subjects are taught by permanent faculties who are very good at
their subjects. These faculties are very experienced and are alumni of some of
India's top IITs and IISc. The department used to
ask
new hires to get a postgraduate degree from some IIT or IISc, but this does not
seem to be the case anymore.
Most of the professors prefer to teach traditional computer science subjects, so
if you are interested in AI, Data Science, or any other such areas of computer
science, then you might have to depend on self-study.
CSEA is the main departmental club that
organizes almost every co-curricular activity in the department. In my opinion,
CSEA is the best department association in NIT Calicut. I was not a member of
CSEA, so all of my views are from the perspective of an outsider. CSEA organizes
talks and workshops for the freshers from time to time. I attended all the
lectures and seminars arranged by CSEA in my initial years, and I feel that
those workshops were quite beneficial for me as a student.
FOSSCell is a group of students who contribute to open-source software. FOSSCell
organizes workshops related to Linux and open source contributions. It also
organizes FOSSMeet, the yearly free and open-source
software conference organized in NIT-C. It is one of the largest gatherings of
open source enthusiasts in South India. I have written two posts about my
experience as a part of the organizing team of FOSSMeet. You can read them
here and here. Attending and
organizing FOSSMeet is one of the best experiences of my college life. The
current executives of FOSSCell are actively working on improving the state of
open source contributions in NIT-C. I hope the situation will change in the
coming years.
The students manage all the labs in the department. The
Software Systems Lab is assigned to undergraduate
students. This lab is probably the crown jewel and pride of every CS student of
NIT Calicut. It remains open most of the time. All the department servers are
kept in this lab and are managed independently by the student administrators
chosen by the student administrators. The student administrators are given the
responsibility to maintain all the department websites. I do not know if any
other university or college in India provides such independence to its students.
I was one of the student administrators in this lab, and I consider that this
was the best thing that happened to me during my graduation.
A traditional computer science course does not require many types of equipment
except a laptop and a fast enough internet connection. Internet speed is not
extraordinary in NIT-C, but it was sufficient for me. The network administrators
blocked many websites, but if the site is related to coursework, sending a short
mail was enough in most cases to get it unblocked.
The labs are equipped with modern computer systems, and Ubuntu is installed on
almost every department system. The particular emphasis on the use of
open-source software is a big plus point for the department.
The curriculum was last updated in 2010. Since then, six batches have graduated.
I think it is an excellent time to consider revising it. The current curriculum
is good enough for most traditional CS subjects, but its focus on the present
buzzwords of the CS world is very less. I heard that the department changed the
curriculum for the batches joining 2017 onwards, but I doubt that there are any
significant changes.
The academics are taken quite seriously in the department (apparently). The
level of question papers in examinations is generally very tough. I always felt
the heat, at least. However, teachers are quite friendly and will help you with
any of your queries.
The situation of lab courses (except OS, Compilers, and DSA lab) in the
department is very pathetic. Operating Systems lab and Compiler lab have a
well-defined structure, and the feeling of developing your tiny OS or compiler
is one of the best feelings ever. Data Structure and Algorithms lab runs in
parallel to the corresponding theory course, and that helps students in
understanding theory by practice.
I cannot say the same about any other lab in the department; most of the
students end up learning nothing new from these lab courses. The problem is in
the way these courses are handled. There does not seem to be a proper structure
of teaching in these courses. Students are expected to learn on their own and
come to the lab and give exams. Although most of the time, the corresponding
theory course carries marks for a mini project which compensates for the lab
course, these lab courses do have some scope for improvements.
The department does not handle placements, but the quality of education and the
focus on industry-oriented courses do affect the placements. The placement
department of NIT-C has been doing an excellent job of maintaining a track
record of over 90% placements from computer science every year.
Department, as such, does not focus on placements much. I feel that the
department is more interested in making researchers than software engineers.
Most of the courses are very heavily inclined towards theory. From my batch, I
know at least ten people who are planning to go to the USA for higher studies in
the next two years. The faculties also encourage students to pursue higher
education (and subsequently research). Perhaps, it is one of the reasons that
the state of competitive coding is not very good in the department.
Despite continuous lack of good permanent faculties and its location
disadvantages, CSED of NIT-C has managed to produce competent engineers year by
year. Spending four years in Kerala can be a different experience for outsiders,
especially North Indians, but it is an experience worth gaining. If you have a
good rank in JEE Mains and do not mind going too far from home, CSED of NIT
Calicut is an excellent choice. I hope you will not regret the decision, though
I will not say the same about other departments of NIT-C.
If you decide to join NIT-C, do read my article about my
experience at NIT Calicut.
Thanks to my friends Aashish,
Mahaveer and
Faris for reading the drafts of
this article and providing their suggestions.
Best wishes. Cheers 😄