UEM Kolkata, a place which makes you industry ready.

Firstly, let me tell you that our 2015 batch was the first batch for UEM, Kolkata. Thus the total tuition fee of Rs 3,20,000 I mentioned is what we (the first batch) paid. The next batch onward, it became Rs 4,80,000. If I am not wrong, it is something like Rs 6,40,000 right now (not 100% sure, you have to check it).UEM, Kolkata is the university of the college IEM, Kolkata. Now, IEM Kolkata is the best private college in Kolkata. So my thought process was the higher management for both the colleges are the same, so the education and placement opportunities would be very much comparable. And based on this thinking, I chose UEM, Kolkata.After 12th board exams are done, look out for IEMJEE dates. The admission is based on IEMJEE/WBJEE rank. Through IEMJEE, you get IEM, Kolkata if you perform the best, then UEM, Kolkata if you perform good and lastly UEM, Jaipur option is given if your performance is not the best.The good aspects of my college was the teachers put in a lot of effort to teach you properly, now if you decided that you won't listen to them, your loss. College gives you additional benefits like GATE coaching, coaching for government jobs, etc. which I have seen not a lot of colleges provide. In short, college puts a lot of things on plate, whether you eat it or not is upto you. Then during placements, UEM, kolkata actually tries really hard to get it's students placed. Opportunities after opportunities will keep coming your way unless you get placed.The bad aspects that I would say is that it is a private college after all. So there are different constraints in place, money being one of them. Since a private college is not backed by any donations or government funding, thus the opportunities are not the best in the field. Few points I remember where I was disappointed are as follows:-> The books in the library are not enough for the number of students they admit per batch.-> At times, the higher authority will roll out orders which you might not like. Something like "Taking part in this is mandatory" is something we got bored listening throughout our college life.-> The higher authority thought too much at times about students. As a result, they passed down instructions to teachers so that teachers will be lenient while giving you marks (so that your marks on your CV does not look ugly). This get the students complacent and as a result, the learning is not optimal. If this cushion was taken away from students, it would benefit them in the long run.-> Not a lot of focus is given on projects. If you want to do good projects, teachers will ensure that you succeed in doing so, but if you want to be lazy and somehow pass, then teachers will allow that. You will face the consequences during placements where teachers are no longer there to back you up.-> Almost no steps are taken against plagiarism. If you copy your friends' code and submit, that is fine. If you cheat during the exam and not get caught, that is fine. If in a group project, your partner do all the work and you do absolutely nothing, even that is fine.But don't freak out. Here at UEMK, the only way you're not going to get a job is by totally giving up on studies. If you put even the minimal amount of effort, you will get placed. The placement cell here is that good.

The course curriculum is aligned to the standard subjects that are to be taught. Also, an ample amount of focus is given on personal development and cutting edge technologies prevalent in the market right now. Both of these are equally important.Academics as I already said, if you want to switch off, not much attention is given to you. This is an aspect I don't like. Otherwise, the academics are really good here and will make you industry ready.Faculty feedback is mixed. While most faculties give their all to make the students understand, blend with the students like a friend, are approachable on an 1 to 1 basis for projects and doubt clearance, on the other hand, some faculties feel burn out because of the pressure put on them by the administration and as a result, they just teach for the sake of it. They will come to class, open a presentation slide containing bullet points and just read it out loud to you. I mean, what's the point of that? You could have just shared the slides and I could have read on my own.

Campus jobs are the best aspect. The tagline of UEMK reads "Good Education, Good Jobs". Now currently studying at IIT Bombay, I have seen why IITs provide the best education and where private colleges like UEMK can improve, but talking about jobs, it is worth appreciating. Every year, most of the students gets placed into a service based companies through on-campus placement drive. UEMK keeps bringing in companies till the last person (serious person, not someone who has given up on studies) is placed. They bring something like 70-80 companies each year.In the service based sector, the mass recruiters are mainly TCS, Wipro, Cognizant, Infosys, Capegemini. Now in most private colleges, you will see 2-3 of these MNCs NOT coming for on-campus recruitments. Well, at UEMK, it's not the case. And there are numerous other companies that come to recruit as well, but since they are not mass recruiters, one cannot remember all of their names.Students become eligible for placements in their final semester. Now coming to the average CTC of the offers rolled out to students, it gets tricky. If say there are total 600 students who got jobs, 350-400 of them might have got offers from the mass recruiters. These mass recruiters offer around 3.5 Lakhs per annum (LPA). Now say 50 students got higher paying offers (like 6+ LPA). This will take the average higher, say 4 LPA. But when you're the student, you are most likely to get that 3.5 LPA package from these mass recruiters.Packages start from 2.4 LPA and goes as high as 10 LPA. But I would say that you keep that 3.5 LPA figure in mind as that is like the median (and also mode) for service based companies that visit UEMK.I myself got placed in a company named GrayB in 2018, with a package of 5.2 LPA. This company provides Intellectual Property (IP) services around the globe.Percentage of students getting placed through on-campus, I would say 80-90%. The problem with the rest 10-20% is that they hardly ever took their studies seriously during their college semesters (might have been very busy enjoying their college life), and they not getting placed is not UEMK's fault. UEMK brought enough opportunities for them, they did not capitalise. So what they do is that they keep on preparing even after graduation and in 6-12 months after that, they land a job through off-campus applications.Some students go for higher studies (example: me) for MTech, MBA, etc. both in India and abroad. This number is minimal but they reach the best of colleges around the globe. So you can actually find UEM alumni spread all over the globe.

At present, I think (not 100% sure) the per semester fee is Rs 80,000. I know it is Rs 60,000 minimum for sure.Opportunity wise, UEMK is actually great and does way better than its competitors. We have research papers published every year by bachelor degree students, special encouragement given to students going for higher studies, even extra classes for GATE, CAT and government job preparations are provided here from best educators in the industry. Every year we have top GATE rankers (I am one of them, currently pursuing my Masters in CSE from IIT Bombay), CAT rankers, students going abroad for higher studies, etc. We have a variety of clubs, some are active, some are not that much active. Specifically remember E-cell (the entrepreneurship club where I was a part), it organises interesting events and talk sessions by industry personnels every year.Campus jobs are the best aspect. The tagline of UEMK reads "Good Education, Good Jobs". Now currently studying at IIT Bombay, I have seen why IITs provide the best education and where private colleges like UEMK can improve, but talking about jobs, it is worth appreciating. Every year, most of the students gets placed into a service based companies through on-campus placement drive. UEMK keeps bringing in companies till the last person (serious person, not someone who has given up on studies) is placed. They bring something like 70-80 companies each year.In the service based sector, the mass recruiters are mainly TCS, Wipro, Cognizant, Infosys, Capegemini. Now in most private colleges, you will see 2-3 of these MNCs NOT coming for on-campus recruitments. Well, at UEMK, it's not the case.

Infrastructure wise, UEM is just 3 big buildings and no play grounds. However, there is a basketball court, and at the basement there are games like futsal, darks, pool table, table tennis and chess.There are a lot of clubs like entrepreneurship club, coding and technology club, research and development club, literature club, etc. So as it stands, opportunities are there for you, if only you are interested. Other than that, you will find groups for football and cricket, but the grounds are not in the campus. You will team up and meet at a particular playground somewhere on weekends and have a great time. Tip: Make the most out of your college life. Join clubs, engage in activities and have fun. These will add points to your CV as well.Social life wise, UEM is good enough. You will make a lot of friends who will make your college life memorable for life. If I start writing in details, it will take up a lot of time. So I leave it up to you to figure out.

WBJEE/IEMJEE, 2015, Rank 16090