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I have been reviewing some of the best engineering colleges in India, which I researched when I was applying for my son’s admission. I had to visit multiple websites, talk to students and faculty in those colleges, connect with them on social media and gather the information. I felt these reviews will help aspiring students and their parents in deciding which is the most suitable college for them. That’s the goal with which this website was born. In this series, the next one I am reviewing is Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.
Overview of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is a deemed to be university established by the Mata Amritanandamayi Math in 1994 at Coimbatore. As of 2023, it has campuses in the below cities:
- Amritapuri (Kerala)
- Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh)
- Bengaluru
- Chennai
- Coimbatore
- Faridabad
- Kochi
- Mysuru
B.Tech programs are offered at only 5 of these campuses as of now.
- Amritapuri
- Coimbatore
- Bengaluru
- Chennai
- Amaravati
The Coimbatore Branch offers all the disciplines including Civil, Chemical, Aerospace etc, whereas the Amaravati branch only offers Computer Science and a couple of related branches.
For details, you may check Amrita’s portal.
Modes of Admission
Unlike VIT and Manipal, where admissions are entirely based on their own entrance exam, at Amrita, you have a JEE channel of admission in addition to the Amrita Engineering Entrance Exam (AEEE).
At the time of applying for admission, you may choose the channel you wish to apply through. You may also apply via both the channels to have a better chance of getting a seat.
You also need to note that Amrita also has separate quotas for home state and other state. This means that if you are applying for the Coimbatore/Chennai campuses, the students who are from Tamil Nadu will have to apply under the home state quota and others will have to apply via the other state quota. Students from Kerala will be considered as home state students at the Amritapuri campus and so on.
Usually the cut-offs for home state students are lower than that of other state students. This means that students from other states, even Telangana which is in South India, but has no Amrita campus will be considered under the other state quota for all campuses. Therefore, it may be slightly more difficult for students from the rest of India to get a seat here.
Again, purely in terms of perception, VIT and Manipal rank higher, therefore students with higher ranks may choose to go there, so it may be easier to get into Amrita, especially via the AEEE.
It also follows that the crowd may be less cosmopolitan than what you would see in VIT or Manipal, where they have an open competition system for students across India.
Amrita also has quota for SC/ST/OBC category of students unlike other private universities.
Quality of education
As per the NIRF Rankings 2023, Amrita has been ranked #5 under universities in India and #19 under engineering colleges in India. Though these rankings are not entirely reliable (the high rank given to VIT has always been questioned), it does give you a picture of where it stands overall.
If we look at the seat matrix in Amrita, the Coimbatore campus admits around 700+ students in Computer Science and its specializations. Full details about the batch size of each branch for the past 3 years are given. It is clear that the batch sizes are smaller, unlike VIT Vellore with 2500+ students in CSE alone (an unofficial estimate even says the 2022 batch has 6000 CSE + CSE specializations students)!
Branches like Civil, Chemical and Aerospace are only offered at the Coimbatore campus.
The curriculum in Amrita is good and updated on a regular basis. With the advent of ChatGPT and AI manifesting itself in all fields, Amrita offers Machine Learning as a compulsory subject for CSE branch and Automation and IoT for Mechanical branch etc. (as per the curriculum mentioned on their website). Many other universities offer these disciplines only as electives, that too to select students alone. That way the curriculum of Amrita is keeping pace with the times.
Faculty is said to be competent and encourage students to pursue projects of their choice, as per many students. But there are students who complain even if they get the best faculty in the country. Even IITs can’t boast of faculty that every student is satisfied with. A lot depends on the students themselves and colleges can’t be expected to spoonfeed the students. For students who are willing to put in some effort from their side, Amrita offers enough resources.
Library and other infrastructure are good and motivated students can get all the facilities they need.
One point to be noted is that since the university is promoted by a Hindu religious organization, there will be some spiritual sessions which can’t be avoided.
Hostels and Mess
Hostels are decent, but do not offer AC and other luxuries like some of the hostels in VIT. Usually junior students are allotted 4-sharing rooms and final year students get a single occupancy room. (This is as per feedback from a student in Coimbatore campus).
The hostels have a reputation of being too strict, especially with girls. Students have complained that they are allowed to go out only twice a month for limited hours and there is an in time of 9PM for girls and 10PM for boys. It is also said that girls have to get permission from their parents to get the permission/out pass, especially in the first year. While some discipline is required in life, restricting 18+ students who are eligible to vote from having some fun during weekends without parents’ approval maybe taking it a little too far. 😉 It also depends on the campus. Some campuses are too strict and some are a little lenient.
BTW, you may also want to know that Amrita has a uniform for students and it can seem like a school! 😛
Hostels only serve vegetarian food and non-veg food is not allowed inside the campus (no non-veg via Swiggy/Zomato too). Non vegetarians may find this a little tough.
Amrita does not follow a fully residential system and students are allowed to study as day scholars. Students who are from the same city as the campuses may prefer commuting to college every day. Those who are from other cities and uncomfortable with the hostel rules/veg-only menu may also choose to stay at PGs nearby.
If you are willing to bear with these little inconveniences, the college and the curriculum are pretty good.
Fees
The fee for B.Tech in Amrita comes to around ₹3.25 Lakh per year for the Computer Science branches and around ₹2Lakh per year for the EEE/Mechanical branches in Coimbatore as per the 2022 fee structure. The full fee structure for all campuses is given below.
The fee is lower than the amount charged by Manipal or VIT (category 4/5). Hostel fees are not included in the above and even in the case of VIT/Manipal, the hostel fees are not included in the fees displayed on the website. For sure, Amrita is more affordable than VIT and Manipal.
Placements
It is rather surprising that Amrita has not mentioned any of the latest placement news on the official website. The page actually shows 2016 news. However, we can check the stats on the NIRF website.
The most important stat to check is the median salary which is around ₹4.45 LPA for the 2021 batch. It was ₹4.55 LPA for the 2020 batch.
So over 70% of the students get placed and over 20% go for higher studies. But the median salary is not something to boast of. It’s just fine for a first job and it really depends on the student to grab the opportunity they get from the campus and grow from there. Most of the recruiters are mass recruiters like TCS/Infosys/Cognizant and they even have an open competition for freshers which even non-Amrita students can attempt.
There are a few dream companies mentioned on the website with higher pay, but very few students get selected at these places. It’s best for aspirants and their parents not to look at the logos of companies on the placement page and assume that if you get into Amrita, you’ll land at Microsoft or Google. Only 1 or 2 out of 2200 will make it!
Core placements in Mechanical/Electrical are difficult even in some of the NITs, therefore most of these placements are in the IT sector and very few in core disciplines. If you plan to join Amrita, be prepared to put in some effort learning coding and data structures, even if you are choosing Mechanical Engineering.
Unique Features
Some of the differentiators of Amrita vis-Ã -vis VIT/Manipal are:
- Uniform. Some students like it, because you don’t have to think about what to wear the next day. Some hate it because it gives a ‘school’ vibe.
- Spiritual sessions. As mentioned earlier, it is promoted by Mata Amritanandamayi, therefore you will have to sit through some religious discourses and celebrations.
- Vegetarian food. For the same reason as above, the campus does not provide non-veg food, which may irk some students. You may have to go out to enjoy your chicken biryani once in a while.
- Lower fee. The fee is comparatively lower than other private colleges as per the fee structure given on the website.
- Home state quota. Since there is a home state quota, it is easier for the local students to get a seat with a lower rank in AEEE or JEE.
Should you consider joining Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham for engineering?
Amrita can be on your list if you are prepared to bear with some minor inconveniences. You also have the option to be a day scholar if you are in the same city as the college.
It is more affordable than VIT (Cat 5) or Manipal where the fee is more than ₹5LPA. Faculty is on par with the other colleges. In every college you find 25% not-so-good faculty, even in IITs. So that shouldn’t worry you.
The median salary may be on the lesser side, but you need to realise that your first job is not your entire career. If you are willing to work hard and prove yourself, you can rise faster than those who started off with a higher salary. This is a much longer journey in life and once you gain 4-5 years of experience, no one asks you which college you studied in. It is what you did in your those initial years of your career that matter.
You may also be interested in reading our other college reviews.
Manipal Institute of Technology Review
