Oct 29, 2003 06:30 PM
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(Updated Oct 29, 2003 06:34 PM)
TKM or more commonly Thangal Kunju Musaliar College of Engineering is set on the out skirts of the town of Kollam, in Kerala. It is about 150 KM south from Cochin, and around 50 KM north from Trivandrum. I am an alumnus of the college, and the review is basically what I have inferred from my days at the College.
Affiliation: This College is affiliated to University of Kerala, Trivandrum, and has been in existence since 1956, when it was inaugurated by the President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad.
Campus: The campus is hemmed into an 8 acre compound by surrounding residential colonies, timber mills, and what not. The campus is very small and there is no idyllic setting inside it. The noise of the passing busses trumpeting their horns, and the trains passing is all the comfort you get. (If that’s what you call it.)
Curriculum: The curriculum offered by the college is the ‘latest’, or so the college claims. I felt this was just pretty much the same as that in any engineering college now-a-days. The
Staff: The staff of the college has got it’s share of the good professor’s and a more than healthy share of the bad one’s. I remember when we had a few very good professors in my branch, Mechanical Engineering, but by the end of my course, many had chosen greener pastures in the private engineering colleges that were sprouting up in Kerala on account of higher salaries as well as facilities. But there are a few of them remaining and they are very good. The quality of the staff has to be accredited to the high number of graduates present, the paltry government salaries that are paid, and the lack of an effective HR development method in the college. But I believe the overall quality is better than other colleges in the state.
Facilities: The facilities in the college are at best described as out-dated. The college has kept on using the machines and lab materials that were bought at the time of inauguration, and haven’t cared to improve on them at any point of time. I especially remember the case in the Machine Shop in my sixth semester when we were drilling into Mild Steel without using any cooling fluid. When I attended the interview for Ashok Leyland, they were quite impressed by how I had managed to do that operation. Basically, the labs which are supposed to give us practical and operational knowledge regarding the theory we learn, are not working.
Self experimentation with any machinery is not allowed, do what the ‘Procedure’ in the manual says, and you have done it. These classes were used more as a means of torturing students for satisfying somebody’s ego or the other.
Placements: The placement cell of the college is totally ignorant of their job, or at least it was that way when I was there. In a college regarded as one of the best in Kerala, it is surprising that placements were numbering only around 50 – 60 among a batch of 500. But this greatly depends on the person in charge, but I feel many companies still come there because of the impression set by the students who have joined their company earlier, while the others have got a bad impression through the wide publicity that the political parties and their frequent clashes in the college get.
Hostels: The hostels are down-right dilapidated, and unfit for human occupance. Fortunately, my parents were terrified by the standard of the college hostels and allowed me to stay in a slightly more expensive accommodation near by. The food in the hostels follow the thumb rule “Quantity, not Quality”. I personally feel the food also was third rate, and the only time we got any good stuff was during any special occasions when the students were given their say in the menu.
Extra-curricular Activities: The college offers little by way of extra-curricular acrtivities. It is a case of finding your own was of entertainment. At my time, there were around five programs a year organized in which students got to participate in many activities like Dance, Singing and other stuff.
The Arts festival of the college is really very well organized, since the college management has very little say in the affairs, and offers a time to mingle with people all around.
The National Service Scheme is also very active, and gives those of us inclined towards social work a very good platform to go about our work. It organizes many blood donation camps, and offers many services to local hospitals, and other useful social work.
Conclusion: The college has it’s own problems like any other. The college has a big reputation, but the management is finding it difficult to live up to the name, at least maintain it. Earlier batches were successful because of the small number of engineering colleges in Kerala, and only around the top 4,000 students made it to the gates. But the recent spurt in the engineering colleges has made even the student quality a kind of mockery. It’s a common saying in Kerala that anyone who wants to become an engineer can become one now-a-days. Here the old thumb rule seems to have been applied, “Quantity, not Quality”.
