JNU to launch 3 MTech courses next year, 2 BTech ones ‘soon’

NEW DELHI: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) will start offering three MTech courses from next year. The central university’s School of Engineering (SoE) launched with two engineering courses in 2018. Now, plans to launch two new Btech courses in the coming years.

“The SoE already has passed three MTech courses – MTech in Computer Science and Engineering; MTech in Electronics and Communication Engineering and MTech in Material Science and Technology. The admission will happen through Centralised Counselling for MTech (CCMT) counselling from next year,” Ankit Chaudhary, professor and acting dean, SoE, JNU told Careers360.

The CCMT is a common platform for candidates to apply for MTech in all National Institute of Technology (NITs), Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) Shibpur, some Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs) and Central Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs). Admission is through Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE).

Choudhary also said that JNU’s SoE plans to “open two new BTech programmes in some areas of computing in the near future”.

Also read JNU to start short-term online courses, developing infrastructure for e-learning

JNU engineering courses

The SoE had launched with a unique five-year dual degree programme with BTech in engineering discipline combined with a master’s MTech or MS, with specialisation in social science, humanities, science or technology. It lasted only till 2022-23 when it was discontinued in favour of the traditional four-year course.

Now, the school offers two four-year BTech programmes – BTech in Computer Science and Engineering (BTech CSE) and BTech in Electronics and Communication Engineering (BTech ECE). Admission to the 126 seats is based on Joint Entrance Examination (JEE Main) scores and the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JOSAA) counselling.

Ankit Chaudhary, professor and acting dean, SoE, JNU. (Image: Special Arrangement)

Chaudhary said that JNU’s five-year dual-degree programme suffered from “a few administrative issues”.

They were as listed below.

1. The fees for other JNU schools are lower for BA, MA courses but if engineering students attended these schools for their master’s degree, they were paying the engineering school fee. So, many students took exit under National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 after BTech and joined their preferred second school through direct JNU admission.

2. The schools students went to after their BTech were not ready to take ownership of the engineering students. The semester registration, faculty assignment, course teaching, and grades were part of the School of Engineering and they were still coming to SoE as the second school was not treating them at par with regular students. This created administrative chaos, as the supervisor or dean became responsible for the paperwork.

3. The semester start time was different in other schools, so the engineering students were not able to go for internships on time.

4. Students did not take direct admission to a second school for a master programme and so, were getting an MS as second degree, not the MA or MSc as originally intended.

5. The MS degree was not preferred in placement by many companies. MS in management was not considered an MBA and MS in economics was not taken as MSc Economics. So, many companies refused the interview process of these engineering students.

Because of these issues, the dual-degree was discontinued and replaced with standard BTech and MTech ones. Chaudhary added that if students are interested, they can still go to a second school via direct admission.

Also read JNU academic council approves exit option for BTech-MTech dual degree students

Engineering in JNU

“JNU has been in the forefront of producing leaders in the country in different areas including bureaucracy, politics, administration, and art. Now JNU is also participating in developing technical manpower,” he said.

The engineering school in JNU has been receiving criticism from students due to the lack of infrastructure for engineering courses despite the high fees.

The tuition fee per semester of BTech at JNU’s SoE for 2024-25 academic year is Rs 20,833 for general and Other Backward Classes (OBC) students having family income from ₨ 1 Lakh to 5 lakh, Rs 62,500 for those having family income above Rs 5 lakh. No tuition fee is charged from General and OBC students from economically weaker sections with family income below ₨ 1 lakh, Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Person with Disability (PwD) students. However, all students are charged Rs 5,500 per semester and Rs 2,000 one time admission and alumni fee.

“About the fee, we have to compare apples with apples. Most of the programmes in JNU are BA and MA, so we can’t compare with them. As an engineering college, we are a much cheaper college compared to IIT Delhi, IIIT Delhi, NIT Delhi or Delhi Technological University (DTU),” he said.

Chaudhary said a new four-storey building is in the pipeline.

“If you see new IITs or NITs, they run in a temporary campus in the starting phase and even have no basic infrastructure. We are far better compared to any five-year-old publicly funded institute. We do have a separate engineering lecture complex within the JNU campus where all classes happen and we hope to have more advanced laboratories in the future,” he said.

Chaudhary invited JEE Mains-qualified candidates to visit the JNU campus and laboratories, talk to the teachers, and current students to understand their experiences of SoE JNU.