VIT University

Admissions

VIT University claims to admit students on merit basis through an online entrance exam. VIT organizes its own entrance exam, called the Vellore Institute of Technology Engineering Entrance Examination (VITEEE). It is conducted every year in the month of April and May. In 2015, over two lakh students or two hundred thousand students appeared for the entrance examination. The exam has been conducted online since 2013. The VITEEE has consistently been easier than other engineering entrance exams like JEE Mains (formerly AIEEE) and JEE Advanced (formerly IIT-JEE).

Academics

VIT offers academic programs in Engineering, Technology, Applied Sciences, and Management. It offers 20 undergraduate programs, 34 postgraduate, four integrated MS courses, and four doctoral programs. VIT consolidated its disciplines into 10 Schools of Study with the addition of the VIT Law School at its Chennai campus.

Research centers are part of the schools to encourage collaboration between the research and coursework areas and provide opportunity for coursework students to participate in research projects. The university organizes industrial workshops like Automotive Engineering, organized by ParaMek Technologies in GraVitas Fest.

The university is among the first in India to implement the Fully Flexible Credit System (FFCS) which gives the students flexibility to make their own time tables by choosing the subjects and the faculties under whose guidance they want to study.

Rankings

The university was ranked 13th in engineering within India by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in it's 2016 rankings. National Media groups like India Today have ranked VIT University in the Top 10 Engineering Schools of India for several years.

Schools

Teaching at VIT is structured around nine schools listed below. Students are registered in one of these schools according to their field of study.

Vellore Campus

The university's main campus in Vellore is on 250 acres of land. It is divided by the Chennai–Bangalore railway line. The academic portion of the campus and the women's hostels are to the south of the railway tracks while the northern portion houses the men's hostels and the outdoor stadium. The parts are connected by three subways.

The campus resembles a city, with lake, gardens, lawns, residential complexes, food courts, hair salons and wide roads. The campus has its own water supply and backup electricity supply along with shopping complexes to cater to the needs of residents.

Location

VIT is in the city of Vellore in India's southern state, Tamil Nadu, between Chennai and Bangalore. It is 130 km west of Chennai and 180 km east of Bangalore. The nearest airport is Chennai (two and half hours drive). Vellore-Katpadi Junction is the nearest railway station, 3 km from campus and accessible by train and road from Chennai and Bengaluru. It is 5 km from the Andhra Pradesh border and approximately 33 km from Chittoor.

College festivals

Two main college fests are conducted in VIT: graVITas and Riviera.

GRAVITAS is a techfest (technology oriented festival) conducted in August/September.

Riviera is a sports and cultural festival. According to organizers for Riviera 2011, it pulled more than 300 participants from over 20 colleges and universities. Rivera 2013 saw popular names like Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Sukhwinder Singh, Chiyaan Vikram, Siddarth, singer Kartik and many more. ParaMek Technologies from New Delhi conducted a workshop on Automotive Engineering during the fest which was attended by more than 450 students.

Amaravati campus

VIT will be the first university to set up a campus in Amaravati, the new capital city of Andhra Pradesh. The new state private university will be called VIT-AP. VIT-AP has been allotted a 200-acre land parcel (in two phases), with the university paying ₹50 crores towards the purchase of the first 100 acres. Construction of the first academic and hostel buildings will commence in November 2016, with classes scheduled to commence in July 2017. The campus will offer five B.Tech programmes and a five-year M.Tech (Software Engineering) programme for students who have completed their 12th standard. Apart from these, research programmes including Ph.D. will be offered.

Bhopal Campus

Foundation stone for VIT Bhopal campus at Sehore, Madhya Pradesh was laid down by Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh) on 20 October 2016. Bhopal campus to be spread over an area of 100 acres with an investment of ₹500 crores.

Gender discrimination

Gender discrimination has been a common issue raised in universities across India. Some students have complained that VIT University has much more restrictive hostel rules for female students compared to their male counterparts and regard this as evidence of gender discrimination in VIT. University officials, however, maintain that stricter female hostel rules are a necessary safety precaution given the rise in crimes against women. University officials have stated that, while they agree that men and women must be treated equally, they have at times been faced by irate parents who have insisted on stricter codes of conduct. Measured steps are being taken to ensure that both genders are treated equally thus allowing all students equal opportunities to access the university resources.

In October 2013, two female students were suspended after they helped to organize an online opinion survey of female VIT students, focusing on issues of safety and inequality. Dr. Theodore Moallem, a VIT professor who supported the students and filed a public petition in their defence, was simultaneously fired.

Less than 10% of the students living in VIT's female hostel took part in the survey, only after knowing that their identity would not be revealed. Of those who did participate, roughly 84% of respondents indicated that they were dissuaded "from speaking out publicly against VIT’s management decisions" by "fear of expulsion, suspension or other academic devastation". Commenting on the issue, VIT University vice president Sekar Viswanathan said: “The students started a campaign based on the misplaced notion that the university discriminates against women, which is not true. They were taken home by their parents”.