In an attempt to attract the best and brightest students to its campus, the Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) is taking several measures to improve the facilities and its image among the youths.

With the help of its alumni, the university has increased the number of scholarships in various undergraduate and post-graduate courses to 350.

“We are coming up with new scholarships for girls and marginalised communities so that students with limited means can access the university courses,” said Ajoy Kumar Roy, the Vice-Chancellor of the university. Apart from this, the BESU will set up two centres - one on innovation and the other for promoting theatre and art activities.

Every year the ‘Centre for Ideas and Innovation’ will award ten best ideas on innovation. “Students who wish to join the institute can take rounds of the campus and see the ambience and infrastructure of the university and then decide whether to seek admission here or not,” said Roy.

Over 200-year-old BESU is the oldest technical university in the state. At present students with ranks as low as 1800 in the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) manage to get admission in the university. Being rated second after Jadavpur University in terms of academic parameters in Bengal, BESU is unable to attract the top rankers of the WBJEE in spite of offering residential facilities to the students. In recent years, many top rankers have even opted for private engineering colleges as incidents of campus violence are rampant at BESU. The university is also in the process of revamping its syllabi to make it at par with the requirement of industry and research.

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