Its sad to see that our college website still has not improved even a bit. So I decided to write a mail to our respected principal. Im copy-pasting what I sent him. Guys... anyone who is interested in taking up responsibility for the website for the sake of the institute, please do approach him and ask him to allow you to take it up.
And here is the mail:
Respected Sir,
I am a former student of GEC, Barton Hill and completed my engineering education in 2007. During my final year in college, I had written an entry in the college blog about the pathetic state of our college website, and hoped that some action would have been taken since then. It is unfortunate to see that the only change that has happened since then is the change in the principal's page.
I feel that the college website is the first point of contact between the institute and the incoming batch of students. We are one of the best colleges in Kerala and try to attract the top rankers in the entrance examination. In such a situation, if one were to visit the college website to gain a measure of how good the institute is, I am sorry to say that our college website paints a very bleak picture.
During my final year, some of the final year students approached the IT head of department regarding upgrading the website, but his reply was that it was taken care of by the IT department and they would handle it. And quite frankly, it's been a disaster.
If we look at the students list, only the IT department list has all 4 years' list of students in it. What happened to Mechanical and EC Engineering? And also havn't we started an Electrical branch as well? Nowhere in the site does it say anything about this branch. Also the list of students is outdated and the current first and second year students have not been included, while our batch still is there.
There are a lot of aspects where the authorities concerned have not bothered to update or maintain the website. I understand that the IT faculty are busy, but isn't it fair and right that if they are unable to handle something of critical importance, they should at least be ready to let someone who is willing to do the job take it up?
I suggest that the website duties are handed over to the student's council or any other body that would be willing to take it up and a mechanism be set in place to ensure that regular updation takes place.
I hope that something is done as soon as possible regarding this, as it's very disheartening to see that even with the progress that our institute is making, no body seems interested in letting others know about it. Isn't it the duty of the authorities of the institute to ensure that such matters are handled?
Please do something about this matter. Hopefully it will not fall upon deaf ears as such important matters always have. This is not something that will cost us anything. All it requires is a little investment of time and effort.
Thank you,
Rohin Thampi
Mechanical Engineering 2003-07 batch.
hi all.....
this marks my entry to this blog...it feels like getting
an entry into IPL from domestic cricket.....am only
an average blogger.. to be honest...and ve jus started
with it..and the reason for this post is that i couldn
see many posts abt our own Aaneya.. and felt very
bad about it...so thought i ll tell out my version....
or rather my heart felt feelings about this first ever
mega event of our college...the success of which inspired
me a lot and gave us all another big reason to feel proud
about....here it goes......
"V TEACHERS AND STUDENTS OF THIS INSTITUTION HAVE NOTHING TO LOOSE.....BUT V WILL FACE EACH HURDLE WITH A WILL TO WIN...." were the words which unleashed the fire and set stage for a three day mega event Aagneya 08 .....the words were given by none other than our beloved principal at the inaugural ceremony ....which set our minds ignited....and the fire blazing high for the days which followed....the spirited words were in reply to the pains and challenges faced by GECIANS for the past 2 months during the making of the technocultural extravaganza.....a race which we can now be proud of winning in style....the challenges were like sand dunes ...the wind of fate putting new ones in place and they seemed waiting for us each time in the path ahead... or like jigsaw puzzles with just a couple of pieces which never fitted in place......it is ironical that one of the main events had the name Ultimate challenge.....and wasnt even near to a challenge when compared to the ones faced by our army...... one of the smallest yet the strongest in town....just handful yet capable of moving mountains.....and thats what v showed v can....a herculian task it was...no doubt...especially, when u r starting from scratch .....,when there is neither reputation nor money power to set u sailing in the long journey to success....but just a piece of log and a pair of broken oars..... and an added bonus that v had never "seen the sea"....yet v could arrive at the right land...and our target was accomplished....2 months of sweat and tears paid off as a grand climax.....much more grand than v ever dreamt of....The venue, nishagandhi was in full bloom for 3 days…or nights rather…..and all eyes were on the ever glowing stage…
The events kicked off with a brief inaugural ceremony followed by a family night …..an inhouse entertainment program aimed at entertaining families and faculties of our students respecting the importance of family and teachers to any man….The RAAGASHILA(rockshow) followed which erupted the adrenaline within and there were screams of excitement all around…..
The second night began with ALANKARA(glitz fashion) which showcased the new trends in dressing, bringing out ones creativity and dress sense….tradition was given equal importance ….and the crowd was thrilled by this tradition trend fusion……an equally thrilling yet much more dynamic event…..NAATYA(choreo video) followed which set the crowds tapping their feet and clapping their hands with the beats none left blank….all neatly choreographed….With a slight drizzle just before the end of show, the clouds let us know that even they were present for our show….
The final night saw singers performing their best…..in AALAAP(voice hunt)…challenging even the best singers in town…..all their talents were put to test in a 3 round challenge and the audience cheered putting their hands together and appreciating the “sangathis”…..
Every event needs a colorful and exciting climax and this time it was “THANDAVAS “-the fire dancers who made it thrilling during NISAGANDHI(star nite)…these professionals made the crowd gasp with their amazing performance with fire and further with high level acrobatics……..
If all the 3 nights were lit up with cultural events……it was something else that set the days and roads burning…..CHAKRA(FULL THROTTLE-auto show)….and those looking for raw excitement got it to the fullest…..dangerous stunts by professionals ruled the show….with bikes rarely touching the ground and cars taking 360 degree turns as though driving in ice………the crowd hardly blinked their eyes…cos they dared not to miss any stunt……
The 3 day festival of fire came to an end igniting a count down in the minds of every soul towards the same fest next year and spreading the fire of hope………
i beg your pardon ..if that was too short... but u ll need too many pages to bring out all the spirits which each of us ve within us on the event....so grand it was... and i'm sure u guys ll agree with me on that......
"Small sacrifices must be made!", uttered Otto Lilienthal from his death bed after breaking his spine in a fatal crash of his experimental aircraft. We have collectively made those small sacrifices and made a humble beginning........
Aagneya is a reality.......
The task at hand was tough but the enormity of it, inviting. At the team-aagneya, we had a few young men and women who relished a good challenge or two and they thrived as the task began to appear tougher than expected. As the famous saying goes; even our 'little squirrels' contributed in whatever way they could ...... :-)
Most people will frown if we say that we had put our lives on the lines, but at least a few will understand the truth behind the statement.
What do you think of Aagneya, 2008?
Could see very little of it myself.........and whenever I could, didn't have the peace of mind to enjoy it.
We understand that it was not above criticisms and we welcome them too.....for we believe that it assists the creative minds in improving their craft.......
Definitely not looking for sugar coated superlatives here.....feel free to speak your mind and enable the team aagneya to perform better in the coming years with your constructive criticisms.
Aagneya is a reality.......
The task at hand was tough but the enormity of it, inviting. At the team-aagneya, we had a few young men and women who relished a good challenge or two and they thrived as the task began to appear tougher than expected. As the famous saying goes; even our 'little squirrels' contributed in whatever way they could ...... :-)
Most people will frown if we say that we had put our lives on the lines, but at least a few will understand the truth behind the statement.
What do you think of Aagneya, 2008?
Could see very little of it myself.........and whenever I could, didn't have the peace of mind to enjoy it.
We understand that it was not above criticisms and we welcome them too.....for we believe that it assists the creative minds in improving their craft.......
Definitely not looking for sugar coated superlatives here.....feel free to speak your mind and enable the team aagneya to perform better in the coming years with your constructive criticisms.
Quite encouraging a promise it was when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his speech to the nation on 15th August 2007 mentioned about 8 new IITs and 7 new IIMs. It’s a major rollout for higher education sector which caters to the global needs for engineers and managers. This promise if made a reality would bring out even more engineers in India every year, than the number that we see in today’s statistics which is more than 350,000 graduates per year. In a developing nation, which has just entered its 7th decade of democracy, the relevancy of creating more and more technical education centers is quite debatable. When India needs more boost to primary education, to create a stronger foundation, this debate has more points to discuss.
IITs are always known to the world as the de facto of Indian engineering education. It was once a dream for many of us to get there to do our engineering graduation. I’m certainly unaware of how they’re taught in IITs, but as a victim of the JEE I’m pretty sure that those who get in there really needs to have something in their head! So quite naturally all those rare species that pass out from various IITs are looked upon with utmost surprise and reverence by people like me. But lately I realize that this “rare species” are ultimately going to be not-so-rare in the country (if the mentioned proposal of the Planning commission becomes a truth!).
It’s a noble idea to give standard education to the masses when they’re qualified to do their graduation in engineering. But how sure can be this Planning commission about the standard that is expected to be maintained in the future IITs? Not even a week has passed since this proposal was made public; the chief minister of a “very influencing” state in India has written to the PM demanding the allocation of 3 such premier institutions in his state! check out
For any average Indian tracing Indian politics for the past 5 years can be pretty sure that this boon is going to be granted. If politics could influence such areas of higher education, how can we be sure about the standards?
There is another article which many of you would have read by this time. It was published in Education Plus supplement to The Hindu dated 14th August, 2007. check out
It clearly analyses the falls that CUSAT had to bear with, due to the increasing number of engineering colleges under the university. Now, since the final year results of Kerala University (2003-‘07 batch) is expected to be published soon, I don’t know if the newspaper will have to republish the article with proper changes in names!
The government has always played games with higher education sectors with different cards at different times- the reservation cards got lost unexpectedly this year. Since the market is demanding more grads with the engineering feather on their heads, it’s a natural and welcomed move by the government to set up more premier institutions across the country. We can just hope that we have brighter grads coming out to build a better nation…!
IITs are always known to the world as the de facto of Indian engineering education. It was once a dream for many of us to get there to do our engineering graduation. I’m certainly unaware of how they’re taught in IITs, but as a victim of the JEE I’m pretty sure that those who get in there really needs to have something in their head! So quite naturally all those rare species that pass out from various IITs are looked upon with utmost surprise and reverence by people like me. But lately I realize that this “rare species” are ultimately going to be not-so-rare in the country (if the mentioned proposal of the Planning commission becomes a truth!).
It’s a noble idea to give standard education to the masses when they’re qualified to do their graduation in engineering. But how sure can be this Planning commission about the standard that is expected to be maintained in the future IITs? Not even a week has passed since this proposal was made public; the chief minister of a “very influencing” state in India has written to the PM demanding the allocation of 3 such premier institutions in his state! check out
For any average Indian tracing Indian politics for the past 5 years can be pretty sure that this boon is going to be granted. If politics could influence such areas of higher education, how can we be sure about the standards?
There is another article which many of you would have read by this time. It was published in Education Plus supplement to The Hindu dated 14th August, 2007. check out
It clearly analyses the falls that CUSAT had to bear with, due to the increasing number of engineering colleges under the university. Now, since the final year results of Kerala University (2003-‘07 batch) is expected to be published soon, I don’t know if the newspaper will have to republish the article with proper changes in names!
The government has always played games with higher education sectors with different cards at different times- the reservation cards got lost unexpectedly this year. Since the market is demanding more grads with the engineering feather on their heads, it’s a natural and welcomed move by the government to set up more premier institutions across the country. We can just hope that we have brighter grads coming out to build a better nation…!
HOME PAGE :
Lets start off with the Home page... The first thing that hit you as soon as the page loads is how utterly bland the site is. With just two colours (namely blue and black... yea..very colourful and bright!! ), the initial reaction to the site is ... CRAP!!. And what is it with the "Advances In Material Technology" link on the home page right next to the wonderfully obviously fake pic of a non existent college building? And on top of that not only is that link slap bang in the home page where it should never have been, but IT DOESN'T WORK!! IF IT DOESN'T WORK WHY ON EARTH IS IT THERE?????
Now assuming that the visitor hasn't gone to another site as a result of boredom, and is curious to know how badly a site can be made.... lets see the other pages.
CONTACT ADDRESS:
The second page is an ever so important separate page for "Contact Address".The amazing picture of our hypothetical college building sweeps to the right side of the page (As a result of someone not taking enough time to make a good site) and the blandness continues.)
PRINCIPAL:
Next you click on the link that says "Principal" so that you can know who is in charge and can be held accountable for the site... and what do you get ???
Yea ... thats our principal! NOT FOUND!!
Cmon ... he's the head of the institution!! If the college site cant even get a decent pic of profile of him up, then what's the point in having the site?
AFFILIATED UNIVERSITY
Next is the Affiliated University link ...and another page is wasted just givin the address of the Kerala University.
GOVERNANCE
The GOVERNANCE link .. .the first decent page I found on the site. It serves its purpose sufficiently and effectively. And the background keeps with the central theme of amazing blandness.
PROGRAMMES
Ahh .. here comes the important stuff ... a student seeking admissions will be looking into this with great interest.. and this is the chance for the college to project its best and show its strength where it matters...
So you click "Programs" (It should have been programmes but hey ...who cares right?) and there in all its glory is
Nil "
Apparently we are proud of that fact that we need to advertise it all over our web page...
The cut off rank is probably one of the few good ideas that the site designer came up with. Why on earth is there a "fee" link in here if there is a separate page dedicated to that????
And probably one of the most, if not THE most important section PLACEMENTS is pushed into a nice corner within the Programmes section whereas other VERY IMPORTANT (Please note extreme levels of sarcasm) things such as "AFFILIATED UNIVERSITY" and "GOVERNANCE" and CONTACT ADDRESS are given separate pages.
And not leaving the topic of placements, please people!! This is where we need to project our college positively. Say exactly which all companies came, say how many they recruited. Show them a graph of a growin placement record.Not a drab page.
FACULTY:
Ok.So hmmm ... this section is done pretty decently.. again background sucks.And maybe we can avoid having a separate section for "Faculty - student Ratio" for one single statement by just having that statement in the opening page of that section.
FEE:
Now we dont really need this link do we? Because we've already covered this under another section!!!!!!!
APPLICATION FORM, ADMISSION,ADMISSION PROCEDURE,ADMISSION CRITERIA:
Cmon now people ... do we need four separate pages for this? It doesnt really take a rocket scientist to figure out that it would be much more simple and convenient to have it all under one page called "ADMISSIONS" because each of the above mentioned sections consists of only one sentence anyways.
LIST OF CANDIDATES:
No real reason to have such a section but what the hell ... if you're havin it, make it properly. Apparently from the site, only the IT branch has 4 years worth of students studyin in it and EC and MECH were started only this year because only the 1st year students(now in 2nd yr) of these two branches are mentioned.
INFRASTRUCTURE: (well here comes our college's strength!!)
1)library:
An acceptable job.
2)laboratories
Apparently the area is the most important part of a lab and and according to the site, the electrical lab and mechanical workshops have either infinite area or zero area ... if someone could please tell me what "...." under "area" indicates....
And instead of having all the details of the labs under this single link, we have seperate links for computing facilities,EC labs, IT labs, ME labs
3)"other facilities"
Let it speak for itself
I apologise in advance for what im about to say next but I have to ...KEEPING IT AT ITS BEST MY @$!!!!
If you don't know how to make a good site, let people who do know how to do it do it.The designers and the people who do not allow for change as a result of their stupid ego should be ashamed of their job. Look at www.cet.ac.in. Check that out and see the difference. We have students who know how to use Flash and software that could help in makin it a better site. But can they help?? NO!!! His Highness cannot let the mere mortals that dwell on earth lay their hands on his glorious and mighty web page!
Lets start off with the Home page... The first thing that hit you as soon as the page loads is how utterly bland the site is. With just two colours (namely blue and black... yea..very colourful and bright!! ), the initial reaction to the site is ... CRAP!!. And what is it with the "Advances In Material Technology" link on the home page right next to the wonderfully obviously fake pic of a non existent college building? And on top of that not only is that link slap bang in the home page where it should never have been, but IT DOESN'T WORK!! IF IT DOESN'T WORK WHY ON EARTH IS IT THERE?????
Now assuming that the visitor hasn't gone to another site as a result of boredom, and is curious to know how badly a site can be made.... lets see the other pages.
CONTACT ADDRESS:
The second page is an ever so important separate page for "Contact Address".The amazing picture of our hypothetical college building sweeps to the right side of the page (As a result of someone not taking enough time to make a good site) and the blandness continues.)
PRINCIPAL:
Next you click on the link that says "Principal" so that you can know who is in charge and can be held accountable for the site... and what do you get ???
Not Found
The requested URL /ec-ravindranath1.html was not found on this server.Yea ... thats our principal! NOT FOUND!!
Cmon ... he's the head of the institution!! If the college site cant even get a decent pic of profile of him up, then what's the point in having the site?
AFFILIATED UNIVERSITY
Next is the Affiliated University link ...and another page is wasted just givin the address of the Kerala University.
GOVERNANCE
The GOVERNANCE link .. .the first decent page I found on the site. It serves its purpose sufficiently and effectively. And the background keeps with the central theme of amazing blandness.
PROGRAMMES
Ahh .. here comes the important stuff ... a student seeking admissions will be looking into this with great interest.. and this is the chance for the college to project its best and show its strength where it matters...
So you click "Programs" (It should have been programmes but hey ...who cares right?) and there in all its glory is
"List of Programs acredited by AICTE
Apparently we are proud of that fact that we need to advertise it all over our web page...
The cut off rank is probably one of the few good ideas that the site designer came up with. Why on earth is there a "fee" link in here if there is a separate page dedicated to that????
And probably one of the most, if not THE most important section PLACEMENTS is pushed into a nice corner within the Programmes section whereas other VERY IMPORTANT (Please note extreme levels of sarcasm) things such as "AFFILIATED UNIVERSITY" and "GOVERNANCE" and CONTACT ADDRESS are given separate pages.
And not leaving the topic of placements, please people!! This is where we need to project our college positively. Say exactly which all companies came, say how many they recruited. Show them a graph of a growin placement record.Not a drab page.
FACULTY:
Ok.So hmmm ... this section is done pretty decently.. again background sucks.And maybe we can avoid having a separate section for "Faculty - student Ratio" for one single statement by just having that statement in the opening page of that section.
FEE:
Now we dont really need this link do we? Because we've already covered this under another section!!!!!!!
APPLICATION FORM, ADMISSION,ADMISSION PROCEDURE,ADMISSION CRITERIA:
Cmon now people ... do we need four separate pages for this? It doesnt really take a rocket scientist to figure out that it would be much more simple and convenient to have it all under one page called "ADMISSIONS" because each of the above mentioned sections consists of only one sentence anyways.
LIST OF CANDIDATES:
No real reason to have such a section but what the hell ... if you're havin it, make it properly. Apparently from the site, only the IT branch has 4 years worth of students studyin in it and EC and MECH were started only this year because only the 1st year students(now in 2nd yr) of these two branches are mentioned.
INFRASTRUCTURE: (well here comes our college's strength!!)
1)library:
An acceptable job.
2)laboratories
Apparently the area is the most important part of a lab and and according to the site, the electrical lab and mechanical workshops have either infinite area or zero area ... if someone could please tell me what "...." under "area" indicates....
And instead of having all the details of the labs under this single link, we have seperate links for computing facilities,EC labs, IT labs, ME labs
3)"other facilities"
Let it speak for itself
Games and Sports Facilities
A Physical Education Department, headed by Dr. Monikantan Nair, HCPEd, BPE, MPEd, M Phil, PGDSM, PhD (permanent staff member), is functioning in this college. The Department has adequate facilities for its smooth functioning. Students can also utilize the facilities of the Department of Physical Education, University of Kerala and their stadium which is only half a kilometer from our Campus. Arrangements have been made to practice athletics, football, volleyball and weight training items there. Students can also practice basket ball and handball have at the Central stadium and ball badminton, shuttle badminton and table tennis at Jimmy George stadium, which are also only half a kilometer away from the campus. Mean time, the construction of 2 badminton courts is progressing on our campus. The department also plans to construct a volley ball court and a basket ball court on our campus shortly.
Yes ...we now play in the badminton courts everyday ... QUOTE" The department also plans to construct a volley ball court and a basket ball court on our campus shortly."
For normal people this is what "Shortly" means in GEC ... Shortly - definition: NEVER!!
Example sentence: When we joined this college in 2003, we were told that we would be getting a second bus "shortly".Its been four years. No bus.
And under "CENTRAL EXAMINATION FACILITY" we have ...Central Examination Facility
The existing class rooms are utilized.
That sure as hell needed a seperate page ... dont you think so???
and finally
ACADEMIC:
Yes... this page has some useful information i do admit. and apparently from this site, one can come to the conclusion that an engineering student has only odd semesters.Because the site gives the timetables of the odd sems. Oops my mistake ... its just that the people who are in charge of running the site are soooooo busy with their own lives to update the site once in a year atleast!!!!
S7 was over months back!!! WAKE UP!!!
FINAL VERDICT : in one word ... our college website SUCKS!
PS: If anyone is planning on commenting some thing along the lines of "If you have such an issue with the college website, why don't you make one instead of complaining.Its easy to sit and blog about it. Only we who actually made it know how hard it is to do it ... sniff sniff boo hoo waah waah" then don't. Because you have no right to.People who were really interested in making a good site approaced the IT HOD with plans for a revamped site and the reply he got from the "respected" HOD "it's a thng tht's bein managed by the IT dept and that the students needn't bother about it! They are keeping it at it's best."I apologise in advance for what im about to say next but I have to ...KEEPING IT AT ITS BEST MY @$!!!!
If you don't know how to make a good site, let people who do know how to do it do it.The designers and the people who do not allow for change as a result of their stupid ego should be ashamed of their job. Look at www.cet.ac.in. Check that out and see the difference. We have students who know how to use Flash and software that could help in makin it a better site. But can they help?? NO!!! His Highness cannot let the mere mortals that dwell on earth lay their hands on his glorious and mighty web page!
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