RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Desk research

This module was a secondary research module. A comprehensive list of engineering colleges was generated with the help of the internet, magazines, and other publications. The various sources used for the generation of the engineering college list included:

• List of colleges/ universities from previous surveys
• A discussion with industry experts to add/delete any college to ensure we have a comprehensive list However, it is not possible to get an exhaustive list of colleges and include them in the survey. To give equal chance to all, we had an option of adding any new college name in the survey form if any respondent mentioned any college name outside our list. Effectively, every engineering college had a chance of getting covered in the survey if their name was mentioned by the respondents.

Perceptual Survey

In this Module, a structured questionnaire was administered to selected respondents including HR professionals, faculty, alumni, current students, and aspiring students to arrive a ranking and rating of engineering colleges. The sample selection was done using convenience, referral, and snowball sampling methods though the sample was spread out geographically to get better representation. More than 2000 sample survey was conducted across key cities. The geographical spread of the sample was ensured by selecting multiple starting points spread across the cities.

The following key parameters were covered in Perceptual Rating

• Infrastructure
• Faculty
• Course Curriculum
• Industry Interaction
• Pedagogy
• Research Orientations & focus.
• Global Exposure
• Placement
• Overall Brand Value

Factual Survey

In this module, more than 1500 engineering colleges were sent the factual data questionnaire and then rigorously followed up through different modes such as telephone, email, and even face-to-face if required.

The factual data sheet was focused on the following information areas:

• General information of the college: Establishment, College type, Affiliation, etc.
• Courses offered & number of seats.
• Infrastructure
• Faculty
• Intellectual capital
• Industry interface
• Placement
• Potential to network
• Exchange programs & Global exposure
• Research Orientation & focus.
• Alumni chapter

Analysis: Final Ranking of Engineering Colleges

A robust approach was followed to arrive at the final rankings. The step-by-step process is given below:

• Factual Score
  • The information collected corresponded to similar parameters as in the perceptual survey.
  • A detailed scoring system was developed for each parameter.
  • The raw scores were weighted by their importance to arrive at weighted scores.
• Perceptual Score
  • Ratings on various parameters
  • Calculating the importance of various parameters to arrive at weights for each parameter – we used a regression model to arrive at the importance of various parameters.
  • Calculation of raw scores and weighted scores for each parameter.
  • Calculation of overall score for each college using importance weights.
• The final rank was calculated for all those Engineering colleges that had shared the factual data.
• Also, the list of top 30 colleges who scored high in Perceptual (but did not submit factually) were listed in alphabetical order.

SOME CAVEATS

• Only those colleges who participated in the Factual Survey have been ranked in all modules.
• If the GAP between institutes is found to be very low, both institutes are awarded the same rank in all modules.
• Institutes government-funded/ getting grants are considered as Government Institute.
• Relatively newer colleges that have less than 5 batches graduated out of their colleges were included in Emerging Engineering College List.

Note: Present survey has been conducted by an independent Research Agency named Avance Insights Pvt Ltd, a full-service market research agency providing Research and Support Services to companies ranging from boutique research agencies to large consulting firms.