Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Kakinada

Founded in 1946 as Government Engineering College, Kakinda, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Kakinada became a constituent college of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad in 1972. By 2008, it had matured sufficiently to fly the nest and grow constituent colleges of its own.

Today, it has 159 affiliated colleges, educating approximately 230,000 students. More than 50 undergraduate degrees and 120 masters’ programmes are offered across seven academic schools: health sciences and research; renewable energy and environment; biotechnology; special information technology; pharmaceutical sciences and technologies; nanotechnology; and avionics. (Avionics is a portmanteau subject, combining aviation and electronics.)  

In addition, an enrichment curriculum offers skills-based courses, intended to improve students’ employability. These include communication, IT and logical reasoning. Values-based education is offered through subjects such as ethics, environmental sciences and Indian traditional knowledge. In addition, students are taught what the university refers to as “gender sensitivity” by members of the Empowerment of Women and Grievances Directorate. 

There are separate hostels to accommodate male and female students. The specific numbers accommodated and facilities provided vary from college to college. However, all hostels include a cafeteria – known among students as the mess – and many campuses offer facilities such as a post office, bank, pharmacy, guest house and playing fields.

Many of the student societies – such as data-science club, robotics club and circuits club – complement the degree courses. An innovation club offers access to mentors and seed funding, as well as support with prototyping and filing patents. There are also a range of arts and social-service clubs.

One of the university's best-known student societies is leo club, which has the joint aims of community service and professional development. Service programmes include running blood-donation camps, dental check-up camps and World Heart Day awareness camps. The club also runs visits to a local orphanage and a school for differently abled children. Meanwhile, professional-development programmes offer visits to art exhibitions and workshops in skills such as dialogue writing.