India's BEST engineering colleges 2013

India Today has released the results of its annual of the best Indian colleges 2013. In the fourth part of a series, we bring you the top 10 engineering colleges, as per their findings. (Please also read India's best science colleges 2013, India's best commerce colleges 2013 and India's best arts colleges 2013)

One of the leading magazines in the country, India Today has prepared a list of the best colleges in India for this year.

Using data from the Internet, various published reports and the Association of Indian Universities Handbook, the publication partnered with global marketing and advertising research company Nielsen to draw up a list of over 1,500 colleges across 11 distinct disciplines.

Faculties from leading institutes across the country rated all but their own colleges and universities on the basis of reputation, quality of academic input, student care, infrastructure and job prospects; those that figured high up in the rankings also had to submit factual data to figure in the list.

In the following pages, we bring you the top 10 engineering colleges from across the nation.

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In tenth place is the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati.

Established in 1994, the technical institute currently has 11 departments and three inter-disciplinary academic centres covering engineering, science and humanities disciplines.

The residential campus is spread across 700 acres and is home to approximately 4,000 students who are pursuing their undergraduate or post graduate education.

Next is Delhi Technological University.

Popularly known as DelTech, the university was established in 1941 as Delhi Polytechnic.

In 2009, it acquired the status of a university.

It has 14 academic departments offering a range of technical courses at the undergraduate and post graduate level.

Each of these courses emphasise on scientific and technical research, a feature that has attracted students from all over the country.

It admits about 8,300 students across courses annually.

The Vellore Institute of Technology comes in at number eight.

Unlike the other technical institutes in the list, the VIT prides itself in calling its various education departments 'schools of study'.

The VIT has nine such schools of study catering to courses in science and technology and management.

It has two campuses -- Vellore and Chennai -- both in Tamil Nadu.

Varanasi's Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University is ranked seventh.

Spread over 1,300 acres of campus, the institute came into existence in 1919 as a part of BHU.

In 1971, the Banaras Engineering College (BENCO), College of Mining & Metallurgy (MINMET) and College of Technology (TECHNO) were merged to form the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IT-BHU).

Presently, it has 13 departments and three interdisciplinary schools offering both four year and five year integrated programmes.

In sixth place is the Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani.

The deemed university that was established in 1929, has three campuses in India -- Goa, Pilani and Hyderabad -- and one in Dubai.

Besides the regular undergraduate and post graduate engineering programmes, it also offers off-campus work-integrated learning programmes that has attracted the attention of several working professionals in the last few years.

The Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee moves up one place from last year's rankings and rounds off the top five engineering colleges this year.

It was established in 1847 as the first engineering college in India.

The engineering institute which became a public university in 1949 currently has 18 academic departments covering engineering, applied sciences, humanities and social sciences and management programmes.

It caters to over 4,100 students annually.

Staying put at number four is the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

Established in 1959, the residential institute is spread across 620 acres of campus land.

It has 16 academic departments offering programmes in science, engineering and research and caters to 6,000 students annually.

Third on the list is the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

Among the first IITs established in 1951, it is known for its history -- it was launched in a former jailhouse.

At 2100, it boasts of having one of the largest campuses among all the IITs; it also has the most number of departments and the highest student enrolment every year.

The institute has 19 academic departments, eight multi-disciplinary centres/schools, and 13 schools of excellence, in addition to laboratories and central research facilities.

It annually enrolls over 7,000 students across its undergraduate and post-graduate programmes.

The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur loses its top spot from last year and emerges runner up in the 2013 rankings by India Today.

It was established in 1959 as one of the first IITs in the country.

When it started, it had 100 students and a limited faculty, but today the institute caters to over 5,400 students across its undergraduate and post-graduate programmes.

They have eight engineering departments with specialisations in aerospace, biological sciences and bioengineering, chemical, civil, computer science and engineering, electrical, materials science and engineering and mechanical engineering.

The best engineering college according to India Today is the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

The institute was established in August 1961 as the College of Engineering and Technology, New Delhi and two years later, it was upgraded to its current name, the Indian Institute of Technology.

Currently, the institute has 13 departments and 11 multi-disciplinary centres of research activity, which offer around 700 courses every semester, including undergraduate and post-graduate programmes.

It also offers dual degree specialisations combining BTech and MTech programmes, admission to which is done through the Joint Entrance Examination.

Currently it admits 4,600 students across the above programmes.