I have quite a few friends at VJIT Mumbai, so I can speak for the institute. After IITs, it is quite reputed among students. People from outside of Maharashtra may not be aware of VJIT but inside the state being a student of VJIT is a matter of pride. 

If we make a comparison of engineering colleges nationwide, it will be IITs from tier-1, followed by few NITs, and after that colleges such as VJIT for the following tier. 

VJIT is an old institute with a huge brand value. Many reputed MNCs visit the campus for the placement drive. It is less recognized but ‘underrated’ is probably is the wrong word to describe it. 

The following factors are the reasons who most people are not familiar with the institute. 

• It is a state college, that limits its appeal to a great extent. Students, parents, and media all alike give far more important to national colleges/institutions by default.
• As students outside of the state of the institute do not know about the college, they do not apply and thus the diversity is heavily skewed.

So, VJIT may not have national recognition but it is quite reputed inside Maharashtra.

Choosing a particular college or a department actually depends on you, and how you want to shape your career ahead. Having known some people who study in both these institutions, I can say that they all have their fair share of strengths and weaknesses. 

I might not be able to help you select one among them, because they are both good in their own ways. So, I will share some information about them which might help you make the choice.

• ECE at IET Lucknow has one of the finest faculty. They also have a great student crowd.
• HBTU also has highly experienced faculty members.
• Placements at HBTU are also much better than IET Lucknow.
• The enrolled candidates of the GATE exam are really great.
• They also offer a vast alumni network unlike IET.

It is suggested that you go for the more experienced institute, as it will prove to be better for your career ahead. You will get to learn new skills and take part in seminars and industry visits, to get a slice of the corporate world.

Go for the one which is nearer. Although, IIIT Lucknow is a fair enough option to consider for chemical engineering. All the above-mentioned colleges are national-level recognized colleges.

• The reason why IIIT Lucknow is slightly preferred over the others is because of its campus which is ever-growing and developing. 
• The recruiters are always eyeing the campus and offering packages as high as 10 LPA, which makes it quite a welcome option for all the applicants and aspiring candidates.
• Moreover, the campus will help you to focus on extra-curricular and other curricular activities too apart from academics, thus paying a lot of attention to the overall growth of the personality holistically and not just scoring good grades. 
• The multiple competitions and championships happening are always intended to prepare the students holistically.

You can go for HBTI Kanpur only when you have no other options of IITs or NITs. It is a state-level college and not as reputable as the others.

It depends upon your choice. A few highlights of both the institutes are below. You can tick on all those points which are in your favor and declare the winner yourself.

HBTI Kanpur:

• Harcourt Butler Technical University Kanpur is a reputed institute in Uttar Pradesh, apart from IITs, NITs, and IIITs.
• HBTI is a home-state institute and has got a University status.

PEC Chandigarh:

• PEC is one of the top institutes in north India.
• It is in Chandigarh, which is a beautiful and competitive city. The quality of students will be excellent. The city is also well-connected through railways and international airports.
• It also has the Deemed University status.
• The institute has a little student diversity because 50% is reserved for Chandigarh quota.

Here’s a brief comparison of the two institutes.

These are the few points you should consider before choosing your institute.

NIT Durgapur is one of the top engineering colleges in India and ranked 46th by NIRF 2019. On the other hand, HBTU or HBTI Kanpur has been ranked 166th by NIRF 2020. HBTI Kanpur is AICTE approved and affiliated to AKTU.

Given below is a comparison of the CSE program offered by NIT Durgapur and HBTI Kanpur.

The fees of HBTI Kanpur are lower than NIT Durgapur for the CSE course. However, from the placement perspective, NIT Durgapur is better. Most of the companies hire students from NIT’s and IIT’s; hence there is an advantage of pursuing CSE from NIT Durgapur. NIT Durgapur has alumni working in top MNCs like Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. Also, the NIT brand name has more value and offers many opportunities.

Harcourt Butler Technical University and Thapar University both are reputed. The choice depends on your preferred branch. The following points will help you to make your choice.

• HBTU is famous for its CSE and Chemical Engineering, whereas Thapar is well-known for its Mechanical Engineering.
• The main concern with Thapar University is the high course fee.

In terms of placements, both institutes are almost equal. The details are below.

Overall, as mentioned above, both the institutes are similar. There is a wide range of branches in both the institutes to study. After analyzing all the factors, you can choose the best-suited course for yourself. If you do not have any inclination towards a particular branch, it is better to opt for HBTU Kanpur as the fee is low and the return on investment is high.

You should definitely go ahead with HBTU for IT and Electronics. Here are some of the reasons for this:

• HBTU is a far better institute as compared to BIET when it comes to parameters like faculty, placements, and infrastructure as well the crowd.
• If you are mainly concerned regarding placements, at HBTU you will get a larger pool of companies to apply to as compared to BIET. To put things into perspective, you will get all companies that visit BIET for CS at HBTU and many more.
• Faculty and seniors wise, HBTU is definitely much better. It is in a better city to live in and also has a really good campus.
• IT and Electrical Engineering are two separate branches at BIET. Both of them are self-financed as BIET runs it on its own budget. It does not get the regular status with the other branches at BIET. Moreover, you will also notice that the fees are higher as compared to others.
• HBTU will also be a much more logical choice. Taking admission here is also a smooth process.

The following table shows the placement statistics of 2020 batch for HBTU Kanpur:

Always choose a better college overlooking for a branch. This is mainly because companies visit colleges based on their popularity, quality of students, and status.