Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology - [IIEST] Shibpur, Howrah - Hostel Details

IIEST Shibpur is equipped with well-maintained accommodation facilities for the students to provide them the comfort of home. 

• Currently, the campus has 15 hostels or halls of residence. With the increase in the number of admissions every year, the management has decided to construct new hostels to accommodate the students. 
• For boys, separate halls of residence are allotted as per their years. 1st-year boys are allocated to hostel 8, 9, 10. Second-year boys are accommodated to hostel 7, 11, or 15. Then, from the third year onwards, students reside in a big hall of residence. 
• On the other hand, girls are allocated 2 hostels. First-year girls reside in Nivedita Hall while from 2nd year onwards, they live in Pandya Hall. 
• In the initial first year, 4 seater rooms are allotted to students. The rooms are spacious enough for 4 students. While from third year onwards students have an option to choose from a single-seater room to multiple seaters. 
• The college has taken full care to provide a neat, clean and hygienic environment to the students. Every hall of residence has its own mess, common room, carrom, table tennis room, badminton court, etc. 
• The wifi facility is available 24*7 with high-speed internet. 
• Many other facilities like newspapers, washing machines, etc. are also there. Apart from that, the management keeps on updating the facilities to make the students feel better. 
• Lunch and dinner are provided in each mess of every hostel. Initially, they have started to provide breakfast but you have to buy evening snacks. You will also get a feast once a week during fests. 

If you are relocating, you need to get nothing to move in the hostel. If you want some extra comfort then only you need to buy which is also available in the nearby market.

For M.tech students the hostels are provided as per the distance of their homes. Male candidates would get a downing hall of residence, Hostel 15 and then PG. Hostel 15 is quite spacious and you will be getting beautiful scenarios outside the hostel. The downing hall is a bit congested as more number of students are accommodated in one hall. PG hostel is similar to hostel 15 only it is bit congested but it is better than downing hall. You will get PG hostel in the second year you will get Downing hall and hostel 15 in your first year. For female candidates the accommodation is given at Sister Nivedita hall.

You will get a bed, locker, and table individually in each room. There are a total of 11 rooms on each floor. Each floor has got 2 hi speed wifi routers. Some hostels also have paid canteens. There is an RO water cooler in the mess. Overall the hostels are pretty good considering it is a government college. You will also be sharing rooms with B.tech students.

There are several reviews about the Sen Hall of IIEST Shibpur from students who have spent their years in the hostel, stating the advantages and disadvantages. The points listed below give a brief idea about the kind of facilities and standard of living in the Sen hall.

• Separate rooms are allotted for every student resident. There are enough facilities provided inside every room, including a tube light, a bed, a table, a fan, an almirah, and a chair. Students can also use more than one almirah or table if they get one free lying across any corner of the hostel.
• There are arrangements for several indoor games, including carom and table tennis. The Sen hall also has a garden, where students can play short-pitch cricket or badminton.
• In the Sen hall, there is a good senior-junior relationship, where 3rd and 4th years stay. No report of ragging is evident from the Sen hall.
• The mess food is quite good, with the presence of supportive and caring mess staff. Students get to eat Biryani twice or thrice a month.
• The mess manager is allotted every month, which consists of both 3rd and 4th-year students. So, both the batches can decide the menu for the entire month.
• Since 2016, the provision of breakfast has been included in the mess.
• There are arrangements for common TVs, English and Bengali newspapers of several types, magazines, and employment news articles.
• The mess staff and hostel caretakers are very polite and helpful.
• Every year, there is a fresher’s party and a farewell party organized for the 3rd and 4th years respectively.

This is an overall view of the circumstance and events happening at the Sen hall in IIEST Shibpur.

No. It is not mandatory. The college allows you to have full freedom on whether you want to live in the hotel or outside. If someone has a problem with hostel life he/she can stay outside. But if you do not take hostels for a year you are going to miss a lot of things in life. 

The main crux of college life lies in a hostel and it is better to join the hostel for the first 2 years. Also, it is easier to maintain the 8–5 classes from hostels and after the whole day tiring classes you can hang with your friends, play on the two grounds or go to the gym. 

On papers, there is. Each floor has a Wi-Fi router or sometimes 2 Wi-Fi routers installed for the students and also there is 1 JAXB Wi-Fi installed at a common point amidst all the hostels for common access.

 But in reality, you would consider yourself lucky if you are in rooms like 01, 03 or 10, 11. These are the extreme most rooms on each floor and get good Wi-Fi connections with decent speed. If you get a room near to the router you might get a speed around 5mbps or sometimes even 10mbps with an average speed of 2mbps. But if you are not, then you have to depend on luck. Only when others are not using, you might get some decent speed around 1mbps.

Moreover, the college Wi-Fi blocks many sites. For example, you can’t open YouTube, till the afternoon. The library and departmental Wi-Fi are far better than the hostel ones. Sometimes, the CS and Chemistry dept. WiFi download speed reaches 100mbps.

To be very clear, you will not be given the option to choose your own hostel in the first year. The authority allots the hostels after entire admission process is completed. After the student reports at the respective hostel and registers his/her name, rooms are allotted.

In general, first-year boys are provided accommodation in Hostel 8, Hostel 9 and Hostel-10. On the other hand, first-year girls are given accommodation in Nivedita.

Some brief information regarding the allotment, change, and experiences in hostels are listed below:

• After completion of the admission process, a hostel allotment certificate is issued. On presenting the certificate, you will be allotted the room.
• Students going in groups can request a joint stay to the hostel caretaker, but the maximum size per room is limited to 4 students only.
• Almost all hostels in IIEST Shibpur are similar to each other in respect of facilities, hostile environment, etc. The main interest lies in your way of living. It will be up to you only to spend the best years of your college life. 
• If a student wants a change in the room in the same hostel, he/she can do so by just an unofficial mutual decision with an interested student. 
• Unofficial change in a hostel can cause difficulty because the hostel superintendent performs round to check whether only allotted students are staying or not. It is impossible to change the hostel during your 1st year. 
• In the rooms, students from various regions and departments stay together in a homogeneous way. Living with unknown people has its own advantages, and sometimes students get to stay with interesting fellows.

Making friends out of an unknown crowd is needed in the first year of college. Staying with known people is not as interesting as making new friends out of roommates. Discussing different topics during a hangout, getting some private time because of different class timing, and enjoying life in the hostel rooms become a part of life in those glorious years.