VelloreInstitute of Technology is a private university located in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 1984, as Vellore Engineering College, by G. Viswanathan, the institution offers 20 undergraduate, 34 postgraduate, four integrated and four research programs.
Academics
VIT consolidated its disciplines into 20 Schools of Study with the addition of the VIT Law School at its Chennai campus. VIT implements the Fully Flexible Credit System which gives the students flexibility to make their own time tables by choosing the subjects and the faculties under whose guidance they want to study.
Admission
VIT admits bachelor students through its own engineering entrance exam, called the Vellore Institute of Technology Engineering Entrance Examination. It is conducted every year in the month of April and May. The exam has been conducted online since 2013 and in 2018, 212,000 students have registered.
Rankings
VIT was ranked 801–1000 in the world by the Times Higher EducationWorld University Rankings of 2020 and 201-250 in Asia. The QS World University Rankings ranked it 228 in Asia in 2020. The National Institutional Ranking Framework ranked VIT 28 overall in India in 2020 and 16 among universities. Among engineering colleges in India, VIT was ranked 15 in 2020 and 13 by Outlook India. The Week ranked it 19 in 2019 and India Today ranked it 20th among engineering colleges in 2020. The VIT Business School was ranked 55 among management schools in India by NIRF in 2020.
College fests
The Vellore campus hosts two annual college fests, Riviera, a sports and cultural fest, and GraVITas, a technological and design fest. The Chennai campus organizes the cultural fest Vibrance and the technical fest technoVIT.
Gender discrimination has been a common issue raised in universities across India. VIT allegedly use their restrictive rules and regressive practices to market to conservative parents of Southern India, particularly in their home state of Tamil Nadu and neighboring Andhra Pradesh. These practices include much more restrictive rules on women hostelers, moral policing, shaming by an all-round security force and special committees to look into moral paternalism. The Hindu reported that often women would find themselves checked at hostel rooms and asked to stop talking on mobile phones and sleep or study. Over time, videos and articles have emerged online about the same. VIT officials, however, maintain that stricter female hostel rules are a necessary safety precaution given the rise in crimes against women. VIT officials have stated that, while they agree that men and women must be treated equally, they have at times been faced by irate parents who have insisted on stricter codes of conduct. VIT despite calling itself a progressive educational institution committed to excellence, still ensures strict gender segregation at official events and fests. In October 2013, two female students were suspended after they helped to organize an online opinion survey of female VIT students, focusing on issues of safety and inequality. Commenting on the issue, VIT vice president Sekar Viswanathan said: "The students started a campaign based on the misplaced notion that the university discriminates against women, which is not true. They were taken home by their parents". In 2019, Indian news outlet The Print carried a story which alleged that the government was delaying according the Institute of Eminence status to VIT due to an alleged anti-Modi government stance by its Chancellor and an official Intelligence Bureau report alleging gender discrimination of students.
VIT allegedly makes students sign an affidavit which prohibits them from speaking out against university management. The university code of conduct prohibits any form of protest or action within premises or outside which may spoil repute of the institute and prohibits passing out information to any media group without prior permission of university officials. In 2015, Indian stand-up comedian Papa CJ was banned from the campus for taking up issues related to gender discrimination and moral policing during his show at GraVITas. He put up a video about his ban on his Facebook page and tweeted about the same describing his ban and a video recording of his show.
PUBG Ban
In December 2018 a circular sent out by VIT Vellore's Chief Warden of Men's Hostel banning the online multiplayer game PUBG. Netizens slammed the university for its moral paternalism on Twitter and Reddit.
