Top private architecture college in Bengaluru based on NIRF ranking 2021
Wondering whether BMS College is good for studying architecture? This article provides an insight into the curriculum of the courses offered by the B.M.S. College of Architecture, Bengaluru. This college has got rank #15 in the latest 2021 NIRF, so find out what are the exceptional campus features of the college, know about faculty guidance, and find out how you can get admission to the B.Arch., M.Arch. and Ph.D. programs in BMSCA.
Every year, students make a beeline to institutes that feature an 'IT' in their names. Exceptions are those who would prefer private colleges that are not having very high cut-offs and are offering an excellent academic ambiance for a lower fee than their more prestigious 'IT' counterparts. Let's check out what's in store for an architecture student seeking admission to the B.M.S. College of Architecture (BMSCA), which is the highest-ranked private architecture college in Bangalore and in the State of Karnataka in the Ministry of Education's 2021 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking list of architecture colleges.
Just a bit of information before we go ahead - B.M.S. is the initials of the founder's name, Bhusanayana Mukundadas Sreenivasaiah, the philanthropist who established B.M.S. Engineering college, the country's very first private engineering college in 1946. The B.M.S. College of Architecture has come up on the same campus in 1980.
NIRF stats of B.M.S. College of Architecture Bengaluru
The B.M.S. College of Architecture has been ranked #15 in the 2021 NIRF ranking for architecture colleges in India and is thus the top-ranked private college to study architecture courses in the city of Bengaluru and in the State. Looking at the graphic image below, you can see that it has an impressive 28 on 30 for FSR, which is the faculty to student ratio, with weightage given on permanent faculty. 
[Image source: official NIRF website]
Speaking of faculty, feedback from students sourced through multiple reviews, even of over five years back, has made it clear that faculty are very, very good and is one of the primary reasons why students are eager to get admission to this college. The Professors are not only knowledgeable about the subject matter, but also provide excellent support even outside the classroom, and are easily approachable for guidance. It is thus not surprising at all to see a score of 30 out of 30 for GUE, which is the Metric for University Exams, this score indicating that in the last three years, each and every student enrolled in a course at BMS have passed the university exam on schedule. Mind you, the current curriculum is tougher than when the courses were first launched, so getting through it successfully is no doubt a real achievement and testimony to the teaching methodologies of faculty.
Two other scores that catch the eye are the full scores for the percentage of women enrolled in the college (WD, which stands for Women's Diversity) and PCS, which indicate facilities provided for physically challenged students, for whom lifts, ramps, and special washroom facilities are available.
It is noteworthy that it is not just the NIRF ranking list where BMSCA features. It has also made it to two prestigious ranking lists, namely 10th on the India Today 2021 Ranking-of institutes of architecture in India, and 4th on the Outlook 2020 Ranking of India's top-ranking institutes of architecture, and the first in Bangalore.
What about the infrastructure? After all, when you pay Rs.5 lakh+ for a B.Arch. course, you do expect top-notch facilities! B.M.S. College of Architecture Bengaluru campus
Any good architecture college must have the requisite labs with equipment that is used in current times for architectural work and designs, and this is no less the case with BMSCA, Bengaluru. Mind you, in the fledgling years, the campus was not something that some students were enamoured about, since the architecture courses were offered under the Dept. of Architecture of B.M.S. College of Engineering, this located on the same site, so initially campus facilities were shared with the students of that college. Over time, though, funds have been effectively used to set up an independent block for architecture students, upgrading lab equipment, improving the library facilities, and setting up studios. [[Image source: official college brochure]
The studios on the BMSCA campus have been rated highly by students. Drafting tables have been set up, along with the requisite measuring, drawing, and model-making equipment with adequate storage and display spaces. Two of the most interesting labs are the innovation & model-making lab, where students can themselves use 3D printers for making prototypes, and use laser-cutting tools to create models of their plans; and the carpentry lab, which is the place to be if ever you wanted to try your hand with the tools of the trade, chisel sets et al!
Other labs are the environment lab, in which instruments will help you understand climatic elements that would affect a design feature; the Art workshop lab which has materials for activities related to basic designs; an acoustics lab; an illumination & lighting lab to know about unusual things like electricity transmission, and a computer lab with LAN network.
A prominent highlight on the campus is the BMSCA Material Museum. Here, you get to directly check out what materials go into various architectural features and designs. You can physically examine things like a fabric swatch, different types of wood, a piece of glass, various types of surface materials that go into making a wall tile or a kitchen platform, and so on. This museum thus provides a wealth of information, especially since you can not just look but also touch products and find them useful for your project or presentation and even for competition. By the way, BMSCA students have won prizes at prestigious design competitions.
The B.M.S. College of Architecture has an awesome library too, which includes a digital library, reprography and printing facilities, and a book bank for SC/ST students. There's an interesting feature in the library – research cubicles. Picture yourself sitting in a quiet cubicle away from the rest of the student groups, with a stack of reading material, perhaps with your research guide, totally focused on your thesis work. In fact, the college has four highly qualified research guides, all approved by the Visveswaraiah Technological University (VTU) to which the college is affiliated. Incidentally, research work is not limited to those working on a Ph.D. There have been projects on which students have worked under the guidance of faculty, including documentation of the famous Panchalinga Nageshvara Temple, Begur with prior permission from the Archaeological Survey of India. BMS College of Architecture is also a member of the United Nation's "Academic Impact Program" so exciting projects can come up for an enriching learning experience.
So what else does the campus offer in terms of facilities? There is a conference hall-cum-seminar room, an auditorium, a cafeteria, a stationery shop, a first-aid room, a playground, sports facilities for football, cricket, badminton, basketball, etc. The two hostels, one for boys and one for girls, are located near the college campus and have comfortable rooms with their own mess and a gym. Hostel charges are to be paid on a monthly basis.Beyond the classroom
What about activities at BMSCA? Just to give you a brief idea, there are cultural programs, music and dance programs, workshops, seminars, etc. The annual inter-collegiate fest is also a big draw. An exciting co-curricular program is the study tour. Of course, due to the pandemic, this has been on hold, but earlier BMSCA study tours took students to diverse places. A tour to South India provided a comparative study of vernacular houses from different states and gave them analytical knowledge of the architectural, socio-cultural aspects of temples. Another tour to Singapore gave an insight into contemporary architecture and the use of sustainable methods.
Now that your interest has been piqued sufficiently to be eager to apply for admission to BMSCA, learn about the courses offered.BMSCA architecture courses
The B.M.S. College of Architecture, Bengaluru offers a five-year (10 semesters) undergraduate course leading to a Bachelor's degree in Architecture (B.Arch.)Master's degree in Habitat Design (M.Arch. Habitat Design), and Doctoral Programs.
The UG course was started in 1980 and currently, the approved intake is 120 seats. The curriculum covers building structures, what materials and methods are used in construction, basic design and appreciation of art, surveys of sites, computer applications in architecture, etc. Professional electives are from the third semester to the final one.
The PG course was launched in 2005 and currently, the approved intake is 20 seats. Since habitat is the focus, the curriculum is geared towards planning and designing habitats, including planning infrastructure for the spaces around them. A unique part of the course is learning about the conservation and renewal of heritage structures. There is a mandatory internship of 8 weeks that has to be taken up during the vacation break between the second and third semesters, and a dissertation has to be submitted in each of the final two semesters.
The Ph.D. in Architecture was launched in 2010 and is available on a full-time as well as a part-time basis. You can pursue research not just on rural and urban designs, but even architectural education, architectural technology, etc.
Eligibility criteria for BMSCA
For admission to the undergraduate B.Arch. course, you should have passed II PUC/12th standard with min. 50% aggregate marks in Physics, Chemistry, and Maths and min. 50% aggregate marks of the 10+2 level exam. Another acceptable qualification is passing the 10+3 Diploma exam with Maths as a compulsory subject with min. 50% aggregate marks. You also need to have cleared the National Aptitude Test for Architecture (NATA), and the JEE paper-2 exam. Admission is then given to the UG course through the Consortium of Medical Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K).
For admission to the Postgraduate M.Arch. Habitat Design course, you should have passed the B.Arch. exam of VTU or any other recognized University/Institution with min. 50% aggregate marks in all the years of the degree exam. In case you have a foreign undergraduate degree, it is mandatory to have the relevant equivalence certificate from the Association of Indian Universities. Admission is then given to the PG course through the Post Graduate Common Entrance Test) conducted by KEA (Karnataka Examination Authority) or with a valid GATE score.
For admission to the Ph.D. program, you have to appear for the VTU Entrance Exam (VTU-ETR) for Ph.D. for which you have to first approach a Research Supervisor under VTU and who is currently a faculty at BMSCA. Once you register for VTU-ETR, your synopsis will be reviewed by a University level Selection Committee and if eligible, you will get a provisional letter of admission.What's ahead after studying at BMSCA
The one grouse that a few students have had is that although placement assistance can be sought for by the students, it is not that easy to get placement with a good salary package once you complete the course and, though some students have got placements, as such, not many companies visit for the placement sessions. Students appearing for their final exam can register for job opportunities and submit a design, based on which they may be called for an interview. So it is basically up to your caliber to come up with good employment-worthy applications and designs. However, the faculty is very helpful here. They will explain exactly what goes into an architectural portfolio and provide guidance on how to draft your communication when applying for a job or for an internship, the correct professional approach to talk to the company, etc.
It has also been mentioned by some students that the stipend given for an internship is low. However, surely this opportunity should not be scoffed at. After all, it gives you hands-on practical training working in a major company or a private architectural firm. Besides, you can also start your own private firm.
Interested in joining BMSCA? Here are the contact details-Contact information
Campus address: Bull Temple Road, Basavanagudi, Bengaluru - 560 019.
Ph: +91-80-26622126/127
Email for admissions: admissions@bmsca.org
Email for general queries and for queries related to the courses: info@bmsca.org
Website: https://bmsca.org/institution.html
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This is really an exhaustive piece of information regarding the BMS college which has emerged at the top among the architectural colleges in the state of Karnataka. The performance of the college as indicated in the NIRF indicators is really impressive and gives assurance to the students who are planning to have their architectural degrees from this institution. NIRF is the leading agency in our country which categorizes the various institutions as per their performance against the benchmark indicators and for the students, it is a very good clue to decide the institute before taking admission in their favourite stream. This time NIRF has categorized a large number of institutes and colleges (about 6000) under its ranking process and I hope that it will be very helpful for the aspiring students who have to decide the institute where they want to take admission.