A news article was published in 2018 which assured that there are a lot of chances that PEC shall be converted into IIT very soon.

Firstly, PEC is part of the University of Punjab. If it is converted into IIT, then it has to be turned into an autonomous institute first, which has not started yet. There is still not any confirmation regarding the conversion of PEC into IIT. It is a huge thing and these type of topics generally goes through a lot of controversies. 

If you are taking admission in PEC thinking that you will get a degree from IIT, then you are completely wrong. You will get a degree with a tag of PEC.

It will be better if you stop thinking about the IIT factor. This institute itself a reputed one and provides amazing placements to every one of its students. So, you must be focused on your hard work, career and future career perspectives without thinking about PEC is transformed into IIT.

NIT Jalandhar is an autonomous university approved by AICTE and UGC. It is ranked 52nd for BTech by NIRF 2020, 33rd for BTech by India Today 2020 and 31st for BTech by The Week 2020.

PEC Chandigarh is one the pioneer engineering colleges in Punjab. It is ranked 68th for BTech by NIRF 2020. It is deemed to be a university approved by AICTE.

The table given below shows a brief overview of both institutions:

Admission Details - 

• Students should at least have 70-75% in their 10+2 qualifying exam.
• The admission will be based on the entrance exams.
• NIT Jalandhar will conduct a JoSAA counselling session for BTech students and CCMT counselling for MTech students.
• JEE and GATE scores are mandatory for the admission of BTech and MTech students.

Placements

NIT Jalandhar 

• 561 students are placed in the 2018-2019 placement program.

• • The institute recorded a total of 94.87% placement rate.
  • The highest salary offered to students was 39.12 LPA while the average salary was 7.53 LPA.

• The toprecruiting companies include Adobe, Microsoft, Capgemini, Vedanta, ZS Associates, Trident Group, etc.

PEC Chandigarh

• The toprecruiting companies include Microsoft, ITC, Infosys, TATA, JP Morgan, Mu Sigma, Arcesium, etc.
• A total of 60% placement rate was recorded in the recent placement drive.
• The students were offered the highest salary package of 17 LPA whereas the average salary was 5 LPA.

Facilities

NIT Jalandhar 

• The institute has 10 boys hostel and 3 girls hostel.
• They have a post office, shopping centre, banks, seminar hall, gym, computer centre and a library.

PEC University 

• With 146 acres, the institute provides facilities like Medical Facility and Graduate Research Project Award. 
• They have 6 hostels, 4 for boys and 2 for girls.
• They have a library consisting of 1,19,830 books.
• The university also has clubs for social gathering and recreational activities.

Both the colleges are equally good but if you get an opportunity to study ECE at NIT Jalandhar you should give that a chance due to its better placement record with better salary packages. ECE deals with manufacturing of communication and broadcasting, analogue transmission, basic electronics, microprocessors, digital communication, integrated circuits, satellite communication and many more.

One of my friends attended the Punjab Engineering College below is his first-day experience.

• In the morning he was all set to go to the hostel of PEC. He had his breakfast after that he went straight in front of the auditorium where his registration was to take place. He saw there was a big flex upon which the pictures of the famous alumni of the college rested. 
• He sat in the auditorium waiting for the registration. He met his first good friend from Patiala, in front of the auditorium. 
• After registration, they went to see the hostel completed all the formalities over there, and went to the room. He met his roommates and chose his bed, kept his luggage, and then went back for the orientation program. 
• In orientation, students were shown many videos related to the college, and the rank openers were awarded. 
• The bonding which the seniors had amongst themselves at that time was the first thing that caught his interest. He liked his seniors as they all introduced themselves in such a friendly manner. 

After the interaction, they were made free to leave for their respective hostels. So this was all about the first day in PEC.

In present times, PEC Chandigarh is not as good as it was in the 1990s and early 2000s. There has been a downfall of the institute over the years, which is somewhat evident from the MHRD rankings. The points below give a brief overview of the present conditions of the institute.

• The present MHRD rank of PEC Chandigarh is 68. Although the institute has faced major downfalls, it is not as bad as the rank it has received. But, considering the factors of research, perceptions about the institute, and the overall infrastructure, there are some serious breakdowns in the institute.
• PEC has a very good placement even in present times. Students from branches like CSE and ECE get placed with excellent salary packages. So, there is much less interest in research in the institute as most students run after getting a decent job. There is a need for students to get involved in research-based works with professors to improve the research score, which is very low in present times.
• There are perceptions in the market that PEC, being a regional college is not a good institute. Some even conclude that NIT Kurukshetra is better than PEC, just because it is an NIT.

PEC Chandigarh is no doubt a good college, being the 15th oldest engineering college in India, but is having some issues in infrastructure, which is under maintenance in present times.

For an ECE degree, PEC Chandigarh can be a better choice, considering the factor that there is quite a good number of core companies visiting the campus for placement. The table below gives a brief level of comparison among the two institutes.

Key Highlights:

• Electronics and Communication Engineering has a great value in present times if studied from good institutes like PEC or NITK.
• There are some problems with studying ECE from NIT Kurukshetra, the prime one being the lack of core electronics companies visiting the campus for placement.
• For students who are interested in working at an IT company or going for an M.Tech or MBA, ECE at both NIT Kurukshetra and PEC Chandigarh are good options. Both the institute has excellent reputations.
• Students should, at last, make choices considering the reviews having honest opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of both the institutes.

Therefore, students can consider the above factors as a point of advice and make choices accordingly.

One of my friends studied at PEC Chandigarh, so I am a little aware of his situation and how his experience was during his time there. 

Let me now discuss the various facilities available at PEC Chandigarh and how it was an educational institution.

• PEC's facilities are similar to those at IIT. Because PEC follows the same curriculum as the IITs, the atmosphere is also the same. There are numerous clubs and societies in college that help students develop their extracurricular interests.
• The entire campus is Wi-Fi enabled. All basic amenities are available, such as library access, sports grounds, a newly introduced entrepreneur incubator cell, and a computer center, which provides free access to computer applications and the latest software.
• The college is eco-friendly and has a lovely campus. Few buildings are more than 60 years old. The campus spans 146 acres. The labs in the computer science and ECE departments are excellent.
• Mechanical, production, and electrical labs all need to be upgraded. The majority of the machines are quite old, and only a few new ones have been purchased. Practical exposure via labs is limited. The library is good and has three reading halls.
• A gym and a swimming pool are also available. The auditorium is small and out of date. The new classrooms are excellent, with a microphone and sound system. In each room, projectors are available.
• There are four hostels for boys and two hostels for girls. Mess food is good, and the fee for a year is around Rs. 50,000. There is no in-time for boys; however, it is 8:30 for girls.
• A nearby market has all food outlets and stationery stores, as well as two banks and three ATMs. Nescafé and CCD are also available on campus. The college has a dispensary, and there is also a residential doctor on campus.

These are the various facilities he received during his time at PEC Chandigarh. 

NIT Kurushetra and PEC both the institute are well-reputed and offer good CSE programs with Decent placements. NIRF has ranked NIT Kurukshetra at 40 and PEC at 68 among top B.Tech colleges.

The following tabulation compares the features offered in CSE by both the Institutes.

NIT KKR has a great coding culture. Students participate in many competitive coding contests like CodeChef, Codeforces, Hackerrank, etc. The final year students also take competitive programming classes. Some of the students of this NIT also joined Google as software engineers or interns. Although improving the coding culture at PEC is not as developed.