The Bachelor's in Engineering (BE) and Bachelor's in Technology (BTech) are both undergraduate level engineering courses offered in Indian universities. Most of these courses accept Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) as their mode of entrance. Both the degree courses are generally of four years and have several other similarities, so much so that they are sometimes interchangeably used. But, the two are certainly different. READ | BTech, BE degree holders dominate SSC CGL merit list Talking to indianexpress.com, M Jagdeesh, dean academics from IIT-Madras commented, "The difference between the two is minuscule. It is not that one is theory oriented and other is practical, as is mostly perceived. Both BE and BTech cater to theory as well as practical, however, BTech deals more with fundamentals and advanced study in a particular area, while BE stops at fundamental education. The difference is more in the way of delivering the subjects." Read| The rise and fall of the Indian engineering degree He added, "While in India, both BTech and BSc are at par, what gives more weightage to one degree over another is where a student has studied the subjects from. If a student has pursued a degree from IIT, her degree is more valued than any other institute as our curriculum gets updated every year, sometimes with latest advancements, it gets updated every semester, which may not be the case in any other university." Video | V Ramgopal Rao, Director of IIT Delhi on how IITs can break into the top 100 in world rankings Slight difference when applying abroad All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) chairperson Anil Sahasrabudhe noted, "There is a mere artificial difference which came forth when IITs started giving BTech degrees. It is thought that BTech is a superior degree and BE is not up to that level. Both are treated equally in the country, unfortunately, when it comes to foreign countries, BTech is treated as a vocational type of degree and rather inferior to BE. This is the opposite of the perception in India. However, if explained that a BTech is obtained from a reputed institute then it is also treated at the same level." The IIT faculty, however, believes the difference arises from the education system in reference. "It also depends upon the system of education in reference while choosing a degree. For example, in the US, there is a common degree called BS (Bachelor's in Science), in some countries, they call it a diploma which in India is considered of lower value," pointed out M Jagdeesh.
