Delhi NCR

Meeting people at Delhi Technological University

DTU, the old Delhi College of Engineering, is a 164-acre campus on Bawana Road in Rohini with about 14,000 students, and its cultural fest, Engifest, is one of the biggest college fests in North India. Most of the social life runs through societies, project teams and fest season.

The story of Delhi Technological University

DTU started in 1941 as Delhi Polytechnic, set up after the 1938 Wood and Abbott Committee to train technical talent for Indian industry. It ran from the historic Kashmere Gate campus in Old Delhi and affiliated with the University of Delhi in 1952.

In the 1950s several departments spun off into national institutions: architecture became the School of Planning and Architecture, and the chemical and textile technology departments contributed to the founding of IIT Delhi. The college was renamed Delhi College of Engineering in 1965, a name generations of alumni still use.

In 1996 the college began moving from Kashmere Gate, after about 55 years there, to a new 164-acre campus at Bawana Road, Rohini. Delhi Act 6 of 2009 turned DCE into Delhi Technological University. NIRF 2024 ranked it 30th among engineering institutions in India.

What the campus is like socially

DTU is a big, busy campus with a strong society culture. Freshers spend their first weeks at society auditions and project-team inductions, and those groups become their core friend circles. Hostel students and day scholars from across Delhi mix in canteens, labs and practice rooms, and fest season brings the whole campus together.

The campus sits in northwest Delhi, so students head to Rohini's markets and parks for food and downtime. The real flex, though, is the project teams: students build drones, solar cars and race cars, and the late nights in workshops are as much a part of DTU culture as Engifest.

Traditions every DTUite knows

• Engifest: The three-day cultural fest, held every February since 1974, drew more than 1.5 lakh attendees in 2020. It has hosted Shreya Ghoshal, Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi Chauhan, Amit Trivedi, Raftaar, Divine and DJs like Quintino.
• Invictus: The four-day tech fest run by the Technical Council. The 2025 edition drew over 15,000 students to 80+ events across 22 societies, with RoboSoccer, hackathons and a Squid Game-inspired math contest.
• Society auditions: Every new session opens with auditions for dance, drama, music and art societies, and getting in is a big deal.
• Engifest star night: The headline concert night that everyone plans their February around.

Campus lore and insider spots

• Sidhu Moose Wala's first college fest: The Punjabi singer performed at Engifest 2020, his first-ever college festival, and students still talk about it.
• The IIT Delhi connection: DCE's chemical and textile technology departments helped found IIT Delhi, a fact every DTU student eventually uses in an argument.
• The Kashmere Gate years: Older alumni speak fondly of the Old Delhi campus where the college spent its first 55 years.
• Solar car pioneers: DTU's Solaris team built Arka in 2012, described as the first two-seater solar electric passenger vehicle built by an Indian team.

How to find your people here

At Delhi Technological University, a technical club, hackathon team, or the fest organizing crew is the fastest way to meet people outside your own branch.

Fests and societies at Delhi Technological University

Signature fests

• Engifest

Notable societies

• IEEE DTU
• E-Cell DTU

Societies worth knowing at Delhi Technological University

• Madhurima: The official music society, one of the busiest groups on campus during Engifest.
• Nrityangana and Bhangra: Dance societies for Indian classical and Bhangra performance, both fixtures on the fest circuit.
• Kalakriti: The fine arts society.
• Pratibimb, Parchhayi, Panache and Vibe: The rest of DTU's eight official cultural societies, each with its own auditions and fest showcases.
• UAS-DTU: The unmanned aerial systems team behind the Aarush X-1 drone.
• Formula SAE and Solaris teams: Student teams that build race cars and solar vehicles for national and international competitions.

Careers, internships and placements

DTU has a strong recruiting record in computer science, IT and electronics, with big tech, finance and consulting firms visiting campus. Outcomes vary by branch, and students in core branches like mechanical and civil often supplement placements with GATE, higher studies abroad or government jobs.

Project teams and technical societies are a real career asset, and the DTU Incubation and Innovation Foundation supports student startups. Many students also use DTU's Delhi location to land internships during the semester.

Notable alumni

• Vinod Dham: Known as the Father of the Pentium for his work at Intel, he graduated in electrical engineering in 1971.
• Vijay Shekhar Sharma: Founder of Paytm, who studied electronics and communication engineering at DCE.
• Sushant Singh Rajput: Actor of Kai Po Che! and M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, who studied mechanical engineering at DCE before leaving for acting.
• Raghbir Singh Bhola: Olympic gold medal-winning hockey player and Arjuna Awardee.
• Arpita Singh: Painter and Padma Bhushan awardee, who studied fine arts at Delhi Polytechnic.
• Raj Rewal: Architect and member of the Indian Institute of Architects Hall of Fame.
• Sanjay Gupta: Country Manager of Google India.

Rivalries and eternal debates

DTU versus NSUT is the defining Delhi engineering rivalry, argued every JoSAA and JAC counselling season over rankings, branches and packages. There is also the internal DCE versus DTU debate between alumni who prefer the old name and students who grew up with the new one, plus the evergreen CSE versus core branches argument.

What Delhi Technological University is talking about now

Fest culture keeps getting bigger and more internet-friendly, with Invictus leaning into themed events and Engifest pulling rap and pop headliners. Startup and AI projects are increasingly common through the incubation foundation and technical societies.

Meeting people at Delhi Technological University by interest

A lot of friendships here form around a shared interest rather than a class or a hostel wing. If you are into startups and builders, coding and hackathons, gaming and esports, running, and reading and book clubs, those pages cover where that scene actually happens in India and how to find people near you who are into the same thing.

Colleges nearby

Delhi Technological University sits close to NSUT and Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, all part of the same Delhi NCR student scene. Cross-college friendships often start at inter-college fests, hackathons, or shared-interest communities rather than in class.

Similar campuses across India

If you are looking beyond your own campus, students at HBTU, Heritage Institute, Hindustan Institute (HITS), and ICT Mumbai share a similar campus culture, and Zyber works the same way at each: showing you verified people nearby who match on interest, intent, or timing.

Zyber on campus

Zyber is built for meeting people nearby in real time, with verified profiles only. At Delhi Technological University, that means showing you people near you who share your interests or your drive, whether or not you overlap on a class or a society.

New to Delhi Technological University? Start here

If you are just starting out, these freshers guides are written for exactly this moment: first week of college checklist, how to choose societies in college, making friends beyond your branch, and hackathons for beginners in india.

See meeting people in Delhi NCR, events in Delhi NCR, the freshers guide, the Meet People pillar, or read what Zyber is.