I was really happy to read this article and was reminded of my years (full of hardships) which I spent at Indira Gandhi College of Engg in the First Batch (the conditions were exactly as mentioned by Neville).
Yes it is extremely important for young students who aspire to become engineers/doctors/Mbas etc. to have full information about the institution where they are taking admission.
Your success depends on the institution as well as your effort I would say 50 - 50 % , of course there are lot of advantages if you are in a better institution as you get a psychological advantage and the proper environment.
It is very important that you do well right from the first year up to BE, because once you have KTs in first year (which is a common thing in ordinary institutes) , it becomes very difficult to cope up right up to the final year.
Mine was a very big mistake that I took admisson with out proper information and had to face real hardships and pay the price
(besides the heavy fees).
Of course I have no idea about the college as of date as its almost six years now that I passed out. I would advise guys to get, as of date facts about the institution and then take decision.
Some of the Important Things are..
Past Record / Ranking of the college at university exams
The Infrastructure i.e..
Building
labs
workshop
classrooms
library
professors
basic amenities