Chandigarh University's Review & Verdict by CollegeDekho

Campus at a Glimpse

Walking down the corridors of Chandigarh University in Mohali, you’d be easily confused whether you're in a college or a vibrant movie-set. A sprawling campus spreading across 200 acres greets you with bustling activity. On the look of it, CU has everything - world class infrastructure, diverse representation of students, partnerships & collaborations with domestic and international organisations & accolades galore. The faculty to student ratio stands at 1852:27297, which is about 6.7%! Even the gender percentage is well balanced with 48% male population and 52% female population with the total percentage of students from outside Chandigarh at 88%!

Course offerings-wise too, CU offers many courses under its umbrella - Engineering & Architecture, Management - BBA/ MBA, Sciences (Chemistry, Physics, Maths), Arts & Humanities, Economics, Data Sciences, Hotel & Hospital Management, Microbiology, Design Tourism, Media Studies, Allied Health etc.
But hidden behind the hunky-dory picture remains the fact that students are left wanting for more in terms of internships, opportunities and placement help in lieu of the hefty fees they’ve paid at the time of admission. In terms of safety too, if news is to be believed, there have been incidents of breach of women’s privacy and cases of assault on students of Chandigarh University.

NIRF Ranking: From Good to Great!

Our Take on Overall Rankings

Chandigarh University has jumped 2 positions between 2022 and 2023, which clearly indicates the improvement across all metrics as defined by NIRF - Teaching, Learning and Resources (TLR) Research and Professional Practice (RP) Outreach and Inclusivity (OI).

Chandigarh University Academia & Batch Size:

Chandigarh University, because of its vast outreach in academia with a Flexible Choice Based Credit System (FCBCS) to enhance the learning experience of its students, includes Open electives to give them the opportunity to pursue exchange programmes abroad.

CU Academic Composition:

Students have confirmed that academia here is a mix of classroom, projects & assignments.

Our Take on CU Academia:

• While the intent & process of education is good, students face challenges due to the huge batches per course.

• With its popularity growing, it seems Chandigarh University has compromised on its quality enlisting more than 3K students in some batches!

• Students claim that there is no end cap on admissions; as more and more students apply, CU just keeps increasing the classroom size dividing it into multiple sections, while keeping the teacher students ratio almost the same, which seriously compromises on the quality and attention per faculty to the students.

Chandigarh University Infrastructure:

Classroom - The classrooms at CU are basic with multiple seating - theatre, classroom etc and a seating capacity of up to 80 students! That’s a huge class. Smart classrooms are scarce and need to be booked in advance for usage due to the gap in demand and supply.

Internet connection: While CU claims to provide 8 MBPS internet speed, students claim that it hardly works. If at all, they can only connect their laptops. Wi-Fi is not available for all round usage.

Library - Each block has a library, so students have ready access to resource material throughout the day.

Commute within the Campus: Owing to the huge campus, students are expected to walk it everywhere! Although there are E-rickshaws available, there are hardly any rickshaw drivers around to ferry students across the campus (most of them being used by the faculty!)

Activities: Department activities are ongoing at small scales. Major events for student participation are their annual college fest only.

Hostel: CU offers 1,2, 3 and 4 seater AC/ non-AC hostel rooms separate for boys and girls. Basic facilities like bed, cupboards are available. Nothing fancy. Students say that the quality of drinking water can be improved, until of course, your system gets used to it! There are ethernet ports in the hostel rooms, but according to a student, for a 4-seater room, there are just 2 ethernet ports! Students can purchase their own routers though. But look at the fees they charge! It can burn a hole in your pocket for sure!

Here’s a glimpse of the hostel fees for the uninitiated!

Our Take - Why a 1-seater is available for boys only is something that even we are questioning!

Hang-Out Areas/ Cafes : Due to its large size, CU has multiple stationary shops & cafes, which, if not very expensive, is not cheap either. Students with limited budget might fight it a struggle to survive here:

Chandigarh University Internships and Placements:

Internships:

CU offers multiple internship opportunities and if you are a smart student, you will just lap up the experience. But because the batch sizes are so huge, there are high chances of not getting an internship directly related to your line of study.

Placement:

Basis 2022 data, B.Tech & Management placements are top-notch at CU with all major companies visiting the campus. Sadly, other courses receive a rather step-treatment with scarce placement opportunities, with students having to look out for themselves or settle for a lesser CTC than was projected at the time of admission.

Course-wise Intake vs Placement:

Engineering & Architecture | Course Duration: 4 years

Our Take: The placement percentage of B.Tech in CU has a lot of room for improvement with the placement percentage at just 0.045.

MBA & Business Management: Course Duration: 2 years

Our Take: 88.17% students got placed from MBA & Business Management courses at Chandigarh University in 2022, which is fairly decent.

Pharmacy: Course Duration: 4 years

Our Take: Pharmacy placements at Chandigarh University stood at 38.3% in 2022, which can be improved considering the high demand of Pharmacy graduates today.

Undoubtedly, Engineering & Management seem to be the most popular departments in the college.

Chandigarh University Diversity & Demographics:

CU claims to have students from PAN India and from across 40 countries. When asked students about the culture in the college, most of them are of the view that it is filled with students from neighbouring states mostly and outside/ minority students are often bullied. Although there is a strict “no Ragging” policy in the college, students resort to indirect methods of hooliganism.

However, some students claim to have a very supportive student community, who come forward to help at all times. Guess it’s a matter of who strikes a chord with whom.

Our Take: Chandigarh University has more female students enrolled in the college as compared to male students. While the gender ratio of male to female students varies from course to course, it is progressive to see more women opting for higher education at Chandigarh University.

Another brownie point for Chandigarh University as per Demographics is that students from outside of Chandigarh prefer to study at Chandigarh University. Of all the courses offered here:

• For 4-year UG courses: there are 851 within state, 23319 outside state and 2028 foreign students studying

• For 2-year PG courses: there are 147 within state, 1826 outside state and 242 foreign nationals studying

• For 5-year UG courses: there are 66 within state, 323 outside state and 2 foreign students enrolled

• For 6-year Doctoral courses: there are 11 within state, 73 outside state & only 6 international students studying in Chandigarh University

Faculty & College Management/ Administration:

According to its website, “CU offers the most conducive student-faculty ratio of 14:1, leading to 85 per cent student satisfaction”, but in reality, students that CollegeDekho reached out to said either the batch size is too big that this 14:1 ratio is not maintained. Also, many students are of the view that it is fate that determines which faculty gets to teach them! Which means, there is no standard protocol here; inherently, it depends on the teacher’s sensibility to address the student’s issues with care!

A Dept. of Student Welfare (DSW) exists and students are supposed to escalate their issues here, but students vehemently say that they are non-cooperative. In spite of multiple attempts & reminders, most of their redressals are seldom addressed. Sorry state of affairs!

In addition, the response time of the administration for refunds etc., is excruciatingly time-taking - 90 days in the least. If you are lucky, you might get a response and that too after multiple follow-ups via email, website visit and phones.

Chandigarh University Location:

Although Chandigarh University positions itself as being located in Chandigarh, in reality, it is located in Gharuan, Mohali which is approximately 25 km from Sector 17, Chandigarh city. As such, while the environs inside the college are peaceful, students are of the opinion that the environment, as soon as you step out, is rather disappointing and unsafe.

Chandigarh University: Expectation vs Reality CLD Verdict!

For a college that is providing for thousands of students, CU fares pretty well for the facilities that it provides. Students are given ample opportunity to shine besides academics, so if the intent is correct, students could reap maximum benefits during their tenure here. The minimum course fee per semester is INR 31000 and the maximum course fee per semester is INR 117000 for UG courses and for PG, 5-year Integrated courses & Ph.D courses, the minimum per semester fee is INR 98000 and the maximum per semester fee is INR 10600 , which is a tad too much even for an upper middle class student to afford. The ROI may be justified for B.Tech courses, but for the rest of the courses, along with the living expenses, unless a student is comfortably well-off, it will be difficult to survive.