Pondicherry university is a relatively new university and is still in a development phase. There are different departments within direct purview of the university instead of separate colleges, all located within a single integrated campus. The course pattern is CBCS(choice based credit system). Theoretically a person can pick any course from any department. Although it’s not always possible due to adminstritative problems. Grading system(with CGPA) is almost uniformly followed throughout the various departments.
The campus is huge(around 800 acres), located outside the main city on the western shores of Bay of Bengal. It has quite a natural and environment friendly layout. The labs and libraries are well equipped and there are few electricity problems. Almost the entire campus is connected with a high speed WiFi connection. Very soon there will be an electricity grid catering exclusively to the university needs. This wil eliminate power cuts completely. The infrastructure is top-class. There are two full sized stadiums in the university, one for athletics and football and one exclusively for cricket. Tennis court and swimming pool are under construction. There are auditoriums where movies are screened.
However these are the positive points. There are certain problems also. One is fooding. There is a mess but it’s a private affair, made compulsory by the current chief warden(As nobody would eat the food they serve here otherwise!). There is corruption in the way the university affairs are run. Some of the departments here have very good teachers but there are some departments dominated by ordinary faculty. There is fair bit of regional partiality practiced by some teachers. The grading system is arbitrary. There is no accountability and many teachers award whatever marks they feel like. There is no students union because the university has placed too many restrictions on the students. Any complains fall on deaf ears. Anybody who tries to raise his or her voice is silenced by the authorities with looming threats of suspension or worse. The effort of the aurhorities here is to impoes a conservative way of life upon the students(Pondicherry Local University is what we sometimes call this place).
The placement is fluctuating, some years good some years bad, but overall an the university has an average placement record. As soon as the current placement officer quits, the placements are likely to improve dramatically.
The important thing about this university is it is definitely on an upswing. The pace of work is pretty fast here. A steady inflow of good people is slowly changing the environment around here! I’m writing this review in 2009, and am sure that in 5 years from now this unversity will be one of the better ones in India.