Doon University B.A Review By Shweta Bhandari

Established in 2009, Doon University is the only and biggest Government University in Dehradun. It has a very lush green and huge campus, which helps provide a good atmosphere for learning. There is a great variety of courses provided in different departments. Earlier the process of admission was entrance examinations but due to the pandemic now students are admitted based on their merit in class XII. Students belonging to Uttarakhand have separate reserved seats along with other categories. If one compares it to the private institutes/ colleges here, the fee structure and accommodation for the hostel are very affordable.

I joined into M.A integrated Media and Communication studies, although it is a five-year program, students have a choice to either continue or leave after their bachelor's degree. Till the year 2019 admissions to all departments were sought through a written entrance examination. From 2020 the merit is based on the class XII marks. The three-year course in the school of communication includes everything from media which includes advertising, public relations, film making, print, radio, and development studies. Depending on the interests and curiosity everyone in my class worked on their individual projects along with the guidance of our teachers.

Usually, for a state university, the teachers and professors are well qualified and it is similar to Doon University also. As I already said, teachers belonging to foreign countries are there in the language department, for other departments there are visiting faculties from different experienced backgrounds. For my course, there were around 7-8 teachers with varied qualifications, as per the UGC norm the teachers and professors are NET qualified with years of teaching experience. Among the 7-8 teachers some of them had expertise in film making and visual communications, some had previous work experience of television and print, etc. All in all teachers from diverse backgrounds taught us and gave us new perspectives.

If you are coming to Doon University hoping that you will get better placements as soon as your graduation ends, then you are wrong. Although it is the only major state university in Dehradun still placement offers especially for departments like physical sciences, design, and mass communication are very rare. Students have to apply for internships, workshops on their own, and an honestly negligible amount of help is provided by the university. However every year the language department is successful in organizing placement drives for their students and they successfully bag jobs at Amazon with good initial packages. The management department also organizes various placement drives at the end of the year. For someone who wants to have a lot of exposure rather stick to private institutes.

I would not hesitate in saying that Doon University provides the best hostel facility for their students. The fact that it is situated in a very beautiful and calm environment makes it an even more lively experience for the hostlers. During my graduation days, 70% of my classmates were hostlers and most of them were girls. The premise is well structured and huge to accommodate students coming from different cities and girls and boys hostel are separate. The overall hostel management is also active in responding to student grievances. The food and hygiene are also assured at the hostel and I don’t remember that I ever heard of any major issue related to food quality or hygiene conditions and interestingly if you compare it with other private institutions the hostel facility is extremely affordable.

I can assure you that once you enter, Doon University premises you will instantly fall in love. Beautifully designed it provides the right scenic ambiance to the students. Usually, you will feel surrounded by trees and flowers and a lot of natural beauty. The buildings, classrooms, and technical equipment provided are in good condition and are regularly maintained. There is a central library, a senate hall for all the conferences and competitions, chemical labs for science students and huge parking spaces for vehicles. One other good factor is that there are optimum security guards to take care of the vehicles and other stuff so students don’t have to worry all the time.

A normal day in Doon University starts at 10 in the morning, usually, most of the classes begin at this time. Depending on the type of course it then extends to sometimes 1-2 pm or sometimes even till 5 pm. Apart from academics, there are a lot of co-curricular activities that take place, we have drama, theatre, music, debates, and sports. One added benefit of studying in a government university is that students can get a chance to showcase their talent by competing at events organized by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).