Sri Venkateswara College M.A Review By Vanya Goyal

Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, (or Venky as it is more popularly known) is a great college and provides a great campus experience to its students. It is one of the best colleges of the South Campus of Delhi University. As an M.A. (English) student I took most of my classes at the South campus of Delhi University but I would look forward to Wednesdays when I used to go to Venky. The English faculty of the college is top notch and provided us students with some great lessons during our time in the college. There are quite a number of great societies so the students also have a lot of different extracurricular activities to choose from. The academic level of the college is also much better than some of the other colleges of South campus and over all in India.

For English students, it is a great choice of college and not only the faculty but also the students that are part of the college are quite great. It is one of the top ranked colleges for English studies within DU and all across India. For doing a Master's in English through the college you need to at least score 50% in general category and 45% in OBC category to qualify for the MCQ based exam of DU after which you can get selected. Alternatively you will need to score at least 60% (GEN) and 54% (OBC) in DU's merit list to qualify for admission at Venky. There are 22 seats for Masters in English which is why admission in the college is quite competitive.

Apart from the Ad-Hoc faculty, there are 14 faculty members in the English Department of SVC. Most professors are quite knowledgeable about the subject of English Literature and Language and can give you in-depth insights and guidance about the same. Most faculty members are qualified with a PhD and have suitable experience in their respective fields. As a Masters student I only needed to attend the college classes once per week but the faculty and their way of teaching was so much fun that I used to look forward to having intellectual discussions with them. They used to also provide relevant guidance needed for college exams and patiently listen to our problems which helped us a lot.

Placement is difficult largely because of the course of the nature and not more so because of the college but still, 30-45% students still get placed. Most students hoping to be English professors need to complete their PhD before getting jobs at good colleges. Additionally, many of the students enrolled in English are either interested in journalism or in becoming a Civil Servant officer so they are usually fond studying in the library or in the coaching centres but the academic level of the college. For students of M.A. English and for students of Arts in general, there is no college level placement. Most of the placement facilities are provided to commerce and engineering students. Like many other colleges of India, English students have to get on their own after the completion of college.

I did not enrol in the hostel but from my friends I have heard that as per DU standards. SVC provides great hostel facilities. The college hostel is divided in two parts and is available for both boys and girls. It can accommodate 144 students. In order to qualify for the hostel you need to score a minimum of 55% for general category and around 50% for OBC category. There are no ACs in the hostel so it can be tough in the summers but the rooms are generally clean. They have common washroom on each floor and there is also the restriction of timings especially for girls. Apart from that, hostels are well constructed and provide a great cheap accommodation for qualified students.

The infrastructure of SVC is enviable. It is one of the well-built of DU colleges. It has facilities for sports like Football, Basketball and Tennis. The library of the college is also good but not as compared to the libraries of the North and South campus of DU. The college was also ranked 11th in National Institute Ranking Framework, making it ideal for students. For Masters students though they have little facilities since we used to have to search for an available class every time we need to schedule a lecture. Sometimes when we were unable to find a free class we would also have to cancel. This disrupted our learning process quite a lot.

The campus life at SVC is great as you get introduced to a host of college societies right off the bat. These extra-curricular activities are great for your CV and your overall personality development. Their Dance Society Verve is one of the best among all the other colleges of DU and there are also debating clubs and Drama Society where you can take part and foster your inner artist. These societies are not for the Masters students since they mostly take their classes in the main campus of DU but the campus life still has a lot of activities to offer and the junior senior relation among students is great. Students can also enjoy the yearly College Fest where there are a lot of fun activities and tasty food stalls and even famed singers like Kailash Kher come to sing for the Fest. Since Sathya Niketan is situated right across Venky. The college is abuzz with a flurry of activity all throughout the year and gives a chance for its students to enjoy a great campus life.