Rayat Bahra University BBA Review By Parv Chropa

I joined 'RBU' the year it was incepted. Chandigarh has way too many Colleges but all with a certain criterion as Chandigarh has decided to compete with Delhi. Chandigarh University and 'RBU' were the only two Universities where I could have had admissions. RBU because it was close to my home, my parents asked me to go there. The University had twenty courses then as rest all were in planning and today, they offer nearly 100 courses. BBA was more out of seeing everybody doing something because saying anybody that I am doing B. Com looks a little down. BBA at RBU was meant to educate us financially as I hardly knew anything about the financial markets of India and neither did I know who was the finance minister of India then. I feel privileged that then finance minister Late Arun Jaitleyji visited our campus and spent a fair bit of time with us. If one thing that I still remember about RBU is the speech that he delivered at our University.

BBA was not an engineering course so 15 lectures in a week and two practical is all we had in our schedule. The attendance was not compulsory as the class of 110 used to have 50 students in the class. I missed a lot of lectures and webinars which were done regularly. After having fun, the first two years as the marking too was a little lenient because, in a few subjects, I thought I would flunk but I was surprised to see the scores I got. More than theory, Rayat Bahra University focused on practical and some certification courses that we were asked to join.

The University was in its inception year but some of the faculty came with a world of experience behind them. Most of the faculties had taught at the highest level and some served as professors in privileged Colleges of DU. One or two faculties left in between but once that happened the College management signed a bond with the faculties that they can’t leave in between. Once that happened, everything came in order and student attendance too started increasing. Average of 50% was maintained in attendance and most of the times being in the second percentage of that attendance, I too started coming regularly as their teaching and guidance was not meant to be missed.

Zero placements as the University has now made tie-ups with many companies. In our time, we had no placements though we were sent to many industrial visits, and an internship was provided to us. Some of us worked in 'Kotak Securities' at such a low stipend that we didn’t even take it seriously. I guess it was the biggest mistake that we made because today I work in Kotak Bank and if I had done my internships seriously, I would have been working in Kotak securities and passing on tips to my close-knitted circle.

In our time there were two boys and one girls hostel. Students staying 40 kilometers and above from the University had the option of availing hostels. Hostel was filled with Law and Engineering students. I have no idea or I should say I am quite sure that no one from my batch at least was staying at the hostels. The hostels were inside the campus and outsiders couldn’t enter the hostel. I saw the buildings as I didn’t have any single friends staying at the hostels. The number of hostels have been increased now as the campus was under development then but now is running in full swing.

The campus size is over 25 acres and has both academic and non-academic facilities that one can only dream about. The Infrastructure of the campus is one of the reasons why more and more students enroll here every year. The labs were outstanding and the whole campus was Wi-Fi. There were two canteens then as one was 'MHC Food Court' and the other one was a 'Nescafe Bar'. Now one can have a complete food fest inside the campus as there are over 10 canteens. There was a basketball court in our time and now there’s a stadium with flood lights. There’s also a branch of OBC as we had to deposit our fees in that branch. Half operational infrastructure is now one of the best in Mohali.

If one enjoys Punjabi folk songs and dance then anybody from entire India will have a great time here. Many Punjabi singers and bands have performed at the campus. I invested most time using the sporting facilities of the campus while students who were more inclined towards entertainment spent their time at the auditorium rehearsing. Many film shootings and music videos have been shot at RBU campus as it is best for shooting purposes.