Dharmashastra National Law University: Guide to Admissions and Curriculum

My overall experience is good owing to the good academic and extracurricular culture. In our university, different extracurricular events and fest are conducted throughout the year adding enthusiasm and newness in the students. Our university is located in army area of Jabalpur therefore security is top-notch especially for girls. Many good seniors helps junior students in their academic and extra-curricular endeavors and approachable and friendly faculty staff is our USP.

Admissions are taken only though CLAT rankings. There are two semesters in an academic year and in every semester, we have two exams: one mid-term examination of 25 marks and one end term examination of 50 marks. Apart from this, we have to submit research paper as project work for every subject, which carries 15 marks and a viva of 7 marks. There are also 3 marks allotted to attendance. There are 48 mandatory classes for every major subjects and the same is 36 for minor subjects. In the initial years, BA subjects are taught and as you move ahead, more and more law subjects enter your curriculum. An academic support program is also there wherein senior’s students take classes of junior batches. Mooting and ADR culture is good in our university is good, teams participate in international and national competitions, and we also conduct many competitions.

The fee for new batches will cross 3 Lakh. Students can pay this in two installments. This fee structure also include hostel and mess fee (Rs. 55,000 per year). There are various scholarship of government like Medhavi Scholarship, NSP, MPTAAS, etc. there is a scholarship cell, which helps students in applying for these scholarships. Financial aid is given to students for which the fund is 16 lakhs for this academic year and it increases every year. Based on the student’s performances in academic and his/her economic background, different financial aid amount is provided to students.

The review of faculties is mixed, we have many faculties who have studied or previously taught in various other NLUs. Every faculty has their own way of teaching. Most of our faculty is extremely friendly, approachable and they help us in our academic and co-curricular endeavors including moot courts. My experience is very good especially with Law faculties like Manvendra sir, Ashit sir, Gargi ma'am, Animesh sir, and Gautam sir.

There is an internship & placement cell in DNLU, which helps students to find internships with good organizations and law firms. Currently, only two batches have pass out from our university. Hence, nothing can be claimed on placements. It conducts DNLU Conclave every year, which gives us opportunity to connect and interact with partners and associates of law firms. As of now students themselves work hard for their placements, in the first batch 10-12 students were placed in various law firms.

We have two boys and one girl’s hostels in our campus. Adequate number of rooms are there to accommodate all the students. Our university also provides day scholars to opt out from hostel if they are residents of Jabalpur. Recreational activities involve playgrounds in the hostels where students play cricket, gardens and there is a table tennis room, chess and carom boards are issued to students by the sports committee and they can keep these equipment's in hostels. Mess food is average. They serve 4 meals in a day with different menu for every day. Hostel fee is included in the total fees and it is around Rs. 55,000 per year with amenities such as water coolers, Wi-Fi. Every room is shared by two students unless you are lucky to no room partner, with 2 tables two bed and three almirah, two windows are there for ventilation. Hostel in timings are 12 AM and it again opens at morning 5 AM. if you are taking part in any moot court university allows us to stay in reading rooms in the academic bloc till 2 AM. Overall Hostel are good and maintained properly by daily cleaning.

In our campus, we have Academic block, hostels, playground, cafeterias and fruit juice shop. Campus size is very small, it is located in Cantonment area in ridge road. Cleanliness and greenery of our campus is very good. We have a playground which have cricket, football, volleyball and basketball ground, there is separate area for badminton court. Canteens are very good, for transport university bus run to city's landmarks and market areas three days in a week. Sadar market is just two kilometers away from the campus and we are just 4 km away from city center. We have a moot court hall, seminar hall, one conference hall, reading rooms, a big library and a e-library all of them are well maintained. Proper security is maintained by guards and dogs residing in the campus. The library has given us subscriptions of various legal database including SCC, Manupatra, Lexis-nexus, Hein online, J store, Bar and bench, live law etc.

Campus life is average owing to the temporary and small campus size. However, the crowd here in DNLU is great. There are various cultural and sporting events and fests organized by event management committee and sports committee around the year. We celebrate every festival be it Navratri, Ganesh Utsav, Eid, or Onam. There are many clubs like Dance club, Music club, and literary society. In the sports fest named 'Pradyut', there are one faculty vs. student matches. Cultural fest named ‘Malhar’ includes a lot of cultural events. Academic fest is also conducted encompassing various mind-stimulating competitions. A lot of webinars, workshops, conferences and seminars are conducted by various committee of the university.