Gujarat National Law University BA+LLB Review By Anuradha Garg

GNLU is a brand in itself. It has been accredited Grade A by NAAC. It is one of the top public law schools in India. In terms of rank, you can say it’s around 6th in the overall ratings. GNLU admissions are through the common law admission test held annually. Also, one important factor for most students can be fees. The fees is around 2.30 lakhs per year. The college management is decent. However, I personally feel that the management has been a bit too interfering in the affairs that should be up to the students to decide. But nevertheless, just like every other university, Gujarat National Law University also has its pros and cons which I will be highlighting further as I proceed with this review.

I am in the fourth year of the five-year integrated B.A. LLB Programme. Speaking about the eligibility for admission in GNLU, one has to appear for the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) which is held once every year. It is a merit-based selection. Anyone interested in pursuing law should appear for CLAT and GNLU being one of the top law colleges in India is worth appearing for. The reason being that GNLU offers a wide range of courses in various streams unlike other NLUs so one can choose to study whatever one wants. Further, these courses are very helpful from the perspective of corporate jobs.

Talking about the faculties, there are a number of faculties for every course and all of them have at least PhD in law apart from the multiple publications they possess. One can check the faculty profiles at the college website that is gnlu.ac.in. Most of the faculties have a teaching experience of 7-8 years on average. Even though most of the faculties are very approachable and warm, with respect to their teaching abilities my opinions are mixed. Some faculties are great and some are average. It is not like they would not be willing to help you but just like everywhere they range from average to excellent despite their stellar academic qualifications. In my experience, most of the faculties who have taught us are great at what they do. Very humble, approachable and accommodative of the student’s needs.

Coming to the very important and sensitive topic of placements, I would like to begin with our placement cell. To be honest, GNLU placement cell is very active when it comes to procuring jobs but not when it comes to procuring internships for the students which are an integral part in the field of law. In the recent years, the committee has done away with the policy of giving one internship per student for one semester. Now there is no bar in the number of internships one student gets in one semester. It is not a lie if I say that not every student can have many and excellent achievements on his/her CV. This is where the internship committee plays an important role. I will put this blatantly- out of the 200 people, approximately 30-40 people are only able to get internships through the university because of their new policy which is a con.

Talking about the placements, I can say that the placement rate should be around 80-85%. Not all students sit for corporate job placements. To give an example and to the best of my knowledge, if 120 out of 200 people sit for placement, the college is able to get placed 40-50 students on day zero. Others are placed as well over the course of time and till the end of the final year. In fact, in the past two years an amazing number of students have been able to procure Pre-Placement Offers (PPOs). As far as I know for our final year, the current number is around 35 PPOs which is magnificent. Day zero is yet to happen for the batch of 2018-2023. However, the college officially does not reveal the numbers because it affects the placement of other students.

Talking about the hostel, it is one of the best features of GNLU. The girls’ and boys’ hostel are separate. The hostels have around 120 rooms on each floor. The floors are four in number. There are two water coolers on every floor which have 24 hours water supply. The taps in the bathrooms also have 24 hours water supply. Further if anyone requires hot water during the summers, there are geysers everywhere in the hostel. Security wise, GNLU hostels are very safe.

Girls Hostel- The girl’s hostel is a paradise for any hostel student. Almost every person from the second year onwards gets a single occupancy room if they prefer it and WITH AN ATTACHED WASHROOM. Personally, I do not know of any other national law university which offers anything like that. The atmosphere in the girls’ hostel is mostly quiet. The rooms are breezy and the hostel is ragging free. Not only that, there is constant patrolling in the hostel to ensure the same. Boys Hostel- The boys’ hostel has common washrooms and the rooms are also on sharing basis. Though the rooms are not really big, but they are breezy so staying there is not an issue. However, since Gandhinagar has mostly dry weather, one might need a cooler to survive during the summers if the person lives on the third floor.

The hostel is built in 60 acres of area. The classrooms are very good. They are built in a modern way and all of them have centralized ac. The library is one of the best features of GNLU. It is a big, three-storey library with a lot of resources. The mess is one common mess built over two floors with ac. Moreover, there is a night mess two which is paid but provides meals till 2:00 at night so it is a good place to go when you feel hungry at night. Apart from that the college also has cafeteria and one gym. There is one doctor who comes on weekdays and also a gynecologist who visits twice a week. The infirmary has a 24-hour service which is located in the girls hostel itself and there is a nurse as well. Further, there is a games room in the campus where you can play games like snooker, table tennis, carom etc. The college also has a football field, tennis court, basketball field among others for people who are into sports.

GNLU campus is very lively. The people here are helpful and approachable. Peer learning is in the culture of GNLU. Apart from that there are so many committees, research centres and clubs in the college which a person can join as per his or her interests. To name a few there is centre for sports and entertainment law, a music club, dance club, centre for mediation and arbitration, centre for constitutional law. There are niche and wide variety of centres in college. The people here are helpful and approachable. Peer learning is in the culture of GNLU.

Apart from that there are so many committees, research centres and clubs in the college which a person can join as per his or her interests. To name a few there is centre for sports and entertainment law, a music club, dance club, centre for mediation and arbitration, centre for constitutional law. There are niche and wide variety of centres in college. Talking about the fests, there are two major events among the others one is the Pentagram which is our official cultural event and the other is the Justice League, our official sports fest. Not only that, there is a celebration on every major festival in college one of them being Navratri which is literally a three-day event in the university. There are hosts of learning opportunities and activities in the University if one wants to participate. Talking about the fests, there are two major events among the others one is the Pentagram which is our official cultural event and the other is the Justice League, our official sports fest. Many big artists are called to perform. However, the fest has not been conducted in the past two years due to covid.