University of Petroleum and Energy Studies BBA+LLB Review By Priya Srivastava

School of Law, UPES was established in 2007 and is a Private school in Dehradun Uttarakhand. The University offers a variety of courses in the Law department where the student gets a specialization degree in each subject. University is a recognized body by the UGC and was established by the Uttarakhand State Government. All the Law programmes that are offered by the university are recognized by the Bar Council of India. It is NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) “B” graded University. UPES is the member of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and the member of International Association of Universities. Currently, the School offers 7 UG, PG and PhD programmes in the Department of Law. The college also has the special facilities of student exchange programmes, online modules, research & seminar collaborations with the University of Law, London in the United Kingdom. UPES Law College is considered as the first University to partner with UK based University of Law for the legal department of the college. Apart from these international associations, the college itself is very active in the organization of Seminars inside the University, Guest Lectures, Legal Workshops, Industrial Visits, Moot Courts, MUNs and several Debating Competitions. The most popular of them is the Dr. Paras Diwan International Moot Court Competition, which takes place every year during the educational fest of the college known as Ignite. The Dr. Paras Diwan Moot invites participation from different countries and many of them take part in the competition.

The Admission Process of the college starts in the month of May where the college selects the students on the basis of college organized examination known as ULSAT or the grounds of CLAT score. A student can also furnish their 10th and 12th scores cumulatively to get selected in the process. This is further carried by a round of Group Discussion among other candidates and followed up by Personal Interviews. The School of Law is headed by the Dean and the HODs who manage the academics of the college. Other activities of the college are managed by the student bodies inside the college. The record manage are handled by the SRE department of the college.

I joined the specialization course of International Trade and Investment Law which is fairly new in the college and 2021 batch is the first to graduate. The eligibility criteria for the candidates is to secure 55% or more in the 10th and 12th class. Then they have to appear for the college organized entrance test known as ULSAT. There are no minimum scores to get selected as the college selects top achievers in the test. Once the students are shortlisted they have to appear for Group Discussion and Personal Interviews and the criteria for the same is imitated beforehand.

The reason to join the course is that it deals with a new field of law which is not much explored in the country and there are not enough firms dealing with the same. This leaves the field with a lot of pending work and since the cross border investment and trade is increasing we all need Lawyers and Law Professionals working for the same. Yes, the course subjects were as per my expectations.

The college lacks faculties and this why every year the college has to recruit new and young faculties for the students. Though there are few old faculties that have been part of the university for a very long time, they are assigned a lot of classes to teach. For my specialization subjects, there are mostly new faculties every year. Currently, we have 6 faculties that are assigned the specialization subjects for various batches and same is with other departments. Generic subjects have old faculties in the college that teach almost all the batches. In total there are around 60 Law Faculties inside the department.

As I said before, a lot of faculties are fairly new who is pursuing a PhD course in the college, while the old faculties have an experience of 10 or more years in teaching. All the faculties are at least having a masters degree in Law but most of them are also PhD holders. The faculties are knowledgeable and are very supportive, but they are overburdened with batches. The teachers are very good at teaching their subjects apart from few exceptions which every college has. The students are asked to review their faculties every year so the faculties mostly deliver what is expected.

The college has the policy of providing every student with the ability to select their own subjects. This comes in the form of an online form where students are provided with 3-4 options to choose from. Since we are the first batch graduating from college, it is difficult to predict the percentage of people that will land a job. But the Career Services of the college is trying to get every student placed. There have been few job openings where the students have applied for placements but nothing can be said certainly. Although there is no certainty for placement in the specialization field, firms working in various fields are ready to take graduate of them.

The hostel is another important facility at the college. The college has 3 boys’ hostel and 1 girls’ hostel with a capacity of 3 times of the boys’ hostel. The total rooms in a girls' hostel are 150 and for boys is 50 rooms per hostel. The students in each batch sum up to a total of 500 so we can certainly say that there are not enough rooms in the hostel. The freshers are given priority in allotting rooms in the hostel although a lot of students prefer off-campus stay which is easily available near the college campus. The fee structure of the Hostel is on the yearly basis. A total fee of Rs 1,70,000 is charged per student for a year. This keeps increasing by Rs 10,000 every year.

The mess food is inspected frequently to ensure safety and the workers are made to follow strict guidelines for preparing food. The food menu is decided by the student body which comprises of hostellers, this menu is followed by the mess workers religiously. The taste of the food is better compared to hostels in other colleges but mass production still interferes with the taste.

The hostels are safe with decent facilities. The college gates are closed by 8 pm in summers and by 6 pm in the winters and students require a night out permissions from their parents. As the area around the college is remote and not safe when it's dark, the hostel authorities are strict in letting students out of the campus. The Campus also has an all-time present Nurse for every hostel for the safety of students.

UPES University is spread across the area of 42 acres and Law College is known by the name of Knowledge Acres. There are law buildings, where one is fairly new and was built in 2020. The building has centralized AC and each building has around 60 rooms which include staff rooms and Auditoriums. There is a library dedicated to the Law students only in the basement of the building, the main library of the University is in Bidholi Campus but the college library has everything for the everyday requirements of students. As far as other facilities are concerned basic facilities such as smart classrooms, labs, auditoriums, halls, moot court hall, fully Wi-Fi enabled campus is provided. The college has one main Auditorium on the ground floor of the main building where all the seminars and the guest lectures are conducted.

The campus has a Basketball ground and a volleyball ground in the campus for recreational activities. The Campus has a food court to grab quick bites and other dishes that usually people of my age buy. There are two stationary shops and two confectioneries inside the campus to buy everyday necessities. The Campus has an all-time doctor present inside the campus in the medical building. Medical Emergencies are dealt with by the doctors on the campus and an Ambulance is also present inside the campus for the times when someone needs to be hospitalized.

The overall campus life is good. You will come across good people to associate yourself with. Apart from that, the college has various cultural groups that are run by student bodies, it is very easy to get into them to showcase your talent. These groups often organize events that are very entertaining. The college also has WOW Wednesdays, where events are organized in the Bidholi campus. Classes are dismissed after 3 so that students can enjoy their day, the uniform is also excused for that day and students can wear casuals.

The College has two major fests Uurja and IGNITE, the latter is educational fest but the previous one invites Celebrities and DJs for students to have fun. The campus life is relatively less fun but it is fairly decent.