Symbiosis Centre for Media & Communication BJMC Review By Shakir Patanwala

SCMC has a great infrastructure that has helped its students to express the way they want. We were given a free hand in terms of choosing all that we want among various options. Unlike my friends who chose advertisements, I chose journalism and understand what it takes to be a responsible media person. As a trainee with Times Now, I was made to learn how to build a network and what it takes for a news channel before it is finally broadcasted. The college has given some of the big names in Media and the way the institute is operating the other institutes can learn from it. The only thing that goes against the college is that the college is in Pune if it was in Mumbai or Delhi, it would have crossed every benchmark. The institute is not harsh on students and has roped in the faculty that knows exactly how to handle the students.

The course is divided in modules and submissions is what the college is more focused. It's more of a research work in media studies and as a proud student of the college we can blow college’s horn as much as we want and that won’t be enough in any sense. The audio-visual set up in the classes is just too good for one’s liking. The social distancing was easily maintained in the class even before the Covid-19 as the classrooms are so huge and the benches are placed at a safe distance from each other. The course emphasizes more on what we have gained rather than just milking and grinding the course books. After the first year, we had enough choices to choose our subject and journalism was my interest and enrolled for that. Immediately, I was hired by Times Now as an intern in the second year and worked with them for 6 months. As a student of SCMC, we even got the opportunity to visit the Times Now building and everything that I do today is because of what I was taught in those 3 years.

Faculty are best to single. The chances of getting such faculty are quite slim as I don’t know who hired them but have done a remarkable job. Symbiosis has lived up to the expectation that its brand name has created only because of the qualified faculty that they have. Loved their professionalism and showing us the way forward as emotions don’t hold any value in this business. I would use this opportunity to thank all my teachers wherever they are. Not just me but my fellow friends still miss those insightful conversations that we used to have in the campus with our lovely faculty members.

The training starts from the 2nd year itself and before the course is even completed, we have an assurance from one of the companies where we have already worked as an intern. The pay package that I was offered was quite decent and the companies that hired the students from our campus in journalism include The Republic Network and The Times Now. Soon many more media houses have started approaching our college and so are many independent paparazzi’s as well.

There are 6 hostel buildings in all but I avoid staying in the hostel as my relatives used to stay in Kalyani Nagar and I used to travel on my own. Talking about the hostel that college has built are world class. Symbiosis is known for having students from not just India but many countries as well and therefore the hostels were in accordance with that. Separate boys and girls hostel with all the amenities that can be termed as luxury as well.

Our faculty building was a single 7 floor building that accommodated Symbiosis Institute of Design as well. 5th and 6th floor were for SID and 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floor for SCMC. The top floor had a photography room, audio visual room, and has a small library as well. The campus was huge as there were other institutes as well in the campus. Playground, the seminar hall, and auditorium rooms were common for all the campuses. In addition to all of these there was also a CCD outlet and that made me a coffee lover as well. Media people need it as we have to work 24*7 and this was the reason I guess CCD decided to start an outlet in the campus. The buildings are new as this campus was built in 2006 and renovated again in 2015.

Media study is done in groups and therefore we had a lot of banter, pranks at the campus. All that we learned was at the college campus and the friends that we made was all done at this wonderful campus. There are various club houses and being a part of them gave immense pleasure. Loved every single pie that I had at the campus. Had fun and the best part was the farewell party that was celebrated inside the campus and the warm send off that we received from our junior was exceptional.