University of Lucknow B.A Review By Dainik Bhuva

Not many universities in Uttar Pradesh offer journalism and University of Lucknow was probably the only choice I had. No problems though as the University of Lucknow gave me enough knowledge on what I wanted to pursue. The university is a top rated one and reasonably so as the University has done what not many has. The B.A with journalism is a three year course and 12th marks are the one that makes the cut. The cut off 5 years back was 84 percent and has now gone up to nearly 90 percent. The college campus has beautiful vibes and enough opportunities that a 2 tier city like Lucknow would have never imagined 10 years back. The college New Campus area was allotted in 2010 by the UP government and the campus reopen a year before I joined the college.

The B.A. is a 3 years course and journalism that was an added subject. The course was divided by 16 subjects in 3 years. The college timings were in the morning as in afternoon our building booked lectures for B.Com. The college building was near the University campus gate number 4. The studies were easy and we were assigned tasks in between and that made studies more fun. The study was all fun and play at the Lucknow University as the syllabus was designed to make students understand the subject practically rather than just learning theory. Lucknow University is the place if one wants to pursue journalism.

The faculty is great and their numbers suggests the same. The experience that they have is something to watch out for. The course was introduced in the old campus in 2007 and the professors have maintained their stance till then. The number of faculty in our course was 20. Not just their teaching methods but their mentor-ship helped us during the entire course. They came to us as soon as they knew that we are down or not delivering up to our potential. The faculty members knew each student personally and their help was evident throughout.

Students were given enough knowledge to find jobs on their own. The competition is fierce in journalism and therefore finding a job with reputed media house is difficult. We got the internship opportunity like I did with a local news channel. My parents wanted me back otherwise I was given an opportunity to work for them. Likewise many of us got the same opportunity. The students who took their internship seriously had the placements and one who didn’t was left stranded. The college doesn't have in-house placements for our course but still they did well in doing whatever they can in their capacity.

There are 8 boys hostel in Main campus and 2 more in Old campus. Likewise there are 5 hostels for girls as well and the hostels are awesome. Unlike hostels where there is a common mess, in Lucknow University’s hostel, the residential type of accommodation is given and we are given our own kitchen. There was a curfew time in place but not mandatory and therefore we can go out at any point in time. The hostel area has 2 huge playgrounds and at the end of the year, every hostel has to field their candidates to participate in the annual program. The hostel is the best place to stay for outsiders coming to this college.

The location of the new campus has a great connectivity and the location is absolutely great. The campus is full of greenery and with the numbers of trees planted in the main campus after a few years it will look like an army guest house. The area is huge and the main building looks like parliament. I am sure it has taken inspiration from there or from some palace. There are many canteens and our evening snacks and tea was at one of these canteens. The digital library solved our study related issues. The parking area helped us to bring our own vehicles and what not. I don’t see anything missing in the name of the facility that students need. The Lucknow University campus has been built keeping in mind the modern day techniques that are required to run a University.

As of now what the trend suggests is that only students from Uttar Pradesh and nearby states like Haryana and Bihar are only joining this college and therefore Hindi is the spoken and preferred language among the students. I wish like many other Universities, Lucknow University needs to advertise beyond the borders of UP so that we can have students from various other states as well. Life at campus was something that I can never forget. Going to college and then coming back to our rooms and making meals on turn basis was the essence of our college life. The study part was mostly ended in classes itself and therefore we had enough time for fielding other adventures as well.