Chitkara University, Rajpura B.Tech Review By Chetan Kumar

Chitkara University was near Rajpura and that was the only pain as buses would only come till Rajpura bus stand and it was 10kms to the college for which finding a commutation was way too difficult. Other than that, the University was great as academic, placement, and campus life was one of the best. Engineering college of the university is one of the best in the state and not just from Punjab or Haryana but students from all across the country would come and study. This gave me a chance to befriend people of other states. Learning new people and learning new language was always my passion and I am glad that I could manage to do that at Chitkara University. I had the option of taking admissions to its Himachal campus but I chose Punjab one as it was nearby my home and plus the weather was more or less that same in which I have grew up.

Not everyone comes from a privilege background and the college had many scholarship programs to the students who couldn’t afford the fees. The education was exactly opposite to what I was used to in school because here we would have a tiny break after every lecture. Classes were more seriously held and no mugging was possible inside the classrooms. Few students tried a few tricks and they were taken off the guards. The university provides enough opportunity to have fun and therefore one should remain tight lipped in class is all that management expects.

Faculties was little reluctant as some students never took them seriously. It was entirely their fault and because of some students the students who were serious had to suffer. Sometimes the classes were taken off and that was not good for a university of this stature. I will not blame the faculties though but some students thought they are bigger than the University. People of North are a bit like that but amid all the chaos the faculties remained cool headed and always supported the ones who were serious with studies.

In a city that no one knows placements were done in numbers. The college top brass has great connections and they used all of that to make sure that all the deserving candidates should have placements. The placements were there but the kind of placement was something that university should do something about. Other than engineering also students were getting placed as Jan to March, campus placements are in full swing every year. It’s a 50-50, I would say for placements because getting placed was easy but the kind of placement may not satisfy one.

This has to be my favorite portion because this is where I spend the best days. Staying at hostel initially felt like a bad idea because students had home sickness issues and we hardly talked to one another. Sharing the room with two more was a little uncomfortable but as soon as the days passed the small room would 20 students sitting in one room till late night. This went on for four years and even while we were home, couldn’t stop messaging on hostel whatsapp group. Engineering hostel was same as the other hostels but other institute students had to share the hostel with the students of different institute. Engineering student always had the upper hand in all hostel activities as along with college fest, hostel fest was also there. Engineering students dominated in the entire fest and also won most of the competitions that were held among the college students.

College was spread in 50 acres and each acre was special as it would have something or the other. Being a foodie, I will start with the food court which was no less than a mall food court. Six different outlets and you can have as many varieties as you want. The food court used to open at 9 am and was opened till 10.30 pm. Evening were the busiest as it was hard to find a seat as students of all the institute would gather here. Sportorium needs a very special mention as it was like a different world. There were as many sporting facilities one could ask for and the popularity of that can be gauged by the number of movies that have been shot inside the campus. Campus was scenic, beautiful and it’s more than 10 years since the university started but everything still feels as if it started yesterday.

Life at campus was chill because if you have taken care of classes for 8 hours daily the rest 16 hours were yours. The hostel didn’t have many restrictions but we could never go out of the campus after 9 pm. The nearest big cities were Patiala and Chandigarh and every Sunday the University will arrange buses for that. Students can jump in and have a great outing on Sunday. The campus was full of enthusiastic people and that made the life at the university a memorable one.