University of Engineering and Management BBA Review By Daksh Datta

UEM started operating a year before I joined and is one of those rare colleges in Kolkata that have an entrance test for BBA. BBA course had two semesters each year and also two mid-terms. Education wise the difficulty level at UEM-K is above moderate. The college will be a giant in next few years bit for that the college will have to correct just a few points. No college has BBA classes for over 4 hours but at UEM they were for 7 hours. Yes, it included a break but still the timings grilled us as most of us were MBA aspirants and had joined CAT coaching classes. The college I agree is new but during my tenure the college had slim to none extracurricular activities. Academics were always pressurized as the college wanted nothing but the best in terms of education. The placements were still poor as BBA students were advised to join the college’s MBA program for better placements.

9 am to 4 pm we were totally occupied as attendance are highly strict here. Mid-term marks were added in the final score so even that couldn’t be ignored. They were as tough as the final semester because by the time mid-term came, we were done with around 70% of the course. We had decent study breaks and that really helped as we could use the library and ask teachers to personally solve our queries if we had any.

One situation is quite common in almost all private colleges in India and that is some faculties were too highly qualified for the job while some were raw or rather rusty. Faculties help was available as and when required and there teaching techniques were of top quality. They pushed us hard as even the lunch breaks were utilized by them to help the students in need. Most of the faculties had strong views against student preparing for CAT and concentrating less on BBA course. So, take BBA as a full-time course at UEM because faculties were never let you forget that you are at a place which demands too high from its students.

Capagemini and Coforge have signed a treaty with college to take maximum students. They were though more interested in taking on board the engineering students and undergraduate management students didn’t seemed of any help to them. So, all in all, the placements were quite low. All the top politicians of the country including our Honorable Prime Minister, Narendra Modi have visited the college and have urged the corporate to find able people from here. Even that hasn’t helped as BBA students had to find ways on their own and maximum students from my batch did MBA or other master courses because BBA from UEM was not enough to find an off-campus job in Kolkata.

The campus is quite small and therefore the college has arranged both boys and girls hostel outside the campus. The girls hostel was little far but the boys hostel was at a touching distance from the college. The college took care in bringing and sending the students back through bus services but traffic after 4.30 pm in Kolkata is crazy and the girls who stayed at the hostels had to waste an hour or so in traveling. The hostel maintained a certain level of discipline as curfew time for boys hostel was 8 pm and not outside food was allowed inside the hostel.

The campus is small as two buildings and it's done. The parking space too was limited and we had to park our vehicles outside the college gate which is a main street of the city. Even in the small campus one can’t complain that there were any necessary facilities missing. The canteen was great and the labs were quite superior. The college building had board rooms for presentation, seminar halls for guest lectures, and a CCD outlet to recharge the students after a hectic day. One part of the infrastructure where it scores maximum is its cleanliness. The washrooms of the building were no less than that of malls and even the floors were always shining.

Campus life started at the classes and ended at the classes for most part of my three years at the college. The course was vast and wasting days in events or other activities was beyond imagination of college management. The clubs were highly active though as after the classes spending an hour with my favorite club Pragya (Quiz Club) was the best part of my campus life. The annual fest Ectasia was completely dominated by engineering students as BBA students hardly performed in that. Engineering students enjoyed a better campus life than BBA students and that is why I have written some strong views about the campus life of UEM.