GLA University B.Tech Review By Rajan Jha

I always wanted to be an engineer and gave almost all the entrance exams in U.P. GLA has its own admission test known as GLAET and that score got me admission in GLA. Initially, I was reluctant as going to a place like Mathura was way beyond my imagination. But when I look back now, I can proudly say that I am glad, I chose this college. The university is named after a renowned industrialist from Mathura, Late Ganeshi Lal Agarwal. His son Shri Narayan Dasji Agarwal established this famous institute in the year 1991. The college is now 3 decades old and is now among the top-ranked universities in Mathura. The college offers a range of courses and that is why you will see students from all across the country come here to study at this beautiful university.

The best part is its huge campus and at any point in time, the college accommodates over 10k students. All the institutes have their separate buildings within the campus. However, the main building which is also called the admission block is at the center of the institute. Like in big cities colleges, GLA also hosts fests, and jam sessions are also conducted once in a year. The classrooms are equipped, teachers are highly qualified and because the college started with a mission of education for all, the fees too are comparatively less than various colleges. The teachers are great and I can never forget the 4 years that I spent with GLA.

The college is a private university and therefore has its own syllabus. The course was too much to be finished in 1 semester and therefore getting back was common in students. The students who passed in all subjects were just a shade above 30%. Some of the subjects were not at all relevant to the course we entered but couldn’t help it. The admission process is clean and transparent and having said that even a lesser score will help you get the admissions. The reason being the college’s strength. I was surprised to see our course itself had 3 sections and over 100 students in each section.

The teachers though left no stone unturned to make sure that the syllabus is covered and at least 2 revisions are done. The attendance was highly strict and no excuses were entertained for bunking the classes unnecessarily. Some students during my time were from Gujarat and due to attendance shortage, their parents were called upon. Thus you can imagine the kind of strictness the college followed in case of attendance. The practical sessions were quite high in terms of percentages. The professors also made sure that attending practicals was of equal importance.

If I say the best, many wouldn't believe it. How about comparing their qualification with other college professors? Almost the entire faculty of the engineering department was post-graduate from IIT’s. This was their qualification background and talking about their experiences combined they have made over 100k engineers. The faculty was so friendly and nice and whenever in doubt, you can directly approach them. Also if a portion is not clear the faculty used to take extra classes and get the concepts clear. Mr. Praveen Shah who was our HOD used to go to every classroom once every semester and used to ask if there’s any problem with any of the professors.

When I discussed the same with my friends from other colleges, they all said that you are lucky. As in their colleges, there was no way they could have lodged complaints against their teachers. University director Prof. Anup Kumar Gupta was also one of our professors and his teaching method was such that we never had any doubts post his classes. The faculty was one of the main reasons why the college has been ranked as the top universities in Uttar Pradesh.

GLA’s management believes in the creation of minds that can contribute. That is one of the main reasons why the placement percentage of college is over 80%. In our course, the continuous recruiters include the like of companies like Truechip solutions, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Dish TV India among others. The average package during our time was around Rs. 4 lakhs per annum and the highest package grabbed was Rs. 15 lakhs per annum.

The college has a placement cell that is headed by some eminent professors. During the last 2 semesters, the placement cell became the talking point and we were taught about the corporate culture. This department has made sure that over 100k students thus far have been placed thus far. In 2020, the college created history as one of the college students got an annual package of Rs. 32 lakhs per annum.

The college has 2 boys’ hostels and 1 girl's hostel buildings. The boy’s hostel has 2 buildings and 1 has twin sharing rooms and the other one has triple sharing rooms. To be honest the hostel building will remind you of some Dharamshala’s in Mathura. There were 3 floors and each floor has nearly 20 rooms. The room’s size is good enough and the rooms are tidy as well. However, due to strength the hostel never looked tidy.

My parents came thrice but I could never gather the courage to show them my hostel. The hostel has CCTV cameras, water coolers on each floor, and also the rooms are equipped with coolers. In all, one can say it has all the basic amenities but spending 4 years in the same hostel can be a daunting task. Therefore, I relocated to a nearby apartment. There are some buildings with 3-4kms of college and many students stay there. The hostel mess was good and the food served was also delicious. The girl’s hostel building looked good but other than that I have no idea. From the security point of view, there were no hard and strict rules. Students were allowed to go in and out as per their wishes. The warden felt it wasn’t his business. There was a huge parking area in the hostel building and that helped the students to park their vehicles.

The college is spread across 110 acres and is arguably among one of the largest campus areas you will find. The admin block building was the epitome of GLA’s campus and the building was renovated recently. All the buildings are renovated from time to time and the college has almost all the facilities one can ask for. Yes, digital classrooms, and air-conditioned classrooms. The size of the classrooms is huge. All the departments have their own buildings and have all the latest equipment. The college campus has an SBI Bank and ATM.

The college campus has a huge playground and a lot of students are seen in the field after college hours. From cricket, football, volleyball, all the sports are being played in the field. The college also has had an indoor games facility where table tennis, chess, and squash are being played. Also, the indoor facility has a state of the art gym. However, extra fees are being levied if you want to enjoy all these facilities. The college has a huge stage and the college functions are being held there. Among other facilities, the college has a huge conference hall. Many eminent personalities have visited the conference hall. In our time, cricketer Aakash Chopra and actress Hema Maliniji gave a lecture at the conference hall. On average 50 guest lectures are conducted every year. The college campus also has a University auditorium where practice sessions and practical sessions are conducted. The college also has 2 canteens and 1 cafeteria. In a nutshell, the infrastructure of the college is something where the college scores the highest numbers.

Where do I begin with? The first day of college set the template of how the rest of the life will be at GLA. The seniors interacted on day 1 and gave us a tour of how life at GLA will be. We were also given a fresher’s party from our seniors and that was the best time to interact and make some friends. The friends I made that day are still my friends and will be for the rest of my life. The campus has almost everything and I still remember in my 4th semester, I didn’t leave the college campus even for a single day. Every year sports week was celebrated on the college campus and teams for each sport were selected from each department. MBA students won most of them during our time.

Every year Jam session used to be conducted to kick off the New Year. The college also conducted fests and had an inbuilt theatre. Many students including me tried their hands at acting. The campus life was something that I will cherish all my life. The hostel though I wish they do something about it. Yes, I made some good memories but in my last year had to shift outside the campus as I believe I had enough. Not just me there were many others too who felt the same. Also, we asked the management to build in a TV area in the hostel building which fortunately has been incorporated now. I don’t think I will ever be able to thank GLA for the quality of student life that I had at GLA. If you have any doubts that can GLA deliver, the straight and direct answer to that question is yes.