Ariba Zainab's Review On Aligarh Muslim University - [AMU], Aligarh

This is one place which changed me from an introvert to some one who can speak confidently in public. It made me a person I aspired to become.

I am pursuing PhD in English language teaching (ELT). I qualified the AMU PhD entrance test. There are very few universities in India which provide research in this particular subject. Having done my bachelors and masters from AMU, I was already impressed with the teaching standards. Moreover, I belong to the same city where my university is situated so this was the best option.

Best so far my masters syllabus included practice teaching, dissertation along with other theoritical subjects. Practicr teaching allowed me to teach English to undergraduate students of my college. It exposed me to what I am going to do in future. Dissertation, on the other hand equiped me with better writing skills. It also introduced me to new areas like how to do referencing, how to avoid plaigarism, which is an important part of research.

It is not compulsory but after completing my first year of masters, I did an internship in book publishing house, New Delhi. My teacher recommended me for the internship.

I did not appear for any job interview because I had plans to pursue further research in my field. Majority of students who gave interviews were selected from my course. Companies like hcl, aon hewitt selected few students. Also, delhi public school (Aligarh branch) recruited students from my course. I wud say placements are good by far.

Department of English has a literary society which organizes competitions like literary quiz, debate, poetry recitation, drama, etc. My university has a separate drama club, music club and literary club. Yearly fests are held in every college in the university. Students are divided into groups and made incharge of their respective duties. The programs are judged by the teachers.

Quite feasible. That is the reason we have students belonging to lower class and ranging to upper class. The admission fees of my PhD course was around Rs6500. Even courses like Btech, MBBS and MBA have affordable fee. Students with low financial income are also provided with scholarships.

I have not availed any scholarship. But my university provides yearly scholarship to students having low family income. Other than this, we have merit scholarship for students. It is given on the basis of a test. Who ever secure highest marks in the test recieves the scholarship for two consecutive years.

Gender ratio is almost equal. I would say 55:45. Till undergraduate study, girl students have a separate college known as Abdullah Hall. It includes girls high school ,girls senior secondary school and Women's college for graduate studies. The university encourges extra curricular activities to an extent that we have a swimming pool, riding club, basketball court, gym, hockey court, cricket ground, atheletic ground, etc. Competitions are held every now and then. Students belonging to different religions and belonging to different cultural backgrounds study in AMU. There is no discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender. We have AMU students union for the sake of students' problems and needs.

I am a day scholar so I don't live in hostel. But what I have seen and heard from my friends, hostel food is fine. Obviously one can't compare it to the home-cooked meal. At masters' level, there are two sitter rooms which consists of two beds, 2 almaris, 2 study tables. Students are allowed to use cooler during summer but it is not provided by the university. All the facilities are fairly good compared to the money they take as hostel charges. Hostel charges like course fee are very less.

Every senior or alumni I meet recall their experiences related to my university. They say "it is one place you will miss the most after you leave from there". I try to make the most of what little time i have in my college. Even though I am sure, I am going to miss this place afterwards.

Exams are held twice in a year. Other than that, we had sessionals. There were 5 subjects in my masters. So we had 3 sessionals for each subject. 15 in total. Each sessional is of 5 marks and we have to attempt only one question. So if any one studies a little, he/she get good marks. We also had language lab once a week. Evaluation system is not at all hectic, but does require minimal studying every day.

All my teachers are PhD holders and have years of teaching experience. They believe in making class interactive and allow students participation.