"Life as a Christite - Remarkable, Resolute and Revolutionizing!"

The college management work tirelessly post working hours to ensure things run smoothly and students, parents and faculty are able to access information and utilize facilities with ease. They are dedicated, helpful and supportive in clarifying doubts, providing instructions and guiding us to the concerned department or personnel so that our work is completed within the stipulated time.

I appeared for the college entrance exam for PhD scholars which consisted of an online test that covered general knowledge and subject related questions (Psychology), followed by a personal interview. Being an alumnus of this college, having recently completed my M.Phil in Psychology, I chose to pursue my higher studies here as I am familiar with the structure of the courses and the way the college functions. Moreover, this University - Gives me the privilege of having a Supervisor from the college itself, so I can regularly have discussions with them regarding my research. As a research scholar, the University library grants me open access to online databases and reference books and journals. The faculty are well-read and have publications in reputed journals. The University organizes national and international conferences where we can participate and present papers on our research topics. The coursework is structured in a manner that offers working people the flexibility to attend classes and continue working as we have online assignments and regular classes for research methodology.

Well, given that my course is primarily research-oriented, it offers electives like - Quantitative and Qualitative research methodology, Leadership, Higher education, Ethics, Argumentation, Programme planning and Evaluation, Notion of a University and Steps of a Research proposal.Apart from the general classes for all scholars for 20 days, the coursework is structured accordingly for science and social science students for 20 days and then specialization in one's subject is offered at the Department level classes for all scholars for another 10 days.

With respect to post-graduate courses in Psychology (M.Sc Clinical/ Counselling), the students are required to do internship for at least 3 months and submit a report of the same to their respective Supervisors.As concerns Doctoral studies, the University provides scholarship for scholars based on merit that includes their performance in the coursework, semester exam, submission of progress reports and presentations done at Doctoral Colloquia. The amount varies depending on one's overall score, ranging from Rs. 2000 - 8000 per year for each category mentioned above.

The University attracts many multi-national companies for placements of graduate and post-graduate students of various courses. For instance, Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Bosch, Cognizant, are some of the companies that place students and offer an average of 2.5 lakhs annually for students based on the course and position. However, as I have only been pursuing my higher studies at this University, I am unaware of the exact details of packages offered by companies.

The University has a vibrant socio-cultural life as it holds various events every month organized by different departments. E.g. some of the fests of the Humanities and Social Sciences are - Blossoms, Nritta & Darpan, (University Dance Day) Magnificat (Musical concert by Choirs across Bengaluru), Maya Bazaar (Street plays by students of Theatre arts), In- Bloom (National level Cultural festival), etc.

The fee structure is affordable for some courses especially in the Humanities, but is on the higher side for subjects like Psychology which have practicals and therefore require the use of labs to carry out experiments. For commerce and business studies too, the fee structure is expensive as the application form itself cost around Rs. 5000. Courses like Theology, English and Sociology are feasible as the fees is approximately Rs. 35, 000. However, for students who are not domiciles of Karnataka, fees vary vastly as a B.Com student who is native to Karnataka will pay Rs.35,000 compared to a student from any other state who is required to pay Rs. 70,000. For research-oriented courses, it ranges from Rs. 50,000 for M.Phil and Rs. 60,000 for PhD, without provision for stipend.

Currently, I am aware that students who excel academically receive some scholarships during their convocation. E.g. Basant Kumar Sarala Birla Gold Medal is given to outstanding students (gold medalists) of Bachelor of Commerce, Law and Business Administration. For doctoral students, Scholarship is offered based on merit that assesses their performance in coursework, exams, timely submission of progress reports and paper presentations at Doctoral Colloquia.

Campus life at Christ University is pulsating, with students scurrying the corridors to reach their classes on time as the college is very particular about punctuality. The gender ratio seems quite balanced in most courses, except in the Science department where boys would outnumber girls. The lab, sports and classroom facilities are modern and equipped with appropriate technology to suit the students’ needs. Although it is an emerging world-class institution that advocates excellence and service, it is based on Christian ideals and its mission is to inculcate in students intellectual competence, personal, interpersonal and societal skills. It welcomes students of different race, religion and ethnicity and enables them to mingle with each other within the portals of the institution, thus promoting cultural diversity through education.

The hostel facilities are offered for graduate and post-graduate students and have security personnel guarding the entrance and exit at all times. The rooms are clean and well-furnished and students can avail single or double occupancy facilities, as well as use the University library services till 9 pm as hostels are located on campus. On the flip side, the major disadvantage of the hostel is that it does not provide food, so students have to eat out or buy food and heat it in the microwave provided for them. As a result, most of them choose to stay in PG's nearby where they get 3 meals a day and facilities like Wi-fi, laundry and relaxed curfew time as opposed to 9 pm for the college hostel.

The University boasts of distinguished Alumni like Film actors Meghana Raj, Madonna Sebastian & Gautam Karthik, K. Francis George, Chairman of Janadipathya Kerala Congress, M.N. Reddi, Police Commissioner of Bengaluru, Vineeth Vincent, Musician, Emcee and Beatboxer, etc. to name a few. I have interacted with some of our college seniors who shared valuable information on the college policies and the indelible impact it has had on their lives.

The exam structure is such that we have mid-semester and end-semester exams held in October, January and March every year along with Continuous Internal Assessment (CIA). Therefore, the total score is calculated as 80% exam marks and 20% CIA marks. For M.Phil and PhD. courses, there are only end semester exams and CIA marks, apart from Dissertation marks.

The application forms were available from August 2015, both online and offline. I applied online for admission to the desired course in November by submitting the necessary documents.My entrance test was scheduled on Nov 7, 2015 at 10 am during which I had to attempt 100 questions in an online test that aimed at testing general knowledge and subject knowledge (Psychology). This was followed by a personal interview at 12 pm during which a faculty member from the Psychology Department asked me questions regarding the 1500 word Research Proposal I had submitted for admission.The administration was helpful in permitting me to join the course although I was awaiting my M.Phil results. I was informed of my selection to the course in December, a week before classes were to begin.

The faculty at Christ University are well-read, sound with pedagogical and research methods and have published their work in reputed journals. Although they are learned, they have a quest for imbibing new information and practically disseminate knowledge so that students are able to understand the relation between theoretical and empirical knowledge. They follow a disciplined protocol when it comes to appointments, seminars, workshops, conferences and encourage students to actively participate in the same to gain experience and improve their career prospects.