Students take sheen off 5-star UoP

NAAC committee flooded with complaints, demands on their visit to University of Pune

If the University of Pune were to lose its 5-star rating, a lot could be attributed to the way it has treated its students in the past. On the second day of the visit by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) committee to the University of Pune (UoP), students bared their hearts out and flooded the committee with requests to amend the wrongs at the UoP campus.

The nine-member NAAC committee is visiting the UoP after five years and is here to assess the working and activities of various departments of UoP. Based on their assessment and recommendation, the UoP would be rated for its performance. Until 2008, UoP had a 5-star rating that expired that year. It was due for renewal.

On the second day of the NAAC committee's visit, the team divided itself into three groups and visited various departments of History, Psychology, Philosophy, Communications, and Journalism among others. The latter half of the day was limited to interactions with students, parents and alumni of the institute. And here is where the drama began.

When the announcement was made about NAAC committee meeting students at theu00a0 Department of Sciences in UoP (PUMBA), a large crowd of students started coming in. So high was the turnout that many students were forced to either sit on the floor of the auditorium or were simply turned away. "When we reached, the auditorium was packed. We were asked to go," said a student from Bioinformatics department.

The students were asked to list out their problemsu00a0 and suggestions about what they would do to improve the UoP if given a chance to be the Vice-Chancellor.

"Most students complained about the canteen in the campus, the food prices and the quality. Many said that they had fallen sick and wanted better contractors to be appointed. The second most important issue was internal transport within campus. For instance, a girl spoke about how she was stranded when she came late at night because there are no buses or trams to reach the hostels," said a final year student from department of defence and strategic studies.

Another student of mass communication department said that most women complained about the hostel facilities. "Their biggest complaint was the irregular water supply. The new taps installed are useless with no water. Most girls wanted more toilets for women on the campus," she said.

Another major complaint was the poor library facilities. Students complained that library was always packed with students from other colleges and UoP students never got to use it properly. "While students praised the faculty, they complained about rude behaviour by clerks and administrative staff towards them," said a second-year history student.

The NAAC committee is said to have assured the students that their problems would be discussed with senior UoP officials for their quick redressal.

(Students' names have been withheld to protect identity).