Durg University's Review & Verdict by CollegeDekho

Being a temple of learning, a crucible of knowledge, and a sanctuary of intellectual growth, Hemchand Yadav Vishwavidyala or Durg University Chhattisgarh, India as it is popularly known, is a state university in Chhattisgarh & provides world-class education and training that one needs in the future. Covering 5 districts - Durg, Bemetara, Balod, Kabirdham & Rajnandgaon, Durg University has 157 Affiliated colleges, 80 Government colleges, 77 Private colleges under its umbrella catering to 200K+ students! Some students say that selecting Durg University for higher education is one of the best choices that they have made. 

Durg University has been serving as a beacon of enlightenment and offering various courses in the discipline of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences. The courses offered include BA, BSc, BCom, MA, M.Com, MSc and PhD both in annual and semester patterns. The curricula of these courses enhance the skills of the students and make them ready for future endeavours. But surprisingly, while it exists, not every student on the campus is aware of the placement cell and internship programmes, which goes on to say a lot about its functionality & activeness in the college!

In spite of the fact that Durg University is a state and budding university, the campus is awaiting to move to the new building. When will they shift? What new/ extra facilities are available in the new campus, how will the students benefit? - These are questions that the sooner the university answers, the better! When online exams were introduced to students during the pandemic, most of the candidates' results were not released; the test takers/ students did not even know how to use the online test platform. This created a big furore, which even the newspapers covered extensively. 

Our Take:

What the university needs now is to train the students on the online test-taking platform. If this seems too much of a task, then the university can at least release video-based tutorials for the students to understand the process, which they can later on discuss/ consult with their respective faculties. 

Durg University Academia & Batch Size: Uniform or a Huge Gap?

Durg University offers UG, PG & Ph.D through all its colleges. Since this is a state university, it’s biggest USP is that a huge number of students from all strata of society can study here at nominal fees. Needless to say, all combined, the batch size will be huge and although state universities are usually famous for their faculty pedigree, what needs to be seen here is whether all colleges under Durg University - Affiliated, Government & Private have the same quality of faculty and provisions or not. 

Durg University Infrastructure

Classroom

In tandem with providing effective teaching and learning opportunities, students are happy with the well-equipped smart classrooms, which are Wi-Fi enabled and are furnished with LCD screens to enhance students' experience and hands-on learning. A huge tick on that, although we will take it with a pinch of salt. 

Library

Durg University’s library has numerous resource books and journals that students can access at any time of the day. And if students' reviews are to be believed, it houses an excellent database of journals and reference materials! 

Hostels

Durg University offers separate hostels for boys and girls. The only catch is that the hostel seats are limited, being available on a first-come, first-served basis, leaving students wanting for more and devoid of options. 

Our Take: 

If the university is providing education to so many students, then they should at least look at providing accommodation to 50% of students through the respective affiliated colleges.

Cafeteria

The Student’s Union page requests the revision of the cafeteria tender for Durg University, which essentially means, that either the existing tender has lapsed and there is no functionality for a working cafeteria or there is a cafeteria, but the quality of food is sub-standard or expensive and that the students are not happy with it. This is a very basic ask of the students, and the university should immediately look at providing the basic facilities to its students. 

Our Take:
Does this cafeteria cater to all students and faculty? If so, then efforts should be made to provide facilities more than just simple basics. 

Robust Student Union:

Having said that, the Students Union does not tolerate injustice done to the student community. The union stood for the student community against the offline exams that were being conducted by the varsity during the pandemic situation. One can see the active participation of the union in many social media platforms and media.

Requesting higher authorities to extend the date of registration for the first year. 

The varsity has a DSW cell which is responsible for ensuring a congenial learning environment for all the students and to provide required guidance, suitable counselling and solving their concerns. However, rarely one can see pupils approaching DSW to resolve their concerns. Apart from DSW, Anti- Ragging, Equal Opportunity, and Career and Counselling Cells exist, many of which most students are unaware of, which indicates that ragging might still happen (albeit discreetly).

Our Take:

Why don’t the students approach? Whether this is for their lack of response or unhelpfulness is a question that even we are asking! 

Durg University Internships & Placements

Internships

The Internship mechanism in Durg University seems to be robust and active. Students say that many of them have been able to procure good hands-on learning experiences through the various internship projects that they have been part of through the university. For courses like BA B.Ed and a Diploma in Psychological Guidance and Counselling, internships are compulsory.

Placements

Students say that around 70-80% students got placed. Durg University’s average salary package is INR 8 LPA with top recruiting companies such as TCS, Capgemini, Cognizant, Tech Mahindra, etc. According to students, in the previous years, approx. 50% of students got placed in Capgemini, TCS, and Cognizant.

Students have also mentioned that they crack these placements through their own efforts. There is a lack of training in attending interviews, and because of this, many students don’t get selected. 

Another drawback is that students pursuing distance mode may not be informed about campus recruitment drive dates. We’ve heard that there are Career and Counselling Cells that do exist in the university, but how informed students are about it is still a big question mark! 

• The highest package ever offered in the campus drive is INR 34 Lakhs pa

• Durg University invites various companies for internships and notable of them are IBM, Asus, Lenovo and Suzuki

• Top Recruiters are Tech Mahindra, Accenture, Byju’s, IBM, Lenovo

• Most of them get selected for internships and have hands-on learning and practical knowledge.

Our Take:

Internships at Durg University seem to be decent, but placements need improvement. Since the college coverage under the university is huge, there is a need for more companies across various disciplines like MA, BBA, Law, Science etc. to participate in the recruitment process for better placement opportunities for students. Students need to be informed about the Placement Cell and the various services it offers.  

Durg University Diversity, Representation

According to the data of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), around 99% of the students who are pursuing either UG or PG courses at the university are from Chhattisgarh itself. Only a staggering 1 % of students in Durg University are from outside Chhattisgarh..

The table below indicates the gender participation in various courses offered by the university.

 Our Take:

Durg University Chhattisgarh is predominantly preferred by students from Chhattisgarh domicile with 99% students enrolled in here. Maybe there is scope to invite students from neighbouring states as well to improve the diversity & representation status of the university. 

A thing to note about gender representation is that the percentage of women students is 2 % more that than of male students, which essentially means that the university offers a conducive environment for women students. 

Faculty & College Management/ Administration

Durg University claims to have a highly qualified and expert faculty team that has been driving the university into the path of success. The faculty members have extensive industry knowledge and enhanced skill sets. They not only mentor students in academics for all-round growth of students. 

Our Take:

When connected with students, we could not find instances of ‘all-round growth’ in students. 

Durg University Location

The most prestigious university of the state, Durg University came into existence after the bifurcation of the existing University Ravishankar Shukla Vishwavidyala Raipur.  Since it is a budding university, the new building is yet to be constructed.  At present Durg University is located in the three-storied Girl’s PG Campus Building, Raipur Naka Durg.

Our Take:

Such a popular university, such a poor state of affairs! Whether it is the lag on the part of the state or the university is something that the domiciled people should ask and demand for a better university campus.

Durg University: Expectation vs Reality CLD Verdict

Durg University is an excellent educational institution in terms of offering multiple disciplinary programmes to students. 25 Degrees and 825 Courses is an excellent number & having 99% students from home state/domicile means it is very popular amongst local students and its reputation is good because of which around 12338 local students are pursuing UG courses along with 80 other state students at the university campus. 

Seeing that the neighbouring states lack good education facilities, Durg University can do so much more to amp up their facilities to get people from other states to take admission as well. Not only will it improve their overall student representation amongst state universities, but also give it a facelift to help it rank better. 

Infrastructure-wise, hostel facilities seem to be one of the major pain points due to which there is a lack of diversity in students. The only cafeteria university is not maintained well, and authorities can quickly solve this problem to make students’ life comfortable. Though the university is good at teaching and imparting knowledge, technical know-how for self and to train students in taking online exams is the need of the hour. Only then the alumni of Durg University can stand their ground and make an impact on the national scale!