Basic administrative and academics of my alma mater

Though my opinion is a mixed one, this Cotton University, earlier Cotton College, is a very old and renowned institute in the Northeast India region. It has a good curriculum, good professors and gives exposure to people from far-flung areas of the Northeast India.

The Course Curriculum is upto the mark and very elaborate and covers all requisite topics when compared to other universities in the State as well as in the country and is balanced. Exam structure has changed alot since I got enrolled in 2014. Then it was a thouree exam structure in a semester, two internals of 40 marks each out of which 40% is taken in the final evaluation and an end semester exam of 100 marks out of which 60% is considered for evaluation. Then it changed to the current one midterm of 30 marks and the final exam of 70 marks. Whatever you scored in these exams are taken for final evaluation. Grading is the relative grading one, so scores don't plummet when papers are tough. In UG 120 creds, in PG 80 creds are given after completion.

Though there is a placement cell at the campus the placement and job opportunities are very little as it is not a technology related institutions. People either go for government services exams or for further higher studies with PhDs in other universities or in the same University. Some get contractual positions thourough counseling.

The fee structure is very much affordable, there's a yearly fees of nearly ?5000 for UG along with two separate exam fees of nearly ?1400 each semester. For postgraduates yearly fees is nearly ?7000 with separate exam fees of ?1650 for two semesters. There's a fees waiver for marginalized sections.

No scholarships are provided by the university administration. But students always can get scholarships as per their merits and other catagory related scholarships for minorities and backward sections. Students can avail DST INSPIRE Scholarship for science scholars, Ishan Uday Scholarship for all students, OBC/SC/ST special scholarship funds, DTE-NEC scholarships for science scholars etc etc.

The environment for extracurricular activities, labs and sports are mixed one. While every professor or department would encourage for extracurricular activities there's a very limited opportunity for sports as no sports complex is owned by the university administration. There's only one indoor stadium, a dysfunctional gymnasium. The labs, interms of University standards lack various facilities. There's no specialized labs for material science, no powerful microscopes, no telescpopes, very few apparatus for a large group of students, however the departments try to provide for the lab equipments.

Though there's an alumi association and an alumni house, this association is however acts as an organization to provide employment opportunities for the alumni students who have been living in the hostels even after passing out, or couldn't pass out at all. Sometimes there's occasional tree plantation works just to showcase their activities, no maintenance afterwards.

In B.Sc there was a rigorous method for enlisting the applicants as per their score in best of their 3 subjects, i.e, in which they scored more than the rest. Eg: for an applicant applying for undergraduate degree in science best 3 is either physics, chem, maths or biology. I was in the merit list and hence got the admission before the seats ran out. In the post-graduation however, the undergraduates from our institution was given two choices, one thourough a merit list reserved for Cotton University graduates and thourough an Entrance. Applicants could apply thourough either of the choices or both altogether. I got thourough the merit list again

My opinion on faculty is a mixed one. While some of the professors are very elgent, efficient, hardworking, responsible and very knowledgeable some are very pathetic and mediocre. The university is also faculty shortage, many positions are vecant. Separate faculties are needed for the senior secondary school sections that have been there for over a century in our university which was previously a college under the name Cotton College, only after 2017 it became a university.