Experience of college life

The main campus is located away from the Biotechnology department in Nerul and one has to rely on the college staff for most of the administrative work. The non-academic management could be quite stubborn and hard to get work done. However, the teaching staff is extremely cooperative.

I had attempted the IIT JEE, AIEEE, MHT-CET and the entrance test at D.Y.Patil University of the B.Tech Biotechnology courses. Among these, I had prospective admissions through the AIEEE state quota. However, D.Y.Patil University was one of the very few institutes offering an engineering degree in Biotechnology which attracted me towards its multi-disciplinary nature. Hence, I chose to opt for the B.Tech Biotechnology program at D.Y.Patil, Navi Mumbai over the B.E.Electronics via the AIEEE state quota.

The course curriculum is well rounded and quite diverse with a range of subjects including Plant Tissue culture, Animal Biotechnology, Cell and Molecular Biology (various levels through the 7 semesters), Bioprocess Engineering, Engineering Mathematics, Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (lab and classroom level courses). The focus of the coursework is primarily on moulding a good research career. Also, the nature of the discipline of Biotechnology is also primarily research centric. Another strength of the curriculum is the well rounded nature of the lab courses which introduce the students to a wide range of techniques including high end ones like PCR, gas and liquid chromatography etc. On the other end, the lab courses are exceptionally well structured and the computational labs are well equipped. The students also get exposure to the state of the art in computational modeling and simulation tools. The final semester provides an opportunity for the students to build a project using the techniques learnt through the course of 7 semesters and develop as well as test a hypothesis. The nature of this project could either be in house or in an industry. A dissertation based on the 6-month project us evaluated as a part of awarding the degree.

There were very limited internship opportunities and most of them had to be pursued by students on their own. The institute however is supportive if a student wants to pursue any parallel project during the semester breaks.

The placement scene in the Biotechnology sector for undergraduates is not very bright in general. The School of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics is no exception. During my stay, we had very few placement opportunities. In fact, the placement cell in the college is very inept and we hardly got exposed to any interviews. So, I would rate the placement scene very low here.

The cultural scene at Dr.Y.Patil is extremely vibrant with the main campus at Nerul being home to several cultural events including Horizon, the RAIT festival and Species, the Biotech Cultural Festival. These events are attended by huge crowds and sees performances by several popular artists. Several innovative workshops such as Zumba, Photography, Speed Reading, Retention and Recall and Kick boxing are also conducted. Other room for talent includes debates and elocution events as well as fashion shows.

Back in 2005-2009, the annual fees was 75,000 Rs. During the end of y B.Tech this was hiked to 1,00,000 Rs per annum. Overall, the fees are expensive. Additionally, the student has to pay exam fees of Rs. 1500 every semester. Currently the fees is Rs 1,85,000 per year which is extremely expensive. Its a huge investment given that the future path leads most students towards a research career which only pays back on the long run.

There are no particular scholarships or fellowships offered by the institute. The students have to rely upon external student loans for financial support.

Campus life is quite vibrant and the main campus provides ample opportunity to nurture your extra-curricular talents in arts as well as sports. The world renowned D.Y.Patil Stadium is a part of the main campus at Navi Mumbai and is home to high profile sporting events such as the IPL, ISL and several music concerts. The student diversity is also quite good and my batch had a fair sampling of students from all across India allowing for a good inter-mixing and cultural exposure. The gender ratio is also quite good and roughly 50:50.

The main college building is home to a full fledged, well furnished, restraunt style canteen which offers great food at reasonable rates. Also the area near the college is home to several good eateries, both expensive and mid-range. There is no in-house hostel facility.

I joined this course during the initial part of its inception. However, since then several batches have graduated and there is constant attempts by the institute to establish an alumni network and several alumni events. Also, most of the initial batches have several well-positioned alumni in various research positions and will always be willing to guide the newer batches.

We would have labs twice a week in the afternoon session with quite hectic submissions. On an average, we would have 3 to 4 assignments/journal submissions each week making it quite a hectic course. There were two exams each semester, a mid-semester exam followed by an end-semester. The end-semester exams would be followed by a lab exam.

The admission to the B.Tech Biotechnology and Bioinformatics courses at D.Y.Patil University is carried out through their private entrance test called as AIET B.Tech. The exam is similar to other engineering entrance tests but focuses on all 4 core subjects of physics, chemistry and maths. The candidates then give their order of preferences for the various courses, i) B.Tech Biotechnology, ii) B.Tech Bioinformatics and iii) A 5-year M.Tech Integrated course in Biotechnology. Depending upon the marks and the rank in the entrance test and the preference provided, the candidate gets allotted a seat in one of the above courses. The final round of my admission involved a short interview with the teaching staff and the dean discussing my course preferences and choices. I strongly recommend against the 5-year M.Tech integrated program as it does not add much value in the long term. One has to go through the Masters level course work going ahead in any case (in case you pursue a higher degree like PhD abroad or at IITs/IISc).

The Bioinformatics and Computational Biology faculty are extremely friendly, approachable and very innovative with their teaching skills in the lab as well as the classroom courses. The senior faculty in the Cell and Molecular Biology disciplines are extremely well qualified and possess experience in established institutions like BARC and BHU. Another strong suit is the plant and animal tissue culture departments, the training for which are state of the art. However, the emphasis of the teaching staff is more focused towards the research side and less towards the industry in general.