One word to describe life here is, Carefree.

The course I chose is one of a kind in India. Nowhere in India is there an Integrated MSc Economics course offered. Most other Universities offer courses in a general field like the Social Sciences or Humanities and the student must decide his/her specialization after 3 years. Here, in Pondicherry University I was immersed in my subject of Economics in year one itself. The emphasis on practical learning isn't the best because as a University, the emphasis is on making researchers and academicians. There is massive scope for research initiatives. The faculty is themselves fully immersed in their research and encourage student ideas. For example, I have co-authored a paper with my faculty and presented it at a National Seminar. The University is probably the best place to study a wide variety of subjects. The University follows a Choice Based Credit System and hence, a student is allowed to choose any course from more than 20 different departments. Therefore, it is common to see students from the School of Life Sciences sitting studying Elective subjects in Social Science subject like Economics, Sociology, History etc.

The University does not interfere in Internships. It is the wish of the student to do an internship or not. However, students of Pondicherry University have a brand name and getting internships is not a very difficult task if any of the Faculty members help in recommending names.

The University has departments and placements. depend on the kind of courses pursued. The Management department attracts the best placements from the big companies.

The University is mainly a Post Graduate institution and hence does not have a single University fest like in Colleges. However, almost all departments have their own technical fests where students from colleges and universities outside Pondicherry participate. The more popular events are Dinero which is organized by the Department of Economics, Globizz organized by Department of International Business, Synapse organized by the Department of Management Studies, Vanicom organized by the Department of Commerce, and Reflections organized by the Department of Physics.

The University is a Central University meet and hence fees are highly organized. Yearly tuition fees amount to Rs. 9000 per annum. Apart from this Hostel Room rent is Rs. 900 per annum for boys and free for girls Mess Fees for hostellers amounts to Rs.65 per day.

Yes, the University gives a scholarship of Rs. 7500 per annum to every student pursuing an Integrated course.

Yes, I have been residing in a hostel for the last 3 years. We get to change hostel rooms and roommates every year. There are 13 boys hostels and 8 girls hostels and each of these hostels can accommodate 200 students. The University has a total strength of somewhere between 6000-7000, hence single rooms are given only to Research Scholars.

I do not see my department having an official alumni network. However, the departments offering Professional courses like Management and Engineering do have an active network and meet annually.

Being a Central University, the faculty in the University are all Ph.D.'s and have secured employment after a difficult process of hiring. The quality of teaching and research are excellent. However, they do not spoon feed students like in schools and colleges. Learning is purely on the student.