Mangalore University. Review on Mangalore University

A University can be defined as ''An institution for higher learning with teaching and research facilities constituting a graduate school and professional schools that award master's degrees and doctorates and an undergraduate division that awards bachelor's degrees''

Unfortunately, in India, state-run universities cannot be called as institutions of higher learning. Nepotism,casteism, corruption - all these traits are virtually rampant in all Indian universities.

In Karnataka, there are roughly 8-11 state-run universities. Among these universities, Mangalore University is considerably younger, since it was established in 1980. Mangalore University was established to cater to the students belonging to Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu and Udupi districts. The University has 75 affiliated colleges in the Arts, Science and Commerce, four in Education, four in Law, seven in Hotel Management and one in Speech and Hearing. The University boasts of 27 departments and has a centre in Kodagu district.

The Location: The University is located nearly 20 kms south-east of Mangalore city. Even though transport facilities are excellent, the city buses take an eternity to reach the University. The University is spread over an area of 350 acres, which includes the boys and girls hostel , faculty quarters and a badly constructed auditorium.

The Faculty: Majority of the faculty at the University hold a Ph.D in their respective fields. But teaching in most departments is uniformly pathetic. Professors still teach from notes that belong to the bygone era. Most of them are content with drawing their salaries at the end of the month and are least bothered with the plight of the students. Professors at the University belong to varied categories. Some professors profess outdated left-wing ideology to hapless students. Some hold grudge against the students by manipulating marks in the final examination. Some are totally clueless about the subjects they are handling. Some are waiting to collect their retirement fund.

The Naxal Incident: As mentioned earlier, some professors act as mouthpiece of left-wing, glorifying Marxism and its assorted class theories. However, one incident made them shed all their love for Communism and embrace capitalism. Karnataka, especially, the Western Ghats section has seen a spurt in activities of extreme leftists, the Naxalites. The Naxalites, adore Mao (a well known mass murderer) and talk of replacing the existing democratic setup with their version of ''people's democracy.'' The police have been chasing the Naxalites all over the Western Ghats, without much success. Finally , they manage to track down two Naxalites and shot them in an encounter. As soon the news of this incident reach all parts of Karnataka, the ''intellectuals'' derided the police action by calling it as a ''fake encounter.'' Not to be outdone, the esteemed professors of the University signed a memorandum of protest, criticising the police action. Unfortunately for them, a Kannada newspaper, Vijaya Karnataka managed to obtain a copy of the signed memorandum and promptly published it in all its edition. The police swung into action and questioned the professors who had signed the fatal document. What exactly transpired between the police and the faculty is not clearly known. But grapevine has it that the police obtained signatures of the professors on the letter stating that they will not indulge in anti-government propaganda. Since then, the Marxputras have stopped preaching their favourite ideology.

The Hostels: The hostels, especially the boys hostel (not too sure about the girls hostel) were slightly better than the University. Two students from the same department were alloted a room. The room consisted of a study table, a pathetic chair and a hard, wooden structure that passed off for bed. The toilets and bathrooms looked marginally better than the municipality toilets. The food at the mess, to put it simply, was a mess. As majority of the students hailed from middle class and lower class, they had no other option but to endure the garbage served on the plate. The students from the Department of MBA made up the bulk of the students. Since, MBA students generally shelled more fees than the rest of the students, they were the lousiest of the lot. They were notorious for celebrating parties inside the hostel, complete with loud music drunken orgy and has penchant for throwing up in the hostel corridor and the bathroom. The stench in the bathrooms and the corridors were unbearable.

However, not all aspects of hostel were bleak. For instance, unlike girls hostel , boys hostel didn't have any time restrictions. The warden, a lecturer from any department, hardly visited the hostel. In short, the hostel was nothing short of an asylum, with the inmates running the asylum. Add to this, the hostel had a tradition of celebrating Ganesha Chaturthi every year. The best part of this celebration was the immersion ceremony. The idol was to be placed in a tempo and taken all over the University, including the girls hostel.

I had studied at the University and stayed at the hostel for two years. I never had any regrets of leaving this lousy University. However, I still remember the hostel days.

Currently, the University is undergoing a lot of upheavals. Now all the departments are following semester scheme as opposed to the yearly scheme. Hostel facilities have improved a lot. The professors discuss about the subject and not outdated ideologies with the students. But with the advent of semester scheme, fees have increased rapidly. The government needs to take urgent steps to address this problem.