M.U. & Me. Review on University of Mumbai

The University used to be housed in the Elphinstone College Campus, Fort; before it came to be relocated at the Vidyanagari Campus. The different departments offer a great range of learning modules within the realm of languages and sciences. Seminars are conducted aplenty. The NAAC (an accreditation body) has deemed it a five-star University.

MU sees a fairly huge number of applicants for admission every single year, be it for the regular courses or the distance courses. The library (named after Jawaharlal Nehru) is very well-stocked and really efficiently managed. The gardens are well-kept.

But where it scores in facilities and amenities, in lacks in various other matters because of its largesse. It's ironical, but true.

The campus is such a vast one that it begins to irritate you after a while. Each department is so far away from one another, that you can be frustrated to no end. There are two canteens on campus and both are pretty normal and yet the crowds on any given day are fairly deceptive of the actual quality of food served here. The hostels are fairly decent. The Churchgate branch of the hostel (J.S. Hall) is a budget hostel at best, but there the food is of a far superior quality. The crowds that throng the campus today, are an eclectic mix of cultures,races, religions and clubs. It has, by far, come to epitomise Mumbai's cosmopolitan aura.

As is the tradition everywhere, knowing the local tongue (Marathi), in most cases will get your work done really quickly. Especially in serpentine lines outside the Ambedkar Bhavan (for submission of certificates) and the Examination Department Building.

The faculty for most departments are competent. But I speak from personal experience when I say that around 98% of the teaching staff in the English Department are worth their salt, and then some more. The office staff of the Department are far more helpful than most others.