Academics: Professor-to-student ratio: It's higher than at most universities or colleges in the state. Average classroom sizes would be anywhere from 15 to 70. As you can see, it varies, but concerning other institutions, it's much better.
Quality of Professors: I will emphasize on this point that some professors are exceptionally good, so much so that we used to worship them literally. The faculty in math and CSE are excellent and dedicated.
Professors are very humble and down-to-earth, and most of them are easily approachable for doubts and even jokes. This is very important in building a healthy teacher-student relationship based on respect and admiration.
Library: Central Library and our department library contained multiple copies of every book we wanted. But the digital library is poor and barely accessible. This, I conclude, is a problem for all publicly funded institutions in the country, not just Jadavpur University.
Curriculum: It is focused on advanced topics, but the technology used is backdated. For example, computer graphics were still being taught using Borland Turbo C in an MS-DOS environment instead of Open GL, which IITs generally use. A few professors do encourage studying deep programming, but most simply prefer that their way is the only way and any deviation from their method is wrong.
Placement: The very best companies recruit, like Goldman Sachs, MS, Ernst & Young, Amazon, etc. Overall, JU still has better placements in Bengal than any college except for IIT and ISI.
Research: As a Masters's student who initially wanted to do a Ph.D., I've had first-hand experience with how good research is quality-wise. Jadavpur University professors have contacts with some of the best professors not only in the state and country but abroad as well.
For example, a delegation from Heidelberg University, a very old and renowned university in Germany, came to pick up students for Ph.D. and Masters courses in CSE during my time, and I was one of those selected by the professors along with many from BCSE and Masters courses, etc. Most important of all, professors are very interested in going above and beyond to make the research shine.
Quantity and quality-wise, JU ranks probably 5th to 7th in India concerning research output, beating out some of the older IITs too. Note that while IITs are primarily places for technology and industrial research, at JU, research is diverse in other fields like the arts, science, and much more niche fields like astronomy, nanotechnology, and cryogenics.
Culture :
Seniors are the best. They give us old question papers, organize festivities, provide tips on beating exams, and are caring and supportive. I haven't seen a single instance of ragging or even minor taunts in my entire time there. And when placements come, those seniors who get placed help us crack the same interviews.
The best of the best come to JU. Some of them don't have the money to be at IIT and hence come here. Being surrounded by such high numbers of good students encourages even the mediocre to perform well.
Amenities :
Restaurants: I have been staying outside Bengal for the past couple of years, and I miss the canteen food. I was that odd guy who used to bring tiffin from home. And yet, I couldn't resist taking Veg Chowmein or Luchi-Alu Dom/Ghugni from the AC canteen or staff canteen, etc. There are a lot of canteens spread out, and they are all very good. Prices are low even by Bengali standards, and there's enough variety to have separate meals every day of the month.
Toilets: separate for girls and boys on every floor. They are large, clean, and dry. Even though the university is old and publicly funded, the toilets are in decent shape.
Grounds: The Main Campus ground is vast, and the Salt Lake Campus ground serves as a cricket pitch for even international players like Chris Gayle.
Greenery: The entire campus is enveloped by trees and bushes, and pollution is minimal. After reaching JU and wading through traffic on a jam-packed bus or Metro, it feels refreshing to breathe clean air and see the beautiful scenery inside the campus. The Salt Lake City campus has large flower gardens too.
Value for Money:Scholarships: A free studentship is available to anyone below a certain wealth threshold, which helped me a lot since my father retired over 15 years ago and I could fund my entire education by doing private tuition in CS and Math.
Even without any scholarship, it's dirt cheap. Only Calcutta University is cheaper. Staying in Bangalore, I feel proud that I was at JU, receiving top-end education at such a low cost. For example, my entire master's degree cost less than a single semester at a private university. As I said before, food is very cheap.
Just opposite JU is Xerox Corner, where one can xerox hundreds of pages at cheap rates.
For more information, you may visit the Shiksha Jadavpur University page.
(
https://www.shiksha.com/university/jadavpur-university-kolkata-19992).
I hope this will help you.
