Campus Area, GLA University

The entire university is spread across an area of close to 110 acres, with more than 10,000 students pursuing various courses located in Mathura. Currently, the GLA University offers admission into 86 programmes in undergraduate, postgraduate, professional and doctoral level courses. It is one of the best private institutes in Uttar Pradesh with an average placement record of 76% over the last 10 years. The university has more than 3000 publications, 400+ patents published in various disciplines, and there are 28 patents that are considered to be granted as well.

There are a total of 223 classrooms in the university. All the classrooms are fully air-conditioned and equipped with modern amenities such as audio-visual teaching aids, LCD projectors, etc. The university has 11 conference halls to accommodate more than 3,500 people. All the events, workshops and guest lectures are scheduled in these halls from time to time. These halls are also used by students for student activities and various competitions. The university complex also includes a shopping mall where students can get everything they need, including fruits, vegetables, juices, and other groceries, at reasonable prices. So, the students don’t have to go outside the campus for their daily needs.

Technology Business Incubator: The University has also established an incubation centre in the year 2019 with the aim of encouraging students to start their own ventures. Currently, a total of 21 teams are working on various startups, including 9 in virtual mode. All these teams are given around 4-6 mentoring sessions within a month to support and help them in any possible way. The university also helps the students with promotion and seed funding support if the ideas are interesting and unique in some way or another.

Library: Each department has its own library on their respective campuses. Apart from this, the university has a central library which has more than 1,55,000 books, over 4,500 CD-ROMs, and subscribes to more than 95 national and international journals and magazines. All the operations are fully computerized. The students can also get the previous year's question papers for any subject from the library on request. The central library is also a member of DELNET, which connects over 5000 libraries in the nation, and is a member of the national digital library as well.

Hostel & Cafeteria: The University has 19 hostels in total. There are 15 boys' hostels, which can accommodate more than 4,000 boys, and four girls' hostels, each with a seating capacity of 1,400. The hostel facility is provided on a first come, first served basis. Students can also avail air-conditioned rooms if they want. All the rooms are spacious and have one-bed, two-bed, or three-bed facilities as required. All the hostels are fully furnished with indoor facilities like a TV lounge, chess, carrom, and table tennis, so that students feel connected with one another. The hostels have biometrics installed at the reception where all the boarders need to mark their attendance if they are going out. All the cafeterias provide hygienic, vegetarian food, and there are a total of 4 cafeterias to meet the needs of the students.

Laboratories: Laboratories play an important role in understanding any concept clearly and in a detailed manner. Each department has their own laboratories as per the course curriculum and requirements. Particularly for all engineering students, labs are one of the crucial parts of their curriculum that they cannot escape, and the university incorporates the best labs with the latest technologies and equipment.

The following are some of the labs in the department of Computer Engineering & Applications:

· Data Technology Lab

· Web Technology Laboratory

· IBM Centre of Excellence · Information Retrieval and Analytics Lab

· Wipro Mission10x Technology Learning Center (MTLC)

· Computer Networking & Information Security Lab

The following are some of the labs in the Civil Engineering Department:

· The Laboratory for Water and Waste Water Analysis

· Transportation Engineering Lab

· Structural Analysis Laboratory

· Sustainable Environmental and Agricultural Research Laboratory

· Fluid Mechanics and Open-Channel Hydraulics Laboratory

Sports Facilities: The University has various indoor and outdoor games facilities, which are as follows:

The sports cell of the university makes sure that all the latest and top-of-the-line equipment is available to all the interested students. The university supports and encourages students to excel in various sports and provides all the facilities needed for the same.

Academic and Industrial Collaborations: The university also has academic and industry collaborations with national and international organizations. Some of the collaborations include:

• MOU with the University of Pisa, Italy (Civil Engineering)
• MOU with Luminous Biosciences, LLC, Gaithersburg, MD, USA (Biotechnology)
• MOU with Jacksonville State University, USA (Computer Engineering & Application) MOU with IPB University, Indonesia
• MOU with Voltrans Energy Private Limited (Electrical Engineering)
• MOU with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) – Civil Engineering

Transportation: The University has a total of 40 buses which provide conveyance services in and around Mathura, Vrindavan, Kosi, Hodal etc. The bus facilities are provided to all the interested students and are not compulsory at all. The bus fee may vary from INR 21000 to INR 30000 depending on the location for the whole academic session. Students are only allowed to board the buses at scheduled stops and can de-board at campus only.

About the Author: Sachin Singh is a Civil Engineer with proven experience in site management, sub-contractors billing, liquid waste management.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha