SASTRA Deemed University Campus Area

SASTRA Deemed University consists of nearly 180 laboratories in all related fields.

SASTRA Deemed University has a campus area of 3,00,000 square metres that is surrounded by greenery. It is a vast spread campus located in a peaceful and pleasant environment, which provides students with comfortable learning. It has developed a massive infrastructure for education, development, and accommodation on the campus. There are enough ventilated & wide classrooms, labs, shared areas, faculty rooms and washrooms in university buildings. The campus has nearly 40 buildings.

Blocks

• Jiva Chaitanya – Chemical & Biotechnology block
• Nirman Vihar – Civil department block
• Chith Vihar – Computing department block
• Tifac-Core – Advanced Computing & Information Technology department block
• Electrical & Electronics department block
• Viswakarma Joth – Mechanical engineering department block
• Chanakya – Law department block
• Humanities, Arts & Science department block 
• Education department block
• Management department block
• Anusandhan Kendra – 2 research and development blocks
• Library block
• Boy’s hostels – 10
• Girl’s hostels – 6
• Canteens – 3
• Stationery and general store
• Guesthouse
• ATM
• Hospital
• Post office
• Temple

Educational Facilities in SASTRA Deemed University

Lab Facilities:

Each academic block on the campus has laboratories related to the specific field. SASTRA Deemed University consists of nearly 180 laboratories in all related fields. Two effective research blocks consist of core facilities for laboratories such as electron microscopy, spectroscopy, high-end microscopy, materials characterisation and so on.

Library:

The library functions as SASTRA’s brain, providing printed and digital material sources to enhance education, training and development. The library has a collection of 3,42,159 books, 1,85,757 e-books and access to more than 20,000 e-journals. Engineering & Technology, Management, Law, Education, Arts, Science, Humanities and other areas are covered in e-books.

Some of the journals such as Science Direct, Springer, IEEE, JSTOR, Scopus, Portland Press, Oxford & Cambridge University Press, American Institute of Physics, EBSCO, ACS, Law Journals, Lexis Nexis Academic, Taxman, Prowess and other online journal databases provide access to over 13,705 full-text articles. 

The library also has a subscription to PROQUEST Digital Dissertation, which has approximately 3,10,000 theses and dissertations. 

Classrooms:

Collaborative learning can be accomplished in gallery-style and dynamic classrooms. The whole campus is 24/7 Wi-Fi enabled, and all classes are ICT equipped, with over 90% having LCD projectors. For efficient academic activities, a studio space with editing capabilities and ted talk technologies are accessible for adopting various teaching methods like online, hybrid, flipped classroom and so on. 

Each block has a fully equipped auditorium with audio-visual and acoustic amenities. Physically challenged individuals can use lifts, ramps and wheelchairs. 

Extracurricular Facilities

Boys and girls have separate sports facilities at SASTRA. Maruti indoor stadium with four badminton courts, a basketball court, three billiards tables, two ping pong tables, chess and carrom boards to foster excellence in sports are available to the students. Body Lyrics, a multifunctional fitness room, has created a program that will help students maintain and adopt a healthy workout routine on the upper floor of the indoor stadium. 

There are separate indoor tennis courts for men and women. Stadium lights, making nighttime games possible brighten outdoor sports facilities. SASTRA's extremely competitive inter-college sports festival 'Colosseum' and the intra-mural yearly sports event ‘Fuera’ both take place on these courts. 

IT & Wi-Fi Facilities

SASTRA has established a comprehensive IT strategy. SASTRA's computing requirements are fulfilled by a 100 'IT high-performance computing system and numerous modern digital technologies. NKN and Reliance provide campus-wide free Wi-Fi connectivity, giving 'anytime-anywhere' access to digital resources. VPN allows for shared and remote access to licensed applications. The student-to-computer ratio is 5:1 in the university.

The main Computation Unit is the part of Technology, Information, Forecasting & Assessment Council (TIFAC), Department of Science & Technology and the Government of India's Centre of Relevance & Excellence (CORE) in Advanced Computation & Processing Of Information, which was established in 2000. The facility is upgraded on a regular basis to address the educational and technical requirements of the entire campus and now it houses a powerful 100 Teraflop High-Performance Computing Cluster, private clouds created on VMWare and an Open stack with Xen Virtual servers, Web, Mail Academy browser, software suite and other educational data centres.

Hostels & Mess Facilities

SASTRA Deemed University has a large and comfortable hostel environment that provides a 'home-away-from-home' to 4,000 boys and 2,600 girls accommodated in 10 boys’ and 6 girls’ hostels respectively. There are four types of hostel rooms available such as single-seater, double-seater, triple-seater and four-seater rooms. 

SASTRA provides well-equipped gymnasiums for both boys and girls, as well as fully-equipped outdoor and indoor sports facilities. SASTRA has a ten-bed hospital, equipped with pharmacy and resident healthcare professionals on the campus. Canteens, snack stalls and food courts are functioning in the university.

In all hostels, steam-cooked meals and well-balanced vegetarian cuisine are served. In addition to the South Indian delights, there are also North Indian delicacies. During exams, food is provided till 1 a.m. Other services such as free Wi-Fi, a coffee shop, a juice stand, general stores, recourses, ATMs, and laundry services are also provided.

The girls’ hostels have a separate gym with modern exercise equipment, volleyball, badminton, and tennis courts, as well as a 200-meter running track built with unique stones.

SASTRA Deemed University provides a post office, an ATM, courier services, electricity substations, generator plants, a temple, Goshala with 150 cows and a Veterinary doctor, a medicinal garden, water and sewage purification unit and a biofuel plant. 

Transportation Facilities

SASTRA Deemed University is a 232-acre campus with well-laid road facilities. To commute inside the campus, students need to use their own vehicles such as bicycles and two-wheelers. For day scholars, sufficient transport facilities are provided with 22 buses for the students residing in Thanjavur, Kumbakonam and Trichy to reach the campus.

­About the Author

Ponnila SM is pursuing MBA from the Thiagarajar School of Management. Writing is her passion, and she feels it allows her to explore different words and put them together to form meaningful sentences.

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