should i congratulate u by taking assumption that u r awrae of everything and now ot is ur personal decision to get into amity...
or other way around i should tell u by assuming that u dont know any thing ....
my take is secod one man...as i thnk befor joining any institute u must be awrae abt the nitty gritties of institute....
http://www.jammag.com/careers/articl...ndex2.php?id=1
Amity Business School suedArticle posted on:
2006-01-04 16:54:44 6 former Amity Business School students have taken the institute to court following the withdrawal of AICTE approval to Amity's flagship course - the PGDM. This is the story of their quest for justice
- Rashmi Bansal
On Feb 26, 2005, Amit Bharadwaj received a letter from Sunita Singh (Director, Admissions), Amity Business School, Noida stating: We take immense pleasure in informing you that you have been selected for Post Graduate Diploma in Management (2005) (Approved by AICTE).
Accordingly, on 5th March Amit deposited fees of Rs 1,23, 150 (including academic fee for Sem 1 of Rs 102500, refundable academic security of Rs 20,000 & mediclaim insurance - Rs 650).
Three months into the session, there was a stunning development. On Sept 17, 2005
AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) withdrew its approval to Amity Business School.
A press release signed by Prof R A Yadav, Vice-Chairman AICTE cited several reasons for derecognition. The Expert Committee observed that a "large number of unapproved courses were being conducted in the same premises, utilising the facilities and infrastructure intended for AICTE approved courses, thus diluting the standards of education".
Amit and his fellow students learnt of this derecognition through an article published in the Hindustan Times on 20th Sept 2005. The article noted that the decision "is likely to affect 300 students" but that "affected students would be accommodated elsewhere".
In the same article Ashok Chauhan, founder chairman of Amity assured students that "fees deposited would be returned if the matter was not sorted out with AICTE". K Madhav Murthy, adviser, AICTE also stated that "AICTE had asked the UP government to transfer students in neighbouring areas."
Former student Diptanshu Gupta recalls, "On Sep 20, 2005 Ashok Chauhan addressed 1st and 2nd year students and assured us that the matter would be solved in a week. He also promised a fee refund to students who wished to leave if AICTE approval was not reinstated".
Ground realities
When JAM visited the Amity Sector 44 campus in December 2005, our reporter found different courses being conducted in the same building. For instance, a wing on one floor that was meant for BBA classes (as indicated by a large signboard) had many different types of MBA classes going on (MBA-HR, MBA-CRM and so on). Class 3 school children from the Amity International School were being taught in classrooms that still had MBA (Gen) printed on the door.
The Amity Business School classes which are supposed to be held in the D and H blocks, were instead being held in J-block belonging to Amity International School. Clearly, AICTE was accurate in observing facilities and infrastructure intended for AICTE approved course were being utilized for other unapproved courses.
Students also allege that classes for the senior batch (2006) PGDM students and MBA students (Amity University) were often held together, by the same faculty in the same classroom.
Former students say that considering the high fees they were paying (Rs 4.9 lakhs for the 2 years including hostel fees but not food), facilities were inadequate. Their complaints include:
- Inadequate computer lab
- Lack of place like reading room to do projects
- Books often being unavailable in the library
- Classes constantly being shifted from one building to the next
Our reporter visited the sole library on campus on the first floor of the D-block. It certainly didn’t look big enough to cater to the needs of the 2,000-plus students now taking classes in the Noida campus. The computer laboratory was next to the library and had around 40 machines. By 12 noon, most of the machines were occupied and it was easy to imagine the chaos there would be when the campus was full.
MBA students have been provided with laptops and there is wi-fi connectivity on the campus. But students say they still need to use the computer lab for specific software like SPSS and printouts.
There is a separate lab with 30 machines and a small reading room for BBA students.
More issues
Another major grouse is the fact that the hostel facility to 1st year male MBA students is provided in Sector 125 campus 3 kms away ( this was not specified at time of admission).
Says Diptanshu Gupta,"There is a bus facility provided but its timings weren’t suitable. We often had to walk 3 kms to the hostel passing by the Greater Noida Expressway which is not safe even for the boys, late at night."
Besides physical facilities, quality of faculty and faculty: student ratio seems to be another area of concern. A former faculty member at Amity recalls, "When I was in campus, only International Business (IB) course was offered in addition to PGDM but even then the intake was very high. Plus BBA & IB admissions would go on even in the middle of the semester, in a few cases."
"Regarding the faculty, apart from a few (who are old timers) very few would stick beyond a semester or two. They would ask us to substitute for someone at the notice of an hour even for a MBA class, They had no fixed date for mid semester examinations, every teacher was free to conduct it according to their fancy."
Amity claims to have "
one of the largest faculty". 19 full time faulty members are listed on the Amity website, shared between Amity Business School and
Amity Business School, Amity University.
Amity School of International Business lists 15 faculty members.
The Placement issue
Last but not the least, the placement cell and corporate resource center for all these programs are same. Says former PGDM student Henna Jindal, "The pressure to place such a large number of students is sure to dilute the kind of jobs and salary packages on offer."
A request for details of the campus placements so far has not yielded a response from Amity. The full picture, in any case, will only be available at the end of the current placement season.
As per information available to
JAM, 90 students have been placed so far of the 650 students vying for placement. Why only 650, although there are far more students enrolled in MBA? Because a large number of students are debarred every year from the placement process.
Several sources told
JAM: "If a student does not score 6.5 CGPA he/ she is not eligible for placements. The student will be asked to sign a paper saying: 'I do not want to sit in the placement willfully and want to opt for entrepreneurship'. That is how they are able to claim 100% placements".
Bottomline
As far as Deepak Soni – one of the students suing Amity is concerned - the main reason for his leaving the PGDM course remains withdrawal of AICTE approval. "I wanted to join a recognized MBA course," says the Chhatisgarh resident who is now preparing for his UPSC exams."I left other options such as ICFAI only because their institute is not AICTE approved while Amity’s course had the approval."
The questions raised by former Amity students suing their former B school:
a) Why is Amity not fulfilling its promise re: refund of fees and transfer of students who wish to do so when it was expressly promised in September?
b) The larger question is: Are there better ways to go about the ambitious expansion of an educational institute?
c) Is there a plan of action to improve the current situation?
- Rashmi Bansal, with inputs from Jai Arjun Singh
Withdrawal of AICTE ApprovalArticle posted on:
2006-01-04 16:55:17 Withdrawal of approval to Amity Business School, Noida
AICTE Press Release
Expert Committees of AICTE have visited Amity Business School at Noida on several occasions during the last few years and show cause notices have been issued for violating norms and standards set by the Council.
Expert Committees visited Amity Business School, Noida recently on 27th July 2005 and 5th August 2005 have since found serious deficiencies and violation of Norms and Standards. Amity Business School was also found to conduct large number of unapproved courses in the same premises (some even in collaboration with foreign universities which require mandatory approval from the AICTE) utilising the facilities and infrastructure intended for AICTE approved courses, thus diluting the standards of education.
As it is, the Institute has violated building laws and also lacks requisite built-up area as per AICTE norms. It was also found that the admission process followed by the Institute was not transparent and is involved in commercialisation of education by charging exorbitant fee from students.
As Amity Business School contravened the conditions of approval, AICTE decided to withdraw approval for conduct of PGDM (FT) and PGDM (PT) courses from the academic year 2005-06. Consequent upon withdrawal of AICTE approval, the Council decided to transfer and distribute the students already admitted in Amity Business School, Noida among other approved institutions in the nearby locality.
-
Signed , Vice Chairman AICTE (R A Yadav),
Sept 17 2005 New Delhi
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