At over 1,00,000 students on its rolls, Amity arguably remains India’s largest private university. The speed with which this scale was set up reflects the potential in private university education.
Ironically, it also reflects what is not so fine in the sector. Pursuit of quantity above everything else is obviously raising concerns regarding quality as well as over-supply.
What differentiates the elite universities worldwide - from America's Ivy League to India's IITs - is the absolute rule of meritocracy. You have to earn a subject. Not everyone can study engineering, business, medicine, law, or social work. You need to have proven aptitude for a subject.
For example, like many private universities, Amity too is accommodating multiple test scores like CAT/MAT/GMAT for MBA admissions. It is doubtful whether this will ensure a level playing field.
Models like Amity are more popular because, practically, anyone can study any subject. You have to just pay for a subject. Aptitude is welcome, but not essential.
Even while everyone will welcome the democracy of this idea, it is not the way to develop and deliver respected professionals to the industry or community.
Amity’s issues in this respect are higher as it is more challenging to enforce uniform quality across its 20 different campuses across the country, rather than the one central campus most leading universities tend to have.
In recent months, Amity has been showing more bullishness on their overseas initiatives, like their new large campus in Dubai.
On the scholarships front, though Amity is offering significant programs at their Dubai Campus, it is unclear whether they have such a program in India, where it is needed more. A query sent to Amity in this regard, remained unanswered till the time of publishing this story.
Amity has recently pioneered an offshore campus in UK. But students pursuing degree from their UK offshore campus will be required to write Indian liicensing exams again if they need to work in India.
In their hitherto core Indian operations, even more profound is the danger of over-supply. It is one thing to sell a dream to a student. But quite another to land him or her an entry into the specialization that was sold.
Though every private university including Amity claims high level of placements, what is ironical is that 2012 and 2013, or for that matter 2014, haven’t been periods when recruiting was strong. Even the IITs found it difficult on the admissions and placements stage this academic year.
Does this lower-quality and over-supply of ‘talent’ offered by institutes like Amity combine to form a quicksand where the real victim will be India’s hitherto respected high-quality manpower standards?
If that is the eventual outcome of this national innovation, private universities like Amity would have created more problems than they had promised to solve, in this nation.
Ironically, it also reflects what is not so fine in the sector. Pursuit of quantity above everything else is obviously raising concerns regarding quality as well as over-supply.
What differentiates the elite universities worldwide - from America's Ivy League to India's IITs - is the absolute rule of meritocracy. You have to earn a subject. Not everyone can study engineering, business, medicine, law, or social work. You need to have proven aptitude for a subject.
For example, like many private universities, Amity too is accommodating multiple test scores like CAT/MAT/GMAT for MBA admissions. It is doubtful whether this will ensure a level playing field.
Models like Amity are more popular because, practically, anyone can study any subject. You have to just pay for a subject. Aptitude is welcome, but not essential.
Even while everyone will welcome the democracy of this idea, it is not the way to develop and deliver respected professionals to the industry or community.
Amity’s issues in this respect are higher as it is more challenging to enforce uniform quality across its 20 different campuses across the country, rather than the one central campus most leading universities tend to have.
In recent months, Amity has been showing more bullishness on their overseas initiatives, like their new large campus in Dubai.
On the scholarships front, though Amity is offering significant programs at their Dubai Campus, it is unclear whether they have such a program in India, where it is needed more. A query sent to Amity in this regard, remained unanswered till the time of publishing this story.
Amity has recently pioneered an offshore campus in UK. But students pursuing degree from their UK offshore campus will be required to write Indian liicensing exams again if they need to work in India.
In their hitherto core Indian operations, even more profound is the danger of over-supply. It is one thing to sell a dream to a student. But quite another to land him or her an entry into the specialization that was sold.
Though every private university including Amity claims high level of placements, what is ironical is that 2012 and 2013, or for that matter 2014, haven’t been periods when recruiting was strong. Even the IITs found it difficult on the admissions and placements stage this academic year.
Does this lower-quality and over-supply of ‘talent’ offered by institutes like Amity combine to form a quicksand where the real victim will be India’s hitherto respected high-quality manpower standards?
If that is the eventual outcome of this national innovation, private universities like Amity would have created more problems than they had promised to solve, in this nation.
It is a lopsided view of Amity University. Before commenting on this University, please compare the ranks of all private universities in India, Asia and the World. This ranking has been by the agencies with high reputation. You will find that Amity University outshines all the other private universities. So I request the author to revisit his article objectively and reframe his thoughts about this GREAT university.
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