What about the current situation of MNLU Mumbai ? How is the teachings and placements?
I came to know that construction started for new MNLU campus on 100 Acre land at Versova which is a posh area and at stone throw distance from Juhu. This is going to be one of the biggest campus among NLU if not The Biggest that too at the heart of the city.
Can I keep it as one of my top choice for my daughter next year in CLAT. Need informed decision from you guys . Thanks in advance
Not one of the top 10 choices among NLUs yet and isn't likely to become thus anytime soon. Other than the location, nothing advantageous, and if you're considering only the location, then better try GLC at a fraction of the cost.
NLU Mumbai's permanent campus is going to be Gorai (not Versova). It is 60 acres in size and quite remote. However, the campus development is progressing quite slowly and is lackadaisical. It will be at least another 5 - 6 years before anything happens.
As per June 2023 notification... MNLU mumbai has been alloted land for new campus w set up on 70 Acres of Land in Versova near to metro station...it will be 4 KM away from Juhu...So new campus will be at Heart of Mumbai...Please update your information
"werent a land parcel in Dongri been allocatedf? and it was stuck at HC (this is for sure until pre-covid), dunno what happened in the last three years"
Yes, both Gorai and Dongri were options provided by the Govt. However, NLU Mumbai was reluctant to select any one of them due to their remoteness. Technically neither of the locations would actually be Mumbai. It is like saying Sonipat or Rohtak is Delhi. Eventually, the University was "forced" to select one as they kept the decision hanging for three years. There has been virtually no campus development at all.
Even without campus MNLU has done exceptionally well. It is in line with GNLU. Placements are good compared to other colleges such as HNLU, NLUO, RMLNLU etc.
"Placements are good compared to other colleges such as HNLU, NLUO, RMLNLU etc."
how did the moderator not flag this as "contested" or even "trollish" when MNLU has not even released placement reports for the year of 2022?
2020 and 2021 placements were abysmal!! All of them are PPOs with one even being classified as "Legal Intern" . Don't mislead candidates with such unwarranted comments!! The only thing GNLU and MNLU have in common are they're "national law universities" but with MNLU's heavy domicile quota I'm not sure one can even call it "National".
Let Mnlu Mumbai release placement reports for 2022 and get a permanent campus then we can compare it to tier 3s let alone tier 2s or tier 1s.
If this is an mnlu grad then I wouldn't be surprised because half of the batch is probably getting wasted at LOTD in Powai as I speak. Dream high but atleast ground them to reality. Alas! They don't call Mumbai "City of dreams" for no reason!
Hello. I would advise to keep it as a top 3 choice for your daughter, because I would advise you to look at the long term perspective. Right now, MNLU may seem less attractive than certain NLUs, but in the long term the economic heft of Mumbai will inevitably pull MNLU up. For example, IIT Kharagpur is 7 years older than IIT Bombay and 10 years older than IIT Delhi, but everyone prefers IIT Bombay and Delhi today. Similarly, IIM Calcutta is 12 years older than IIM Bangalore, but Bangalore is ranked higher today.
In my view, the top 10 law schools by 2040 will be:
People have been calling MNLU a long term option for years now, it has done nothing to justify such faith. Your entire list is faulty and based on no objective parameter. Do not mislead freshers or their parents in this manner, even if you cannot help them.
"In my view, the top 10 law schools by 2040 will be."
Abey bhai, the person is going for a 5 year course not a decades long vacation and what sort of fortune telling is this?! Nobody wants to know where MNLU will end up after 20 years. For all you know, NLUs might even cease to exist by then xD
even though the placements have been getting better in the college most have them have been through PPOs while nothing to take away from the amzin job the IP cell is doing. also we are getting much much more internships through
BUT NO BROTHER the academics is shit and so is the admin, the professors are all tryna leave and they keep hiring new professors with no skill in teaching or just started teaching. turning research assitants into profs all man crazy stuff. also the admin is one chut ma kasam. The college is a joke for something called a campus with two floors and the hostel is good iguess cuz you get your own room but other than that expect ehhh worse. all in all, RUN. RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN
You people please mind your language and moderator please censor foul language. It is someone asking for his/her daughter, so it’s an uncle/aunty who is of you mom/dad’s age. Show some respect and decency.
Most comments in this thread stem from poor, outdated or misleading information. Let me save you of that here.
The University has had a bad rap in the past few years, and for good reason. But I am optimistic; in that I see that the trajectory, since the Covid-19 lock-down was lifted, has been incredibly positive.
As for Academics: The University now has on its roll some very good professors. Most are young, understanding and quite knowledgable. There is also great effort underway to partner with foreign law schools, which from what I know is progressing well. Most professors have PhDs in the field they teach and some have even published textbooks on their area of expertise. The assessment at the University, both in terms of research requirements and examinations, is rigorous and taken seriously - poor performance is not rewarded. We also have an extremely wide range of International Moots to choose from. Every year dozens travel abroad to participate in them.
As for Placements: A new Internship and Placement Cell was constituted in 2021 and has, in a short span of time, performed beyond our best expectations. The current final year batch counts among their placed many in Tier-1 firms apart from listed companies and other Tier-2/3 firms. Internships at Tier 1-3 firms are easy to secure for those who are proactive and reasonably smart. The locational advantage cannot be highlighted enough. No other law school in Mumbai (including GLC) provides you with the necessary infrastructure to stay comfortably in the city at a reasonable cost while also leveraging the its potential.
Spending 5 years requires you to consider other factors as well. In my opinion, a city like Mumbai can cater to every one of your needs and ensure your daughter is well provided for. I have personally heard testaments of the poor conditions at NLIU Bhopal, TNNLU and certain other government colleges in Pune. I will not even get into the prevalent ragging culture at many other NLUs (there are other threads on LI that deal with it); there is none of that at MNLU. The current campus in Powai, I can assure you, is among the best, most modern and well-maintained. The hostel & college (which are situated next to each other on a rather generous plot) was initially constructed by the Central Government for training international students in engineering. This University will remain at the same location for the foreseeable future, with the State Government funding the University with every increasing grants.
Every cohort will find itself with all sorts of students from varied backgrounds. The key is to ensure that one mingles with the ambitious lot. In terms of the necessary support you need from a University, I am confident MNLU will fare well. The rest depends on individual capability. My best wishes to your daughter.
Please name 5 faculty members of MNLU who have got at least 3 SCOPUS or international peer-reviewed publications. Knowledgeable experts writing textbooks, lol! Who reads those textbooks? Such hot air without any substance! Just because it is doing better than it used to earlier doesn't mean that it is in any position to challenge the top 7-8 NLUs anytime soon. The biggest asset of any law school in India is its alumni group. It will be years before MNLU develops that.
No, IIMs don't get any funding after the initial seed funding to set up. After the first 5 - 7 years all IIMs are financially independent and have to fend for themselves.
You make some good points. However, it seems MNLU Mumbai's only selling point is its location - which is overhyped. There is a reason why Mumbai (India's business capital) does not have a premier business school (no IIM in Mumbai).
It is true that there is no urgency on part of the university administration to move into the permanent campus - as the land assigned is so remote that it is no longer Mumbai. The current location is good but temporary. This also limits the university's plan to increase the intake.
That said, Maharashtra is the state with the highest GDP and is known to be a progressive state [unlike UP(RMLNLU), Rajasthan(NLUJ), MP(NLIU), Chattisgarh(HNLU), Bengal(WBNUJS), and Odisha(NLUO)]. Hence funding will not be an issue.
1. I have made sufficient points that do not concern the location alone, although the location continues to be a major plus point. An NLU in Mumbai serves the sole purpose of having a law school in the city that houses the country's most important High Court and where some 80-90% of the corporate law jobs exist. Therefore, I am afraid I cannot agree with your characterisation of the location being overhyped.
2. I am surprised as to why an IIM did not spring up here but I do believe that law as a profession for both academic and practice purposes connects itself intrinsically with the location. This is why Leiden Uni, the LSE, King's, Georgetown and Columbia continue to sell their location as a major factor, and rightly so.
3. There is no limitation to the University increasing its intake. It already enrols as many as 120 students per batch, which is sort of the maximum they may ever want to. In any case a decent portion of the college and hostel remains empty, only to be used during Moots or the like.
I think GLC would be a better choice if location is the main factor for you. But if you are considering better academics in the same location MNLU would be better.
Check out the current LinkedIn page of the Internship and Placement Cell. We have had great placements and internships this year. Citi Bank came to MNLU to hire only one student but hired two and one from GLC Mumbai and NLS/Nalsar. Adani group has picked up 4 students and SAM has taken two. Batch of 2023 has had amazing placements. Similar to GLC, MNLU Mumbai is full of self-made students. Yes, many students here have a strong family background but the internship cell is working hard this time
Contrary to your claim, your data instead proves that location indeed does not matter.
- Leiden is in a literal town without any other important institution (they are in the Hague/Amsterdam).
- LSE and King's are still much further down than Oxford or Cambridge which are situated in towns that are basically the university itself. If London as a location was so important then QMUL, UCL etc. would dominate, no? They do not and come much further down the list.
- As for Georgetown and Columbia, this again proves that some of the best institutions in the US are not in NYC but rather in Cambridge, MA, New Haven, CT, Berkeley, CA, Stanford, CA etc.
I do not think you should discount the argument that Mumbai does not have a good IIM. It is known as a financial centre and yet hosts no significant finance university. Location may be somewhat important but MNLU Mumbai does not have a single better thing than any other NLU (including the bottom ones like DNLU Jabalpur) except the location. Mumbai as a location has been oversold a lot.
Further examples: Mumbai is a film-hub but the top film schools are not in Mumbai, e.g., the SRFTI is in Kolkata.
Bangalore is a tech-hub, but the top CSE school is in Mumbai.
MNLU 4th Year: There are several areas where Bangalore beats Mumbai hands down. But this is not a Bangalore v Mumbai discussion. If you are happy in NLU Mumbai, that's what matters. All the best.
1. There are more top universities in non-premium locations than there are in premium locations. To name a few Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, and INSEAD. Closer home is the world's No.1 research institution, the IISc in Bangalore. When IISc was set up 120 years back, let alone Tech Capital, Bangalore (a village), was not even the capital of Karnataka (then called Mysore). Many of the universities I have named above have contributed to the rise and growth of the city/town they were initially established in. IISc's contribution to the rise of Bangalore as the tech capital is known and acknowledged. So is Stanford's to the Silicon Valley. So institutions make locations, and locations don't make institutions (in our context applies to both MNLU Mumbai and NLUD) - that many overhype their locations (Mumbai and Delhi respectively).
2. In my previous response, I did mention the fact that there are no IIMs in Mumbai (and Delhi) and it will never have one. Again location does not matter.
3. The faculty and students at MNLU Mumbai need to find reasons other than the location for its claim to fame. I understand, setting up an institute takes land and money. The real deal is when that institute becomes an institution (and that transformation has nothing to do with location).
And BTW, all of my above points apply to NLUD. I see there's a lot of overhyping of location for Delhi as well.
I'm not the guy from MNLU but you are misinformed/wilfully ignorant of how important location can be for a university's success. The ones you have named are in fact situated very close to major cities and have benefitted from that, Harvard and MIT are next-door to Boston (capital of Mass), Stanford is extremely close to San Jose, one of the main cities of the Bay Area, INSEAD is also very close to Paris, Oxford and Cambridge have been existing as university towns for hundreds of years. IIT Kharagpur didn't make Kharagpur a big city in India.
Read your history too, Bangalore was already major city during British rule and IISc didn't put Bangalore on the map. Bangalore grew as a tech capital only in the 1990s during LPG and the IT boom. IISc hardly had anything to do with it. Mysore has always been a smaller centre. Kind of like Bombay-Pune. Point is, location is highly relevant for the success of any institution, especially new ones without a historical legacy. In NLUD's case, it's a fact that the location has played a huge role in attracting good faculty and students from its very inception. The location also brings in consultation projects from Central Govt. ministries (including the Criminal Law Reforms Committee). So the location is not some overhyped selling point. It opens up more opportunities for the institution. And Delhi already has FMS which is considered a top business school after the tier-1 IIMs. Similarly, for Bombay, IIMA was founded to create a university in the Western part of India.
So far as MNLU is concerned, it has failed to take off for other reasons despite the locational advantage and the fact that students with pretty good CLAT ranks opt for it over tier-2 NLUs. Main reason here is the lack of a proactive administration (which NLUD did have when it began), coupled with a heavy state domicile reservation and the lack of proper institutional autonomy (another thing that NLUD had/has). And honestly, while Bombay has a big High Court, it's not as litigation-intensive as the Delhi HC and the Supreme Court. The biggest lawyers in India practise in Delhi. Bombay is the corporate firms hub which doesn't contribute much directly to teaching and learning in law schools.
Bangalore was a village/town 135 years back when Jamshed Tata and Swami Vivekananda first thought of a science and research institute to be set up in India. By saying that Bangalore was a "big" city in the late nineteenth century you must be talking of some other Bangalore. In fact, even till the seventies (i.e. 1970) the main city in South India was considered to be Chennai (Madras). Bangalore was a tourist getaway for good weather. Bangalore's rise as the tech capital is directly attributable to IISc, and PSUs like HMT, BHEL, BEL, NAL, and ISRO. Even when IIM B was set up in 1974, Bangalore was not a really big city - it was the state capital, but not a premium business/corporate location. You need to read up on your history.
I think you forget the fact that when Harvard and MIT were set up in Boston, it too was a small town. So Harvard and MIT were not established BECAUSE Boston was a big city, but BOSTON became an important city (not premium though) because of Harvard and MIT. I hope you understand causal relationships.
Coming to NLUD....and overhyping its location. If NLUD's claim to fame is only its location, then its faculty, students, and alumni need to be worried. The university needs to find reasons OTHER THAN location to attract the best. Top Universities attract the best faculty and students irrespective of their locations. No one goes to MIT because it is in Boston - to put it another way, if MIT were in Alaska, faculty and students would still go there.
I have made my points, and close this here from my side.
I already said that your points are not well-informed. And they still aren’t. Read up more and then come back. And stop with the conjectural arguments where you simply look for reasons after making up a point. Bangalore wasn’t some village and was a defence cantonement town under the British and did not develop “because” of IISc. It was already a textile manufacturing centre under post-Vijaynagar feudatories and was a big city in Karnataka. And it was already made the capital of Mysore state by 19th-20th century after the Anglo-Mysore wars. Your reasoning doesn’t even make sense since your facts are incorrect.
And no, MIT would not attract the same repute if it had started in Alaska. Another Ivy League, Cornell, isn’t considered by many to be as good as Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, because its location isn’t as prominent or proximate to business centres. In any case, US univerisities can still thrive since the locational differences there aren’t as glaring as in India, so the comparison is far-fetched. Boston was already a major city in colonial USA and is still one of the big cities of the East Coast today. And a lot of influential businesses and politicians hail from there. You might want to stop trying to create causal relationships if you don’t have actual causes to back it up. I can see you’ve conveniently ignored the other universities you wrongly pointed out because clearly those were wrong connections too.
Also, NLUD hasn’t succeeded ONLY because of its location but the location helped propel it to the top in a relatively small amount of time. There are other reasons why it succeeded too including funding from the Delhi govt., support for research initiatives and institutional independence. You’re not from NLUD obviously, but you claim some kind of expertise on the whole issue. Might want to get better facts first then and probably do away with your biases while arguing.
You present factual errors with amazing confidence. Let's see.
"Bangalore was a big city in the 19th century, and was the capital of Mysore state". Truth - Bangalore became the capital of Mysore state in 1947 only, i.e. post-independence.
With that kind of knowledge, everything that you say after that becomes irrelevant. You may consider working on your credibility and then even try to put forth your arguments.
"You’re not from NLUD obviously...". Yes, thanks for the compliment.
Alright, one error compared to your dozens. And I’m willing to accept that unlike you. And that still doesn’t take away from the substance of the argument that Bangalore was treated as a de facto capital by the British since Mysore was simply a nominal princely state ruled by a puppet ruler.
Engage with the other points too, since you claim to be so well-informed. It seems obvious you have no real intent to have a meaningful discussion since you don’t have any real knowledge of historical developments about universities or cities. And no, it’s not a compliment to say you aren’t from NLUD since you’re pathetically letting your bias show in what you claim should be an objective debate. Grow up first and maybe you’d have cleared AILET and people might take you more seriously.
I take your points very well; A "premium" location as you put it is not necessary for a law school to flourish and to rise to the top. But wouldn't a great location make it that much easier?
I also agree with you that selling the location alone will be foolish, and that other aspects are equally important. I think the administration has come to realise what you point out here (with the pandemic giving them a reality check) and things are being done to steer the ship in the right direction.
What about the current situation of MNLU Mumbai ? How is the teachings and placements?
I came to know that construction started for new MNLU campus on 100 Acre land at Versova which is a posh area and at stone throw distance from Juhu. This is going to be one of the biggest campus among NLU if not The Biggest that too at the heart of the city.
Can I keep it as one of my top choice for my daughter next year in CLAT. Need informed decision from you guys . Thanks in advance
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https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/state-dereserves-130ha-for-law-univ-metro-yard/articleshow/64022095.cms
As per June 2023 notification... MNLU mumbai has been alloted land for new campus w set up on 70 Acres of Land in Versova near to metro station...it will be 4 KM away from Juhu...So new campus will be at Heart of Mumbai...Please update your information
https://m.timesofindia.com/city/mumbai/natl-law-univ-gets-70-acres-in-versova-to-set-up-campus/articleshow/101407747.cms
https://www.barandbench.com/news/mnlu-mumbai-allotted-permanent-land-establishment-own-campus
Yes, both Gorai and Dongri were options provided by the Govt. However, NLU Mumbai was reluctant to select any one of them due to their remoteness. Technically neither of the locations would actually be Mumbai. It is like saying Sonipat or Rohtak is Delhi. Eventually, the University was "forced" to select one as they kept the decision hanging for three years. There has been virtually no campus development at all.
Nuals does better than mnlu at this rate lol
"Placements are good compared to other colleges such as HNLU, NLUO, RMLNLU etc."
how did the moderator not flag this as "contested" or even "trollish" when MNLU has not even released placement reports for the year of 2022?
2020 and 2021 placements were abysmal!! All of them are PPOs with one even being classified as "Legal Intern" . Don't mislead candidates with such unwarranted comments!! The only thing GNLU and MNLU have in common are they're "national law universities" but with MNLU's heavy domicile quota I'm not sure one can even call it "National".
Let Mnlu Mumbai release placement reports for 2022 and get a permanent campus then we can compare it to tier 3s let alone tier 2s or tier 1s.
https://mnlumumbai.edu.in/pdf/Placement1.pdf ( Year '20 and '21 placement reports for reference)
If this is an mnlu grad then I wouldn't be surprised because half of the batch is probably getting wasted at LOTD in Powai as I speak. Dream high but atleast ground them to reality. Alas! They don't call Mumbai "City of dreams" for no reason!
In my view, the top 10 law schools by 2040 will be:
1. NLSIU
2. NLUD
3. MNLU
4. NALSAR
5. JGLS
6. GNLU
7. NUJS
8. NLUJ
9. NLIU
10. RMLNLU or RGNUL
Abey bhai, the person is going for a 5 year course not a decades long vacation and what sort of fortune telling is this?! Nobody wants to know where MNLU will end up after 20 years. For all you know, NLUs might even cease to exist by then xD
majak baju mein rakhte hua kaam ki baat krte hai.
even though the placements have been getting better in the college most have them have been through PPOs while nothing to take away from the amzin job the IP cell is doing. also we are getting much much more internships through
BUT NO BROTHER the academics is shit and so is the admin, the professors are all tryna leave and they keep hiring new professors with no skill in teaching or just started teaching. turning research assitants into profs all man crazy stuff. also the admin is one chut ma kasam. The college is a joke for something called a campus with two floors and the hostel is good iguess cuz you get your own room but other than that expect ehhh worse. all in all, RUN. RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN
Exactly my first reaction to the OP. Where are the 100 acres of land available in Versova?
As much hyped as Kim's ▮▮▮.
But is truly GLC's side ▮▮▮.
Coming from someone who dropped both options for GNLU
The University has had a bad rap in the past few years, and for good reason. But I am optimistic; in that I see that the trajectory, since the Covid-19 lock-down was lifted, has been incredibly positive.
As for Academics: The University now has on its roll some very good professors. Most are young, understanding and quite knowledgable. There is also great effort underway to partner with foreign law schools, which from what I know is progressing well. Most professors have PhDs in the field they teach and some have even published textbooks on their area of expertise. The assessment at the University, both in terms of research requirements and examinations, is rigorous and taken seriously - poor performance is not rewarded. We also have an extremely wide range of International Moots to choose from. Every year dozens travel abroad to participate in them.
As for Placements: A new Internship and Placement Cell was constituted in 2021 and has, in a short span of time, performed beyond our best expectations. The current final year batch counts among their placed many in Tier-1 firms apart from listed companies and other Tier-2/3 firms. Internships at Tier 1-3 firms are easy to secure for those who are proactive and reasonably smart. The locational advantage cannot be highlighted enough. No other law school in Mumbai (including GLC) provides you with the necessary infrastructure to stay comfortably in the city at a reasonable cost while also leveraging the its potential.
Spending 5 years requires you to consider other factors as well. In my opinion, a city like Mumbai can cater to every one of your needs and ensure your daughter is well provided for. I have personally heard testaments of the poor conditions at NLIU Bhopal, TNNLU and certain other government colleges in Pune. I will not even get into the prevalent ragging culture at many other NLUs (there are other threads on LI that deal with it); there is none of that at MNLU. The current campus in Powai, I can assure you, is among the best, most modern and well-maintained. The hostel & college (which are situated next to each other on a rather generous plot) was initially constructed by the Central Government for training international students in engineering. This University will remain at the same location for the foreseeable future, with the State Government funding the University with every increasing grants.
Every cohort will find itself with all sorts of students from varied backgrounds. The key is to ensure that one mingles with the ambitious lot. In terms of the necessary support you need from a University, I am confident MNLU will fare well. The rest depends on individual capability. My best wishes to your daughter.
You make some good points. However, it seems MNLU Mumbai's only selling point is its location - which is overhyped. There is a reason why Mumbai (India's business capital) does not have a premier business school (no IIM in Mumbai).
It is true that there is no urgency on part of the university administration to move into the permanent campus - as the land assigned is so remote that it is no longer Mumbai. The current location is good but temporary. This also limits the university's plan to increase the intake.
That said, Maharashtra is the state with the highest GDP and is known to be a progressive state [unlike UP(RMLNLU), Rajasthan(NLUJ), MP(NLIU), Chattisgarh(HNLU), Bengal(WBNUJS), and Odisha(NLUO)]. Hence funding will not be an issue.
1. I have made sufficient points that do not concern the location alone, although the location continues to be a major plus point. An NLU in Mumbai serves the sole purpose of having a law school in the city that houses the country's most important High Court and where some 80-90% of the corporate law jobs exist. Therefore, I am afraid I cannot agree with your characterisation of the location being overhyped.
2. I am surprised as to why an IIM did not spring up here but I do believe that law as a profession for both academic and practice purposes connects itself intrinsically with the location. This is why Leiden Uni, the LSE, King's, Georgetown and Columbia continue to sell their location as a major factor, and rightly so.
3. There is no limitation to the University increasing its intake. It already enrols as many as 120 students per batch, which is sort of the maximum they may ever want to. In any case a decent portion of the college and hostel remains empty, only to be used during Moots or the like.
- Leiden is in a literal town without any other important institution (they are in the Hague/Amsterdam).
- LSE and King's are still much further down than Oxford or Cambridge which are situated in towns that are basically the university itself. If London as a location was so important then QMUL, UCL etc. would dominate, no? They do not and come much further down the list.
- As for Georgetown and Columbia, this again proves that some of the best institutions in the US are not in NYC but rather in Cambridge, MA, New Haven, CT, Berkeley, CA, Stanford, CA etc.
I do not think you should discount the argument that Mumbai does not have a good IIM. It is known as a financial centre and yet hosts no significant finance university. Location may be somewhat important but MNLU Mumbai does not have a single better thing than any other NLU (including the bottom ones like DNLU Jabalpur) except the location. Mumbai as a location has been oversold a lot.
Further examples: Mumbai is a film-hub but the top film schools are not in Mumbai, e.g., the SRFTI is in Kolkata.
Bangalore is a tech-hub, but the top CSE school is in Mumbai.
To your points:
1. There are more top universities in non-premium locations than there are in premium locations. To name a few Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, and INSEAD. Closer home is the world's No.1 research institution, the IISc in Bangalore. When IISc was set up 120 years back, let alone Tech Capital, Bangalore (a village), was not even the capital of Karnataka (then called Mysore). Many of the universities I have named above have contributed to the rise and growth of the city/town they were initially established in. IISc's contribution to the rise of Bangalore as the tech capital is known and acknowledged. So is Stanford's to the Silicon Valley. So institutions make locations, and locations don't make institutions (in our context applies to both MNLU Mumbai and NLUD) - that many overhype their locations (Mumbai and Delhi respectively).
2. In my previous response, I did mention the fact that there are no IIMs in Mumbai (and Delhi) and it will never have one. Again location does not matter.
3. The faculty and students at MNLU Mumbai need to find reasons other than the location for its claim to fame. I understand, setting up an institute takes land and money. The real deal is when that institute becomes an institution (and that transformation has nothing to do with location).
And BTW, all of my above points apply to NLUD. I see there's a lot of overhyping of location for Delhi as well.
Read your history too, Bangalore was already major city during British rule and IISc didn't put Bangalore on the map. Bangalore grew as a tech capital only in the 1990s during LPG and the IT boom. IISc hardly had anything to do with it. Mysore has always been a smaller centre. Kind of like Bombay-Pune. Point is, location is highly relevant for the success of any institution, especially new ones without a historical legacy. In NLUD's case, it's a fact that the location has played a huge role in attracting good faculty and students from its very inception. The location also brings in consultation projects from Central Govt. ministries (including the Criminal Law Reforms Committee). So the location is not some overhyped selling point. It opens up more opportunities for the institution. And Delhi already has FMS which is considered a top business school after the tier-1 IIMs. Similarly, for Bombay, IIMA was founded to create a university in the Western part of India.
So far as MNLU is concerned, it has failed to take off for other reasons despite the locational advantage and the fact that students with pretty good CLAT ranks opt for it over tier-2 NLUs. Main reason here is the lack of a proactive administration (which NLUD did have when it began), coupled with a heavy state domicile reservation and the lack of proper institutional autonomy (another thing that NLUD had/has). And honestly, while Bombay has a big High Court, it's not as litigation-intensive as the Delhi HC and the Supreme Court. The biggest lawyers in India practise in Delhi. Bombay is the corporate firms hub which doesn't contribute much directly to teaching and learning in law schools.
Bangalore was a village/town 135 years back when Jamshed Tata and Swami Vivekananda first thought of a science and research institute to be set up in India. By saying that Bangalore was a "big" city in the late nineteenth century you must be talking of some other Bangalore. In fact, even till the seventies (i.e. 1970) the main city in South India was considered to be Chennai (Madras). Bangalore was a tourist getaway for good weather. Bangalore's rise as the tech capital is directly attributable to IISc, and PSUs like HMT, BHEL, BEL, NAL, and ISRO. Even when IIM B was set up in 1974, Bangalore was not a really big city - it was the state capital, but not a premium business/corporate location. You need to read up on your history.
I think you forget the fact that when Harvard and MIT were set up in Boston, it too was a small town. So Harvard and MIT were not established BECAUSE Boston was a big city, but BOSTON became an important city (not premium though) because of Harvard and MIT. I hope you understand causal relationships.
Coming to NLUD....and overhyping its location. If NLUD's claim to fame is only its location, then its faculty, students, and alumni need to be worried. The university needs to find reasons OTHER THAN location to attract the best. Top Universities attract the best faculty and students irrespective of their locations. No one goes to MIT because it is in Boston - to put it another way, if MIT were in Alaska, faculty and students would still go there.
I have made my points, and close this here from my side.
And no, MIT would not attract the same repute if it had started in Alaska. Another Ivy League, Cornell, isn’t considered by many to be as good as Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, because its location isn’t as prominent or proximate to business centres. In any case, US univerisities can still thrive since the locational differences there aren’t as glaring as in India, so the comparison is far-fetched. Boston was already a major city in colonial USA and is still one of the big cities of the East Coast today. And a lot of influential businesses and politicians hail from there. You might want to stop trying to create causal relationships if you don’t have actual causes to back it up. I can see you’ve conveniently ignored the other universities you wrongly pointed out because clearly those were wrong connections too.
Also, NLUD hasn’t succeeded ONLY because of its location but the location helped propel it to the top in a relatively small amount of time. There are other reasons why it succeeded too including funding from the Delhi govt., support for research initiatives and institutional independence. You’re not from NLUD obviously, but you claim some kind of expertise on the whole issue. Might want to get better facts first then and probably do away with your biases while arguing.
You present factual errors with amazing confidence. Let's see.
"Bangalore was a big city in the 19th century, and was the capital of Mysore state". Truth - Bangalore became the capital of Mysore state in 1947 only, i.e. post-independence.
With that kind of knowledge, everything that you say after that becomes irrelevant. You may consider working on your credibility and then even try to put forth your arguments.
"You’re not from NLUD obviously...". Yes, thanks for the compliment.
Engage with the other points too, since you claim to be so well-informed. It seems obvious you have no real intent to have a meaningful discussion since you don’t have any real knowledge of historical developments about universities or cities. And no, it’s not a compliment to say you aren’t from NLUD since you’re pathetically letting your bias show in what you claim should be an objective debate. Grow up first and maybe you’d have cleared AILET and people might take you more seriously.
I also agree with you that selling the location alone will be foolish, and that other aspects are equally important. I think the administration has come to realise what you point out here (with the pandemic giving them a reality check) and things are being done to steer the ship in the right direction.