Pros
-Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore is a good place to launch your career if you are a fresher looking for an opening. The hiring prefers freshers because of many reasons- easy to catch, potential to publish more as an early career researcher fresh out of the PhD oven, freshers are desperate for an opening. And there will be vacancies there all the time (the reason you will find among the cons). -The university runs with clockwork precision in all aspects of its working (often overlooking the humans who are the cogs in its wheel) -Located in prime locations where housing and all the facilities are readily available (speaking about Bangalore campuses) -Academic rigour (again a double-edged sword)- if you are enthusiastic about intervening in the curriculum in creative ways, the university loves it. -Student quality, curriculum and academic engagements are top-notch resulting in enriching experience as an academician. -There was an amazing bunch of colleagues who helped me navigate through the system.
Cons
-To begin with, the workload is unimaginable. They might profess it is within the UGC mandated workload but the robot-like precision and perfection with which they expect the faculty to complete the tasks is humanly impossible. On top of the class hours, there are hundred other business to take care of -- admin work, association activities, NAAC work etc which requires extensive documentation. At the end of the day, you become less of a teacher and more of a "documentarian" or cleric. -The sheer amount of duplication of work is enormous. There are hundreds of excel sheets and mails flying in every direction, asking for some stupid data that you have already entered a thousand times before. -As a newbie, it was a struggle for me to juggle classes and the rest of the work. Pretty sure, one has and the institute expects you to compromise on your mental and physical health, sleep and personal/family time. The work-life balance is a myth here. The six-day work week is a huge bummer. To make it worse, they would ask you to show up even on your precious sundays for admission duties and other stuff with no compensatory off. The place drains you out by the end of the day. -Compensations and benefits are minimal but the pay is tantamount to or slightly better than many institutions in Bangalore. However, with the rising costs in Bangalore, it is just a dime. -The leave provisions are very limited. One should have superhuman abilities to manage to do things other than the work using the handful of casual leaves that one gets. Most wouldn't dare to avail leave unless there is a near-to-serious medical condition. -The most humiliating aspect of the university is its infantilizing approach towards its faculty members just the way it treats its students. It sells itself using this as a USP, but way more frequent than they should be, faculty members are reminded of many things from the moment they sign up- grooming advises, strategies to control student discipline and dress code and the pressure to publish. -The pressure to publish is omnipresent in the "market scenario" today. But, the university emphasizes numbers over the quality of publications, something not befitting every individual's and domain's preferences. -The attrition rate is alarmingly high. It says volumes about the management's lack of enthusiasm to retain the people there. -The annual appraisal process will notice everything other than the things you have done. In the initial years your work is an attempt to stay afloat than to excel or thrive. That wouldn't be enough though. -And finally, the University demanded me to pay an amount to get the relieving letter. I had to engage in cheap bargaining with the HR for the same, had to pay a lump some amount to leave for good. -My two cents, if you have a stellar CV and no job, then join here till you find a better place. Or if it is a system that you would enjoy, then stay.