The background - WILP Computer Science First Semester

I was attracted to BITS Pilani for a masters course in computer science because it has a reputation. The next best after the IITs apparently and it might be true for their campus programs but the reality is so much different for their online program. This blog is a detailed review of its teachers, how competent they are and if the management cares.

In the first semester for computer science a student must take 4 courses.

• Object Oriented Analysis and Design 
• Software Architecture
• Data Structures and Algorithm design
• Database Design and Applications (merged with DBMS)

A student is given a handout which details the course layout/syllabus. A set of pre recorded lectures are made available to the students which correspond to the handout. These lectures are usually by pre-eminent faculty members of the BITS institute. This is followed by weekend contact hours of 2 hours for each subject. The idea of these contact hours is to resolve any queries a student might have based on the viewing of the pre-recorded videos. All in all, it is a fantastic set up and there is no reason why such a program wouldn't help students get the most knowledge while also working. Alas it fails and how!

Why does it fail? Before stating my opinion I want to be clear about one thing. Failure in my definition is with respect to the intent to impart knowledge. It is not about obtaining a degree for the purpose of putting it on a resume. If one chooses to obtain a degree for the sake of obtaining a degree and not for knowledge then it is an immensely successful program.

It fails because the teachers who undertake the contact hour sessions are a bunch of unqualified, incompetent, knowledge-deprived individuals. They do not have PhDs to teach subjects. They have no back ground knowledge of Mathematics that is a prerequisite for some courses. This blog will review these individuals in great detail and hopefully will warn a prospective student from wasting their hard earned money on this program if the intent is to gather knowledge more than the degree.