The best part of being at Cluster Innovation Centre is that you don’t need to stay at the same place for the next three years of your graduation. For some, that may be somewhat of a drawback, but others enjoy the freedom this offers. You are constantly on the move. Usually first semester is the most difficult, on the lines of Hell Weeks in IIMs ( yeah, I know I am exaggerating but you got the point, no) .Anyone who’s here in the first semester will be wondering what are they doing with their lives but this phase is temporary until you hang on till the second semester and start dabbling between colleges (yeah, you heard that right). Its meant to be in plural.
CIC is different in in many ways. Its like a hybrid between a college and a department. It is managed directly by the University of the Delhi. You get to have a small-yet-big place feel here and its like a cocoon for anyone who falls in love with it.
In the B.A.(H) Humanities and Social Sciences, the first and last semester are spend in CIC and the remaining four semester i.e. two years can be completed according to your choices. If you fancy studying Sociology at Hindu College, then History in Ramjas College, you could do that through this course! Plus, your actual semester doesn’t limit you from studying other semester papers. For example, if you are in your second semester and would like to study the semester fourth papers of history as you find them more exciting, you could well do that. You can do at max two semesters in one college.
We also are required to do compulsory projects every semester, which need to have a social intervention. It is like a general elective you need to take in other colleges, but here you can form your own team and propose your own projects. The projects are time consuming though. There would be semesters when you would need to travel from your college in South Campus to CIC and then to your home/ PG, so it does get hectic in that way, but you would be getting to learn so many amazing things that if at the end of the semester if you choose to look back, you would be proud of what you have achieves. There are four streams in B.A.(H)H&SS: Art & Design, Counselling, Historical Tourism and Journalism, which is allotted on the basis of the entrance rank.
Our campus is pretty amazing. During the ISL season every year, the University Stadium turns into the backup ground for Delhi Dynamos, so if you are a soccer fan, it would be like heaven for you. It also houses the Delhi School of Journalism.We also have the Delhi University Community Radio 90.4 MHz in our premises plus the University Sports Complex (paid access). Although we have an in-house library for reading only, we do get access to the Central Reference Library too. Our computer lab is unparalleled and our canteen serves amazing samosas and special chai.
As you need to be on the move constantly, it is important to get your priorities right as it is very easy to get lost in this quagmire. Before you know, the semester of four months gets over. You would also get to meet so many people through this course so if you are an introvert at the start of your journey, there is a very high probability that you will be an extrovert by the end of it.
