Chandigarh: Bored of leafing through college brochures? A leading girls' college here has just the solution - a VCD that includes not only the entire prospectus but also a virtual tour of the campus.

The MCM DAV College for Women in Sector 36 - which has been adjudged one of the best colleges in the northern region by a leading magazine - has initiated the idea of a VCD to go with this year's hard copy of the college prospectus.

"For the last two or three years, I found that in spite of rules and regulations being mentioned in the college prospectus, there were many defaulters on various counts. The only reason could be they were not reading the prospectus properly," college Principal Puneet Bedi told IANS.

The VCD has a comprehensive synopsis of the college, highlighting its history, provisions, courses, number of seats, infrastructure, fee structure and detailed rules and regulations.

"Generally, it is very cumbersome for parents and students to go through the whole prospectus. They also don't keep the prospectus for long. But this VCD will be very handy as they can download it on their computer and go through it any time. It is made in a very interactive manner to explain every facet of our college," Bedi said.

The VCD gives a virtual tour of the college campus, classrooms, canteen, hostels and even the corridors.

Though the MCM DAV College for Women, which has nearly 3,000 students on its rolls, has taken the lead on this front, other city colleges could soon follow suit.

"It is a great start. Every college should adopt it. Many times students and their parents come from other cities and it is not possible for them to personally visit to the entire college premises," points out Shashi Jain, a director of the Dev Samaj group of educational institutions here.

Chandigarh is a big education hub for the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Students come here to study from other states - even from India's northeast and countries like Thailand.

The 114-sq. km city has nearly 40 colleges - private and government-run - and professional institutions, including Panjab University itself.

"Usually people also don't know whom to contact if they have any query. But if they see things in action before them then there will be very little room for doubt," she added.

Payal Kaul, who came here from faraway Jammu with her father to apply for an undergraduate course at the MCM DAV College, said: "The VCD was of great help as I could easily go through it by playing it on my laptop. Everything seems so simple and clear now.

"The VCD has so much information about the college, its history, courses available, infrastructure and other things. But along with it there should also be an option for online applying," she said.

Bedi said the college was working towards that.

"This year we had some problems with our own administration and bank officials about acceptance of online forms, fee and other things. But we will resolve them soon and by next year online applications will be available," she added. IANS