Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Students urged to opt for add-on courses

By Our Staff Reporter

COIMBATORE, SEPT. 13. Undergraduate students in arts and science colleges should take add-on courses to supplement their main subject of study, so that they would be better qualified for the job market, the Secretary, Department of Higher Education, K. Gnanadesikan, said recently. Inaugurating new courses sponsored by the University Grants Commission (UGC) at the Avinashilingam Deemed University, Mr. Gnanadesikan said that in Tamil Nadu alone, about one lakh graduates emerged from arts and science colleges every year, and needed jobs. Add-on courses would be an advantage in this respect.

For example, a B.A. History student could do additional diploma or certificate courses in tourism, museum and conservation, and travel and ticketing, so that he or she would have the necessary `skill sets' to take up a job soon. He said that there were four crore unemployed youths who were registered with employment exchanges around the country. In Tamil Nadu alone, the number was 40 lakhs.

Moreover, the global entertainment media was constantly growing, with people watching at least two hours of television every day. Animation, graphics and multimedia were a multi-million dollar industry and offered several career openings. In his presidential address, the Chancellor, K. Kulandaivel, said that students were better placed with respect to jobs if they studied in an institution that offered work-oriented education. Double degree programmes were gaining importance. The Vice Chancellor, M. Chandramani, said tudents ought to be `flexible generalists' who were good at several subjects, rather than `specialists' .

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• Students urged to opt for add-on courses
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