Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Focus on communication skills, engineering students told

Staff Reporter

Use communication lab two hours a week to attain fluency in English: Ann varsity V-C About 15,000 students had been called for interview but only 1,600 received offers of appointment

Coimbatore: Students in engineering colleges in the State should improve their skills in reading, writing and speaking English, the Anna University Vice-Chancellor, D. Viswanathan, said here on Thursday.

"Subject knowledge alone is not enough. Engineering students should be able to speak fluently in English. All the colleges should take serious interest and work to improve communication skills," he told presspersons.

Prof. Viswanathan was in the city to hand over appointment orders to engineering students studying in non-autonomous, self-financing engineering colleges affiliated to Anna University, under the Tamil Nadu State-level Placement Programme organised by the Centre for University — Industry Collaboration (CUIC) of the varsity.

He said that about 15,000 students, who had scored 70 per cent marks and more in their semester examinations, had been called for interview, but only 1,600 had received offers of appointment.

"Students should use the communication lab two hours a week for it will be useful for them to learn to speak fluently in English. They can also practice making presentations in front of a video camera," he said. Though colleges were ready to offer language lab facilities, students were not very keen about using them.

Nowadays there was a special software that could provide feedback by monitoring pronunciation and evaluating the rate of progress of learners. Students in engineering colleges under the university would receive compulsory training to make them suitable for industry.

"In the next 10 years, there will be 75 million job opportunities in all fields of engineering. Students should concentrate on core engineering," he said. Anna University would record lectures on compact discs and make them available to engineering students. Those who had received job offers from companies even before completing engineering studies should not take it easy, thinking that a pass mark was enough.

Addressing the successful candidates and their parents at the S.N.R. Sons Kalyana Mandapam, Prof. Viswanathan said, "Jobs are ready but there are not enough students, who are prepared for them. Though the companies wanted 1,000 candidates, they selected only 105 because the students are not prepared for industry," he said.

Mannar Jawahar, Director, Centre for University — Industry Collaboration, Anna University, said that the placement programme was aimed at ensuring that even students in remote areas obtained employment.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Focus on communication skills, engineering students told
Confusion persists over investigation, official's transfer
Students assist police in traffic management
Army seeks applications for Havildar
Rotary District conference begins tomorrow
Official arrested while accepting bribe
Police contribute Rs. 32.70 lakhs for flood relief fund
Arrangements reviewed
We assure you
Rath yatra tomorrow
Campus recruitment at CMS College
Around the City
In Coimbatore Today

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu