Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Students’ union hones lot of skills

CHENNAI: MOP Vaishnav College final year student Sumukhi Suresh intends to become a researcher in nutrition and dietetics. Her college lectures and examinations are important to this goal, but Sumukhi has also learnt a lot outside the classroom.

As a student union president, she has gained invaluable knowledge about time management and communication, apart from adding an attractive point to her future resume.

In many colleges across the city, students’ unions have come a long way from their unsavoury reputations as representatives of political parties, ready to call a strike or an agitation at short notice.

Instead, they offer ready-made courses for young leaders.

Even as colleges start incorporating soft skills and personality development sessions into their curricula, to improve the employability of their students, they are finding that the students’ union provides a practical training ground for these lessons.

“I have learnt how to look at something from all angles in order to get a perfect job done,” says Sumukhi, listing the lessons that will give her an edge in her future career. Organising cultural and competitive events has taught her how to run an effective awareness campaign. “I don’t see myself stuck in a laboratory. If I am working on some medicine, I want to be able to spread awareness about it,” she says.

Of course, management is the career that beckons many young student leaders.

Shahul Hameed, who will take over as the new chairman of the New College Students Union on Wednesday is now a final year B.Com student.

“This experience will look good on my application for an MBA degree,” he says.

His role involves more than just organising events. He is expected to tackle problems and act as a student spokesman. “I represent the interests of all our students, whether it is over issues like water problems, or issues with other colleges,” he says.

Young professionals, who started their leadership experience in college, testify that the experience pays off at the workplace. “Organising cultural events offers several lessons in time and crisis management. You learn to be a team player, a leader... and also learn to strike a balance between academics and extra-curricular activities,” says S. Shivashankar, a former cultural secretary of IIT-Madras. Today, he works with global consultancy firm KPMG.

Women’s Christian College student president Amy Elizabeth Chandy says the experience of interacting with corporates, negotiating with sponsors and managing budgets while organising student events will be important for the future.

Self-knowledge is another lesson. “I have learnt that being a leader is to stand by your own conviction,” she says. It isn’t all rosy.

“I am more aware of my own weaknesses. Even if I don’t discover them, other students are always willing to educate me,” she says wryly.

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