Get set for training day
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Do you know what you will do next summer? If you are entering a college that is adding value to routine courses through training modules, you already have a good idea. Lalithasai looks at nascent industryinstitute linkages that are adding value to campus life .
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Waiting to get the right connection...
AS students enter their degree programmes in the coming weeks they look for clarity on their prospects for higher study or employment. The skills that supplement the theoretical education offered by their college programme have become important to those who will seek a job immediately after graduation. Training in some area that will lead to employment is what students look for. The colleges are also taking note and some have come up with new initiatives.
"We will have to help the boys take a degree and also get employed," says Dr. V.V. Subramanian, Principal, Vivekananda College. The answer to that requirement, the college thinks, lies in tie-ups with various companies that will be interested in recruiting students from Vivekananda.
The value-addition proposals are being pursued by VICAS (Vivekananda Institute of Career Advancement Studies). To start with, the VICAS has come up with additional courses in Commercial Plant Tissue Culture and Medical Transcription.
To take up medical transcription, a student has to be well versed in English, familiar with biological terms and possess sound knowledge of computers. The students will be trained in all these aspects and would therefore fare well in the interview and written test conducted during the campus recruitment programme.
Many such courses are in the offing, says the principal.
Ethiraj College highlights the window of opportunity in various courses through `Bhavishya', an annual career fair. It is an important feature of the college. The career fair is a venue for personnel from reputed institutions to make themselves available to answer the queries of final-year students, says Dr. Leela Abraham, an academician at the college. A sample list of companies that participate includes Career Development Foundation of India, Birla Sunlife Insurance, NICC and Fashion Design institutes. This is part of the first phase of activity that takes place in September-October.
In the second phase, the focus is on campus recruitment. Companies such as Hewlett Packard, GE Capital, E-Serv, ABN AMRO, Infosys and Ernst & Young select students from various disciplines. As the academic year comes to a close, the results are impressive: more than a hundred candidates have got into various companies, and that too mainly, in IT, says Dr. Abraham.
Selected candidates take a test and participate in a group discussion in some cases. The recruitment is also based on academic performance and communication skills. Later, they are given intensive training to meet the job requirements.
Students of maths, computer science, chemistry and physics have an edge over other disciplines when it comes to employability, says B. Krishnan, principal, Dwaraka Doss Goverdhan Doss Vaishnav College, Chennai. Organisations such as Wipro, Hexaware and Orchid Chemicals give lectures and thus highlight the strengths of the particular company through a multimedia presentation. It is useful for the students to get familiar with the nature of the job, the emoluments offered, the ongoing commitments to meet the needs of various customers, and several other growth features of the company are explained to the students.
The recruitment process consists of a written test followed by an interview.
The students of social work have an added advantage, which is conferred by a special tie-up that the college has with the Corporation of Madras. This collaboration helps them meet people and go about their project work smoothly. The major outcome of the interaction is the opportunity to handle classes in corporation schools and to conduct refresher courses for teachers of civic body schools. These courses are interactive in nature and help both the students and the corporation personnel.
Industry-institute links have done a lot of good to students, and of course, the colleges. There was a time when colleges just stopped with pumping reading material through the curriculum. The compulsion to interact with employers has brought a whole new perspective to the institutions: they now know what the students must have to get a job.
The campus interviews make students think of developing all aspects of their personality, rather than just academics. Employability today means developing team spirit, peer collaboration and sound ethics.
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