Widen your outloook

Updated on: Monday, May 24, 2010

Ever since the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) decided to decentralise the process of Common Entrance Test (CET) counselling for admission to professional colleges and extend it to four venues other than Bangalore, many engineering and medical seat aspirants have been wondering whether it would be advantageous or disadvantageous to attend the session in Bangalore.

“Will I lose out on the engineering college or the stream of my choice if I attend CET counselling at a venue other than Bangalore?” was one of their important questions.

But, the CET officials who attended The Hindu EducationPlus career counselling sessions put the apprehensions of the students to rest with an emphatic “no.”

“It makes no difference whether you attend the counselling session in Bangalore or Gulbarga. No student with a lower rank than yours will be in an advantageous position wherever he/she attends the programme,” CET official D.S. Narasimha Murthy told a professional college seat aspirant in Mysore.

He made it clear that a student with a lower rank will get a chance to make the choice only after students with higher ranks exhaust their options during the counselling sessions. In addition to Bangalore, CET counselling for admission to medical, engineering and dental colleges will be held at Hubli, Gulbarga, Davangere and Mangalore this year.

Good response

The Hindu EducationPlus career counselling sessions held across Bangalore, Mysore, Shimoga, Udupi, Davangere and Hubli between May 15 and 23 provided the students, who had packed the venues in large numbers, with an ideal platform to not only interact with CET and COMED-K representatives to demystify the admission process, but also make informed choices on their careers.

Apart from listening to inspiring lectures by experts, the students also had the opportunity to clarify their doubts and seek answers to queries from a learned panel comprising educationists from engineering, medical and dental fields. Experts on soft skills, a pre-requisite in the emerging job market, and representatives from State Bank of India, who deliberated on the availability of education loans for students, were among the resource persons attending the sessions.

A student in Udupi sought to know from the bankers whether she is entitled to a fresh loan for her postgraduate studies even before she could repay her outstanding loan already obtained for completing her graduation. Nagaraj Tantry, a SBI official, replied in the affirmative. “If the student prefers to take up postgraduate studies soon after completing the degree course, the bank will extend a loan,” the SBI official said.

Career counsellor and founder of CIGMA Foundation Ameen-e-Mudassar made a presentation on “After PU, what next?” at all the six venues and fielded queries from students, who wished to chart out less treaded career paths.

A 30-minute-long power-point presentation took the students through a myriad career options in paramedical, hotel management, aviation, teaching and applied sciences etc.

He even took questions from students one of whom was keen on making a career in hacking computers. “There is a course in ethical hacking, which also includes Internet security,” he said.

Better options

At Mysore, Vice-Chancellor of Mysore University V.G. Talawar felt that the students should not restrict their career options to engineering and medicine. “There are more rewarding and career options in other fields,” he said after inaugurating the session in Mysore on May 16.

In Shimoga, the Director of the Centre for Human Resource Development and National Education Society N. Diwakar Rao advised the students against choosing a career based only on the remuneration it commands. Instead, the students should choose a career based on their aptitude, he said.

He sought to draw the students' attention to a whole range of career avenues in civil services, defence services, environment and ecology, mines and minerals, construction, tourism, healthcare, journalism etc.

In Udupi, research scientist and former Vice-Chancellor of Manipal University M.S. Valiathan advised students to contemplate before making their career choice. For, a wrong choice will be difficult to rectify later, he cautioned.

He referred to the increased demand for researchers in the booming pharmaceutical industry with the healthcare sector importing equipment worth several thousand crores every year.

Hard work matters

At Davangere, Vice-Chancellor of Davangere University D. Indumathy said students should must realise that securing admission to a course of their first choice should not be the end of their lives.

“They must consider other options and expand their horizons. Whatever you choose, success will follow the hardworking and motivated.”

After successful conclusion of The Hindu Education Plus career counselling sessions in Bangalore, Mysore, Shimoga, Udupi, Davangere and Hubli, the last session of the year 2010 is planned to be held in Gulbarga on May 25.

Widen your outloook

More Education news