Gateway to good choices

Updated on: Monday, May 25, 2009

The myriad choices on suitable careers and higher education options that recent Plus-Two graduates face can be mind-boggling.

A successful annual affair since 2005, The Hindu EducationPlus Career Fair 2009 was once again a source of valuable guidance and provided knowledge that helped parents and students make more informed decisions.

At the inaugural ceremony, the speakers concurred on the point that students today are able to choose from an unprecedented range of opportunities.

“There’s been a paradigm shift in higher education, especially in this State,” said N. Ravi, Editor of The Hindu, who also called for a greater awareness on courses in the science and arts fields and not just the traditionally popular fields such as engineering and business.

“Don’t take a course just for the sake of it or for the sake of others,” cautioned Prof. S. Ramachandran, vice-chancellor of the University of Madras.

He stressed that students should identify their areas of interest and their innate abilities, so that they would be able to prioritise these as factors when choosing their courses.

Another important issue addressed by the speakers was that of employability. M.S. Sundara Rajan, chairman and managing director of the Indian Bank, said that students should be proactive in creating growth opportunities for themselves so that they would be “readily employable.”

He also assured students that there would be ample opportunities for them as the current economic crisis would only cause a “temporary slowdown” in India and growth rates would pick up again shortly.

Elaborating on the Indian Bank’s role in aiding students in their higher education, he spoke about the bank’s readiness to offer education loans to all deserving students, stating that “a meritorious student should not be deprived for lack of financial resources.”

Responding to constructive feedback from the previous years, the popular pre-counselling session, presented by Jaya Group of Colleges, was rescheduled to take place right after the inaugural speeches this year. These pre-counselling sessions shed light on engineering and medical covering relevant information about the various colleges offering such courses and the eligibility requirements. The University of Madras also provided general counselling.

In all, over 65 stalls were set up, showcasing the opportunities offered by a large range of institutions.

Besides the traditional courses such as engineering and business, several booths exposed the students to more unconventional courses.

“Event managers are in great demand especially since companies are focussing on marketing themselves during the recession,” said Mr. Mani who was promoting event management courses. Air hostess training, digital music production and fashion design were examples of other courses off the beaten track.

“I came here intending to have a look at engineering courses only. Now I think there are so many other options I can choose from,” said Rajesh Kumar, 18, underscoring the usefulness of this exposure.

The first day of the fair featured ‘IT Edge’, a panel discussion by Do-It consisting of representatives from top ranking IT companies. ‘Board to board’, a seminar on management education by Park Global, and sessions covering off-beat sectors like marine engineering and the film industry by Amet University, were highlights of the second day.

A session on entrepreneurship was also scheduled. Bodhi conducted complimentary psychometric tests for all participants over both days of the event.

The hindu

Gateway to good choices

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