With growth witnessed in the tourism sector, a career in tourism can be a good choice for you. Employment avenues include government tourism departments, immigration and customs services, travel agencies, airlines, tour operators, hotels, airline catering, travel websites, guides, interpreters, tourism promotion and sales etc. You must decide the area  which you wish to get into. While pursuing a degree course, you can work with a travel agency, airline, tour operator or hotel. If your course does not include ticketing and reservation, you can take up one of the IATA courses in ticketing and reservation which is useful in this field. Once you know the area you would like to work in, you can take up the master’s, or PG diploma in tourism management being offered by several institutes including IGNOU. The Indian Institute of Travel and Tourism Management, Gwalior with its chapters in Delhi, Mumbai, and some other cities provides several training programmes in travel and tourism. You can also consider short term courses which offer IATA-UFTAA ticketing with modules on computer reservation systems and industry regulations regarding travel.   --- Usha Albuquerque

The MBBS requirements are different for each country. Selection also depends on a number of criteria including your school results, the medical entrance test and your country of origin. Countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia have stringent qualification requirements and sometimes it is easier to apply for the MBBS programme after BSc or to apply for postgraduate specialisation after MBBS.

Medical study is expensive in every country, and the costs can range from around $40,000-$50,000 per year or more. There are many countries in east Europe and the Far
East and China have easier selection processes for prospective students, but which may not be recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) or the Medical Council
of India (MCI). So, it is better not to look for an MBBS course abroad unless it is a good institution with good faculty, study hours, practical training, medium of instruction as English and the required infrastructure and attached hospitals with an adequate number of beds and you can afford to pay for the course. The Medical Council of India advises all aspiring Indian medical students that before taking admission to any foreign medical college/university, they should ascertain its status from the MCI and also obtain an eligibility certificate from it. This will enable you to verify that the qualification will be accepted for registration in India when you return. For recognitions and enlisted reference, check the MCI website, www.mciindia.org, or contact MCI in New Delhi directly, or visit the website of the National Board of Examinations, New Delhi, www.natboard.edu.in.

You can also check the WHO, world directory of medical schools at www.who.int/hrh/wdms to check the authenticity of the colleges selected. --- Usha Albuquerque

There are several things you can do which do not require high marks, language skills or exorbitant fees. The most popular field is that of computers. The beauty of  this field is that you do not necessarily need a degree or an engineering qualification. Today, diploma and certificate courses help develop skills focused on employment. A basic level course in computers or an “O” level course at a DOEACC (now called National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology) institute will teach you the basics of computer operations along with some programmes. This will enable you to work in data entry which requires feeding of information into a computer, as per the design of the programme.

With some further training, you could also move into programming jobs, where you would be responsible for writing and testing programmes and assisting users during the implementation phase. To increase your career prospects in this field, you can learn any number of new programmes, languages and technologies according to your interests and capabilities. Depending on the competencies you are able to develop, you could take up jobs such as that of a systems analyst, a systems programmer, an analyst programmer, a database manager, a networker, coder etc. The minimum requirement for entry at this level is a logical bent of mind and a willingness to learn continuously. Computer courses are offered at computer institutes and you can take up short courses and add on others as you pick up the skills.

Animation and web design is another field with a lot of promise. In the IT industry, web designing has a wide scope in India. A web designer can be absorbed in different fields such as advertising agencies, publishing, audio-visual media, design studios, printers and typesetters, manufacturers and department stores, marketing firms, exhibits and displays and educational institutes and libraries. You can get into web design after any subject stream if you have good computer skills and a creative bent of mind. There are a number of certificate and diploma courses offered in web design and you can choose one based on the level of computer competency that you possess.

Among the better known institutes are Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (www.maacindia.com) and Arena Animation (www.arena-multimedia.com); both have many centres. --- Usha Albuquerque