A job right after college

That seems to be the new buzzphrase at Delhi University (DU) with the varsity offering a whole range of courses that aim to make students more employable., reports Swaha Sahoo.

That seems to be the new buzzphrase at Delhi University (DU) with the varsity offering a whole range of courses that aim to make students more employable.

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Professional courses

An increasing number of affiliated colleges are looking favourably at courses such as Business Studies, Business Economics, and Financial and Investment analysis.

The Bachelors in Business Studies (BBS) is one of the most popular undergraduate courses at DU, raking in almost 30,000 applicants for just 180 seats this year.

Till 2007, BBS was available in just one college, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (CBS)Vivek Vihar. (See panel on right)

“It took us seven years to get the BBS course at our college,”said S.K. Garg, principal of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College.

“While the college staff council had approved the course in 2000, getting clearance from the Delhi government and the Delhi University took us another seven years.”

The University, it seems, is slowly getting used to a mix of academic and professional courses.

Today, there are three colleges offering BBS, 10 colleges where one can study BBE and nine colleges for Hindi and English journalism.

English training

Soon after DU launched its Central Placement Cell in 2008, it realised that even many qualified candidates lacked one thing—command over the Queen’s college.

So DU began courses on English language proficiency for its students.

The pilot project, which began in 2008, has been developed into a 100-hour course that will be conducted across 15 centres.

A personality development course will also give students tips on how to face an interview, take part in a group discussion and present themselves to prospective employers.

“Not every student comes from a public school. There are many students who are good at academics, but lack of English proficiency pulls down their confidence,” said Indu Anand, principal of Janki Devi Memorial College.

Anand has decided to open a center at her college.

Holistic individuals

Moving away from the ‘just academics’ attitude, the university will also be helping students get a personality makeover before they move out.

The Institute of Life Long Learning (ILLL) will provide a personality development course from this academic session.

“We will talk about personal grooming, leadership qualities, enhancing motivation and handling conflict in society and the work place,” said Prof A.K. Bakshi, Director of ILLL.

“Students will also learn a little bit of yoga, self defense and get lessons on health and nutrition,” said Bakshi.

Vice Chancellor Deepak Pental refused to distinguish between professional and academic courses.

“We are trying to make sure that each DU graduate is trained for employment, be it a commerce or a history student,” said Pental.

“The University is trying to understand the kind of human resource required by the job market.”