Disapproving the tendency of parents pressurising their children to take a particular course or children insisting upon going to a particular institution abroad, S. Kumar, executive secretary and CEO of COMEDK, advised them to think beyond popular courses and studying abroad to explore what he called “emerging courses” at home that would cost less and open more opportunities.
Speaking at The Hindu EducationPlus Career Counselling Digital Conclave, he said: “Respect your parents, but don’t be pressurised by their choice. Choose a course according to your passion and that makes you an innovator... Beyond popular courses such as computer science, mechanical engineering, and information technology, go for less-chosen options such as environmental engineering, which is the thing of the future. MBBS, BE, BTech are not the only options. There are hundreds of programmes that are very less competitive and more lucrative.”
To elaborate his argument, Mr. Kumar stated that there were more than 50 emerging courses health sciences alone, and went on to name a few of them such as occupational therapy, physiotherapy, audiology, prosthetic and orthotic engineering. and so on. mental rehabilitation, molecular biology, genomics, radiography, radio therapy, nuclear medicines, respiratory technology, medical laboratory technology, medical secretarial services, operation theatre technology, anaesthetic technology, dialysis technology, Cath lab technology, speech and hearing and dental mechanics.
“There are plenty of institutions offering all these programmes in India. Every major hospital needs them. Even if you want to leave the shores of this country for the Gulf or any other country to make fast money, the chances of immigration is much higher in these less-known or emerging programmes,” he said.
For the students who aspire to go abroad for higher education at the cost of “family future”, Mr. Kumar advised the students to be realistic while choosing the course and the place of study. “You don’t have to go to the United States or England to make your future. This country has enormous opportunities to offer,” he said. I have seen many parents succumbing to the pressure of their children, pledging the future of the family to service the huge educational loans only to cater the one desire of the child to study abroad. Please don’t do it and be realistic,” he said.
On the prospects of professional learning in Karnataka, He said Karnataka was a good place for professional learning with industry backing. “Many engineering institutions established in the State have all the support from the industries,” ISRO, DRDO, HAL, Bharat Electronics, HMT, Infosys, Wipro and others offer a very high opportunity of internship to the students seeking engineering education he said.
Before dwelling into the career option, Mr. Kumar briefed about the ComedK and its counselling process vis-a-vis CET conducted by the government.
“ComedK is an academic body that facilitates the admissions in the member institutions. It has nothing to do with the negotiation of fees or the seat-sharing with the government. The Karnataka Private College Foundation takes care of that activity. There are no reservations based on domicile or constitutional provisions in ComedK. These would be taken care of by the government with the 45% seats which ComedK institutions share with the government of Karnataka,” he said.
Mr. Kumar’s 60-minute session was divided into two parts – the presentation and the interaction. The participants raised many questions that ranged from the fee structure in the ComedK institutions through the reliability of ranking ComedK institutions to the future of new courses. Many sought advice on the course to be opted. He patiently answered every question and offered his advice during the interaction.
Anuja Ganesh from The Hindu Group moderated the session.
The world of AI
In another session, career consultant and analyst J.P. Gandhi emphasised the need for focusing on upgrading skills and pursuing inter-disciplinary studies in the coming days where artificial intelligence and machine learning are set to gain prominence.
Elaborating on how vast the changes would be, he said that while at present around 29% of the work was being done machines and rest by humans, it was estimated to increase to 51% in a couple of years. Recalling a question by a student in a different session, he said that Teaching, medicine, cooking, and architecture would probably be among the few sectors which cannot be taken over completely by artificial intelligence, he added.
Speaking at The Hindu Education Plus Career Counselling Digital Conclave on Monday, Mr. Gandhi He said that engineering and technology would play a major role in the coming days and they would influence almost every sector. “Irrespective of the course that the students would be opting for whether it is engineering, medicine, commerce or humanities, they will have to equip themselves with the right kind of skill sets,” he said. Clarifying that getting a degree or more marks in examination would not be of much importance unless the candidate had the right set of skills, Mr. Gandhi asked the students not to narrow down their options at the initial stages but to keep them wide open so that they could diversify even at a later stage. “Don’t try to make your passion your career, but carve out a profession keeping your passion by the side”, he advised.
Starting his talk with the engineering courses, and the latest developments in the field of engineering and technology, he said the field had a huge potential but the focus would be on skill sets. “Your digital skills will be more important than theoretical knowledge in the coming days,” he said. As technology is fast changing so are the job requirements and market trends. So choose a career looking at the future not the present conditions”, he said.He also briefed about the other streams including medicine, commerce, humanities, paramedical course, defence services and others and said that irrespective of the career they chose, they need to understand that artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics would be influencing almost every sector in the coming years.
Mr. Gandhi threw light on various other courses and the prerequisites for them and also the potentials and present trends.
Replying to the queries by the students, he said that while it was important for them to pursue their passion, they should also look at the career prospects and not to restrict their options. Mr. Gandhi advised the students particularly those pursuing professional courses to start preparing themselves for the job market from the first year of their course or make their plans accordingly. if they wanted to take up entrepreneurship from the first year itself rather than trying to make changes or preparations in the final year. He also asked them not to have herd mentality while choosing a career.
Mr. Gandhi subsequently answered queries on prospects of a career in medicine, defence services, foreign services, diplomacy, commerce, humanities and the various competitive examinations that they need to prepare for and related issues.
Sponsors
The gold sponsors of the event are Hindustan Group of Institutions, Chennai, Insights IAS and Cambridge Institute of Technology. Silver sponsors are Acharya Bangalore B-School, East West, Jnanadarshana IAS, Shaheen Group of Institutions, and the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
