The advent of the 21st century has ushered in an age of new challenges and prospects. Information technology has transformed the world into a global village. Thanks to sincere economic reforms the national economy is now bounding ahead at a rate unheard of in the past. The creation of the hill state of Uttarakhand has unleashed powerful economic forces leading to rapid industrial growth in even this forgotten part of the country.
All this taken together has come to pose new challenges and prospects for the educational institutions of this mountain state, since they are the ones who have to provide the human resources for tomorrow. Unfortunately, the university systems of the country have traditionally been ill-equipped to respond to such a volatile situation. However, the matter could be neglected any longer only at the cost of retarding national economic growth and depriving the coming generation of the state from benefiting to the full from the transformation taking place. This being the case, the HNB Garhwal University chose to launch a formal career counseling and placement service in 2005-06 for the benefit of its students.
The Service
Since its inception in 2006 the University Career Counseling and Placement Service has been providing students career guidance and placement support. The purpose of the Service is to assist students in making the most appropriate subject choice, choose a suitable career option and find a proper job. To this end the Service performs a number of activities including:--
- One to one counseling to students visiting the office of the Service for assisting them in making career oriented subject choices and taking a suitable career decision.
- Organizing induction workshops for providing career insight and orientation to fresh students.
- Organizing information workshops for providing career specific information to students.
- Organizing capacity building (Personality Development) Programmes for enhancing the language, communication and soft-skills of students.
- Providing access to job portals for enabling students to find suitable employment on-line.
- Arranging campus-placements and of-campus interviews for affording employment opportunities to students completing their courses.
Most of the assistance is provided free of cost. However, students are expected to pay registration fees for participating in high cost Personality Development Programmes (PDP) and specialized courses / programmes organized by the Service with the assistance of agencies specializing in the concerned area.
Objectives of the Service
The broad objectives of the University Career Counseling and Placement Service are as under:
- Facilitating academia-industry interaction for bridging the gap between conventional course content and industrial needs and demands.
- Comprehending emerging trends (present and future) in the job market.
- Value addition to existing courses for enhancing employability of students.
- Identifying and promoting innovative courses to be taken by students along side their main course for enhancing their employability.
- Assisting students in making an early and appropriate career choice.
- Providing students with all necessary information regarding a career of their choice.
- Augmenting the soft skills of students for enhancing their chances of success at an interview.
- Building effective relations with industry to facilitate suitable placement of students.
- Arranging campus interviews for providing students with job opportunities at their doorstep.
Structure of the Service
Sustained by a team of teachers serving as honorary counselors assisted by an extension team consisting of some of the more promising students called student counselors and managed by an honorary director assisted by a full-time placement officer the service is for the present administered by its central office in the Birla Campus of the University at Srinagar. The central office is directly responsible for counseling assistance to students in both the Birla and the Chauras Campuses on either side of river Alakhnanda at Srinagar. In addition, two branch offices—one each in the BGR Campus Pauri and the SRT Campus Badshahi Thaul—have been opened for addressing the counseling needs of the students of these Campuses. The placement efforts of the service are coordinated by the central office of the service for all students of the University.
Functions of the Service
With the purpose of fulfilling the stated objectives the Service performs the following functions:
- Conducting market research to understand the emerging trends in the job market and comprehending the changing human resources requirements of the national and state economy.
- Advising University authorities with respect to the necessary modifications in the course content of the various academic disciplines in order to attune them to the needs of the national economy and recommending introduction of appropriate new courses.
- Maintaining a job prospects profile of the various courses offered by the University and providing the same to the students.
- Providing students with career related information including existing job opportunities and emerging trends in the job market.
- Facilitating the development of soft-skills of the students of the University for improving the probability of their success at campus interviews in particular and in the job market in general.
- Cultivating cordial relations with the industry for enhancing acceptability of the students of the University as potential employees.
- Inviting industry to conduct on campus recruitment and arranging of campus interviews for providing students with job opportunities.
All students are expected to remain in touch with and participate in the programmes of the Service. Students desiring the assistance of the Service can visit the office of the Service located on the Second Floor of the Central Library Building in Birla Campus at Srinagar on all working days on their convenience or call 01346-250722 or E-mail their quarries to soodcs@gmail.com or career.hnbgu@rediffmail.com . Students of BGR Campus Pauri and SRT Campus Badshahi Thaul may also seek assistance from the Counseling Cell in their respective Campuses.
Persons and institutions desirous of coordinating with the Service may contact:
Prof. C.S. Sood, Director
Phone— 01346-250722
Fax—01346-250723
Mobile—9412079195
E-mail— soodcs@gmail.com
(Querries may also be sent to the Director at career.hnbgu@rediffmail.com )