Charting the road ahead

Overwhelmed by the enormous information on various courses and institutes and unable to decide on a particular career, students today find themselves in a state of confusion. Parents too are perturbed by the situation.
"My son has secured just about 60 per cent in class 12 Science. I am not sure what options are open to him now. I am thoroughly puzzled," said Jayati Lahiri, a concerned mother visiting the recently concluded ASSOCHAM Higher Education and Development fair or AHEAD 2002 exhibition and conference.
Having visited several stalls at the fair though, her son Joydeep had made up his mind to choose an ‘off-beat line’.
"Now that I can’t pursue a conventional science or an engineering degree, I’ve zeroed-in on graphic design and advertising," he said.
Organised jointly by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and Education Times at Hotel Taj Palace between June 7 and 9, AHEAD 2002 was an effort to provide a sense of direction to the students and address the concerns of parents.
The fair attracted participation from over 80 national and international universities and private institutes. Besides providing information on their respective programmes, several exhibitors like the Amity Group and Rai Foundation offered counselling to students as well.
A counsellor from Rai Foundation said, "Today, there’s a range of choice not only in terms of institutions but also in terms of the number of courses and disciplines available. A child needs the guidance of professional counsellors to arrive at a right decision. Our attempt is to reduce the confusion of children and parents."
Nearly 30,000 visitors attended fair. AKC Group CEO Atul Chauhan felt that the response to the fair was superb.
"The timing of the event was perfect as it coincided with Delhi University admissions. The students were in the right frame of mind to absorb information on career and education and make a choice," he said.
Elaborating on the response at the beautifully decorated Amity stall, Chauhan said, "Students primarily came seeking information on undergraduate courses, but we receivedquerries on postgraduate courses too. Communications and media, MBA, insurance etc are gaining popularity."
Revealing that the Jamia Hamdard University was participating in an education fair for the first time, university representative Rakshinda Siraj said, "Our objective was to promote awareness about the university as students generally tend to confuse us with the Jamia Millia Islamia. Our programmes like BCA, MBA, MCA and biotechnology, biochemistry and biopharma courses are among the best in the country."
Siraj was satisfied with the turnout at the event. Another first-timer at an education fair, IILM deputy director Niharika Sondhi remarked, "AHEAD 2002 has given us the chance to interact with colleagues from other institutes. It helped us gauge the students’ interest."
Noting that not many IT institutes participated at the fair, Sheelu Puri of the Skyline Business School said, "This is an indication of the prevailing decline in IT education."
She felt that the fair met its objective of attracting genuinely interested candidates. Rakesh Mittal, managing director, Mahan Computer Services agreed that the interest in IT education has declined.
"Definitely, there’s a downfall. But the phase is temporary and will filter out the weaker players," he said.
Representatives from US, Canada and Germany made separate presentations on opportunities for higher education in their respective countries.
Having done her graduation in parts from Pennsylvania State University, USA and Richmond University, UK in the discipline of corporate communication and graphic design, Anushree was perhaps better exposed to foreign education than most of the other visitors.
Commenting on the popularity of foreign education, Anushree said, "Foreign education may sound very glamorous and that’s perhaps one of the reason why students are attracted. But one must keep in mind that you are not going out for a vacation. Living in a foreign land all by yourself is not easy. You have to carefully budget yourself. On the positive side, foreign education provides you with an international exposure. It is creatively satisfying and with experience comes responsibility."
Emphasising that foreign education contributes to an individual’s self-development, she however cautioned that a foreign degree is not necessarily the licence to a good job.
The career counselling sessions by Pervin Malhotra, director, CARING, held on each of the days of the event, was a big hit.
Malhotra fielded questions on disciplines as diverse as biotechnology, fashion, mass communication, insurance, psychology and chartered accountancy besides the popular IT, management, engineering, law and foreign education.
When asked by a parent to comment on the ‘happenning’ career options, Malhotra remarked, "There’s no such‘flavour of the day’ kind of careers. There may be some areas like the services, media etc with increasing human resource demands but one shouldn’t go by that consideration alone while choosing a career. The career perceived as ‘hot’ today may not remain so by the time you acquire your qualification. The single most important consideration while opting for a career should be your own interest, aptitude and potential in the chosen field."
Away from the seriousness of the exhibition, conference and counselling sessions, the visitors got to relax and unwind themselves at exhilarating DJ evening sponsored by Coca Cola on the first two evenings of the event.
Thousands chilled out and danced to the tunes of the latest pop numbers. Exhibitors too conducted several fun-filled events to provide relief after an absorbing day.
The Amity Quiz on the concluding day was well attended. Eventually Ashish Dhawan bagged the bumper prize of a personal compute, which was given away by Atul Chauhan.
Vinay Rai, chairman, ASSOCHAM Expert Committee on Education described the event as a phenomenal success.
"AHEAD 2002 has been the best fair ASSOCHAM has ever organised. We intend to organise it annually," he said.