Offbeat courses save the day for students

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While traditional courses like the Bachelors in economics, commerce and English remain popular, many offbeat courses are gradually taking over with a few colleges offering courses on programmes like fashion, trade, insurance and social work. Adding to the list of offbeat courses is IGNOU’s diploma in business process outsourcing (BPO), which is a blend of theory and practical, designed by eminent academicians, Accenture subject matter experts, BPO training and e-learning organisations to provide students with a comprehensive learning model. As Delhi University’s cutoffs reach nearly 100 per cent, it’s time to look at options that are well paying and lucrative. Here’s what the experts have to say.
“Many courses are coming up for those who want to do something more job-oriented. For instance, the most popular is the certified financial planning course. Graduates in any stream can apply. Another course that’s becoming popular is culinary art and many good institutes are offering diplomas in the subject. Apart from all these, courses in travel, cargo management, computer hardware and networking are a big draw,” says career counsellor Dr Sanjib Kumar Acharya.
More interesting is the fact that many counsellors feel that instead of sticking to the concept of a three-year graduation course, students should willingly go for skill-based certificate courses. “In today’s context, I personally feel that graduation is not a must. Instead students should opt for certificate courses, in subjects they are interested in. I’ve seen many kids taking up graduation courses which they are unable to cope with so they end up opting to do programmes in their areas of their interest. There’s no point in wasting time with graduation if you aspire to do something in animation, choreography, music, etc,” says Dr Neeru Johri, HOD, communication studies, JIMS, Vasant Kunj. She further tells us that the courses on online media are quite promising nowadays. “In the next decade, social networking will grow further and the best courses would be anything in the social media. Right from Web designing to content writing, etc students should do what interests them,” she says.
Motivational speaker and trainer Harsh Arora says that in today’s time companies lay more emphasis on talent than on mere degrees.
Asserting the need to look beyond traditional graduation courses, he informs, “There are many programmes in the field of environment that youngsters can take up. For instance TERI offers one called Energy Auditing. Once you do the course, you’re a certified energy auditor. Apart from this dieticians and nutritionists are doing really well. Students are also taking up courses in photography.”
Suneeta Kakkar, a teacher adds that students should look beyond DU if they really want to go for the best course in the area of their interest. “For instance, one of my student is now studying yogic science. It’s not a general course in yoga, but also gives you an in-depth knowledge about the subject. Bachelors programmes in rural studies and textile designing are also very popular,” she concludes.