The Hindu Business Line : CII to organise career fair next month

The three-day fair-cum-conference will enable students, institutions and industry to size up each other and make their choices either in education or placement, according to the organisers, CII-Karnataka and Christ College, Bangalore.

CII said Career Alternatives 2004 would "create synergy between the world of education and the needs of industry." The event will be organised from February 5 to 7 at the premises of the co-sponsor, Christ College, Bangalore, according to CII-Karnataka, which is hosting the event through its Institute of Quality located in Bangalore.

The fair comes at a time when India is transforming into a knowledge-based economy, amidst intense competition for jobs and students are pursuing courses to sharpen their job skills, the organisers said. The event is expected to attract a diverse set of participants ranging from educational, professional and vocational institutions, student counselling services to training schools in hospitality, tourism, finance, hotel management, telecom, energy, environment, quality, manufacturing, IT and other alternative careers.

Companies would showcase their profiles and career opportunities available in their organisations. The expo would have some 75 stalls featuring industry, higher education institutions and schools across India, said Mr M. Lakshminarayan, past Chairman, CII Karnataka and Joint MD, MICO Ltd.

Primarily, the career fair is meant to be showcase excellence in education amongst various stakeholders — students, while the wider audience would include parents, government agencies, potential partners and foreign investors.

It would be a one-stop shop for various stakeholders: for educational institutions to publicise their courses; for students to scan career options and study overseas; and enhance industry-institute cooperation for better placements from across the State.

According to CII, companies can find in the fair an "opportunity to recruit top-notch students and staff essential for the success of an academic or commercial establishment." The youth can access or update information on their options in education, career and training.

Educational, technical, career institutions as well as the industry will have direct access to students. Two conferences being held alongside would enable the students to listen to outstanding personalities from industry and educational fields, said Father Sebastian, Principal, Christ College. Academies, vocational training institutes and IT service providers can talk about their educational infrastructure, faculty, placement records and training methodologies and expect to woo two streams of customers: students and employers. New courses in ITES, insurance and banking would get some attention.

Some of the possibilities would be: companies can plan backward linkages with such establishments.

Engineering, medical and business school managements can look for promoting accredited courses in association with other reputed institutions. Interactions among higher educational bodies would stimulate benchmarking of their faculty, services and infrastructure while non-metro and tertiary would get their share of the limelight and expect to sign up students.

There will also be scope for banks, FIs and providers of IT-based education to use the fair as a marketing outlet for their products and services.

The two conferences on February 5 and 6 will focus on vocational and technical education.

A session on `CEOs Speak' is aimed at students and parents and will feature heads of units from telecom, healthcare, retailing, insurance, IT, hospitality, manufacturing, FMCG, the Air Force, journalism, entertainment and fashion & modelling.

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