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Preeti Mehra

First it was companies getting aware of the importance of holistic skills and sending their employees for experiential learning camps, including skills such as rock climbing, rafting, kayaking, etc. Now colleges have begun to do the same.

Wigan & Leigh College, that has established campuses in five cities in the last six years, recently joined the trend by organising a two-day camp to develop the soft skills of its students.

Catering to students of Business Management, Fashion Technology, Advertising & Graphic Design and Media Studies, the college has been working closely with industry in India and abroad to make its curriculum as relevant as possible to the workplace.

The college found that employers were not just looking for technical skills in students they hired. Equally important were common skills such as communicating, relating to others and working with them, applying design and creativity, managing tasks and solving problems, applying technology, applying numeracy, managing and developing self, etc,.

So, the college decided to use the same methods that companies do for developing such skills. They hired two corporate trainers, Michael Mitra and Rajat Mathur who formulated training modules to hone the team building and individual skills of the participants.

The content was on two levels. One concentrated on individual skills such as achievement orientation, creative thinking, confidence building, responsibility taking and interpersonal skills management. The other concentrated on the skills of the entire team, such as building work teams, development of trust, preparation and planning, team roles and responsibilities mapping, goal focus, communication, co-ordination and co- operation.

And the result? They expect their students to be rounded individuals who will be way up and counted when it comes to the job market.

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