Choosing the Road Less Traveled – Going for Offbeat Careers!

If you thought that becoming a fashion designer, a photographer, or a content writer was not as worthwhile and credible as becoming a professional in engineering, medicine, IT, or law, well, think again. Offbeat courses have so much to offer aspiring students. Here is a quick analysis of what you can expect if you decide to take the road less traveled.

US varsities get selected for partnership programmes with India

As part of the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative, eleven top US colleges and universities were selected for a partnership programme with India. This announcement proceeded the scheduled India-US Education Summit in October.

The selected US institutions are George Mason University, Fort Hays State University, Queens College (City University of New York), Northern Illinois University, Rutgers, Rollins College, Thomas College, The State University of New Jersey, Suffolk University, University of Oregon, University of Montana, University of Kentucky and the Institute of International Education (IIE).

Connecting students to society

New-age educational institutes not only teach their students, they also identify and nurture the entrepreneurial talent present in them. As a policy to create more jobs and make a higher number of young graduates self-reliant, the Government of India is also promoting the idea of start-up ventures by students with premier government research institutes pledging their full technological support to ventures that will benefit society and the country as whole.

College admissions in India

Demographically, India is a young country. The majority of the population is in the range of 15-25 years of age, which means that every year, the number of people applying for colleges is also increasing. Despite the soaring school dropout rate, the number of students vying for the best colleges and courses has risen exponentially in the last few years.

Delhi University has made the news this year for its high-cut offs. SRCC, the renowned college affiliated to DU required a 100% score for admission into its B.com (Honors). Everyone from the students to educationists was taken aback. But the college justified the high cut-off rate. It explained that since the number of students in 90% – 99% categories has increased, it is very difficult to pick students. More than 2000 students got 95% marks this year.

Indian engineering needs to focus more on research

Approximately every year in India, six lakh students graduate from engineering colleges and the number keeps on growing with every passing year. But there have always been concerns about the quality and relevance of the education provided by many engineering colleges. Recently World Bank announced a 228 crore of aid to 31 Indian engineering colleges to help them revamp their infrastructure, faculty and build research facilities. The goal is to increase the number of post-graduate students and establish modern centers of study and research.