To cope with the ever-increasing demand for job-oriented courses, Calcutta University will tie up with well-known private educational institutions to run such courses.

As the first step, the university has recently signed an agreement with the Globsyn group of institutions to run a post-graduate diploma course in data management from the current year, the first of its kind in the university.

“This is a new course in our university. Students will be taught mainly how to handle data. Those who complete the course will find a lot of openings in the job market,” said Ishita Mukherjee, a senior teacher of the university’s economics department.

According to the agreement, the university’s department of economics will provide the conceptual expertise while Globsyn will provide the knowhow required to produce the necessary software for running the course.

The university runs a number of short-term diploma professional courses, including film studies and journalism and mass communication. “We are trying to open up avenues in the field of management studies,” an official said.

According to Mukherjee, the content of the course on data management will be aimed at training students to land jobs in industries, non-governmental organisations and any other agency where data handling is necessary. Those passing this course may work as consultants, too.

The duration of the proposed course is likely to be 10 months. Students who pass under-graduate examinations in geography, mathematics, nutrition and other subjects under social sciences will be eligible for the course.

Graduates in natural sciences, however, will be ineligible. Mukherjee said some important factors, like the structure of fees to be charged, number of seats and content of the syllabi, are yet to be finalised.