Future in communication

Q: I am doing commerce in Class XII. I am quite weak in maths and accounts and want to study mass communication after BCom. Is it the right choice?

—Kaushik Dey

A: Let me explain what this field is all about and you can then decide for yourself. Mass communications is a very broad term that includes various fields such as advertising, journalism, public relations, cinema, radio, television and broadcasting, theatre, communication, arts and now the Internet. Although communication remains the core element, the nature of work depends on the field you are in.

A course in Mass communications will give you a general overview of each of these fields at the macro level. Thereafter, you can choose your preferred medium and specialise in the area that fascinates you the most.

Electronic and satellite communication has ushered in dramatic changes in journalism. Job opportunities exist in newspapers, magazines and periodicals, news agencies, television, radio, regional press bureaus of international papers / news agencies / networks and Internet portals.

The ministry of information and broadcasting and related government agencies like the directorate of advertising and visual publicity (DAVP), the directorate of field publicity, public relations departments of public and private sector corporations also offer jobs to students as freelancers / stringers, theatre critics, book reviewers and the like.

Work for an MBA degree

Q: I am 22 years old and work as a junior account executive with a Calcutta- based advertising agency. Should I work for a few years and then pursue an MBA? Would my work experience be considered at all?

—Vineet Khullar

A: You have not mentioned how long you have been working in the agency. But if you look at the typical class composition of top B-schools, you will find that students have an average of two to four years of work-experience.

If you have less than two years of work-experience, it will hardly count in MBA selection or placement. You’ll be treated at par with fresh graduates. You should aim at building some work experience. Your work as a junior account executive might also count when you go for an MBA from a reputed business school. Options and scope in social work

Options and scope in social work

Q: I am interested in social work and want to know about development studies. Where is it taught?

—Geera Mehta

A: Development studies, is a multidisciplinary branch of social science that addresses issues of concern for developing countries such as globalisation, inequality, poverty, gender relations, child survival and development, environment and sanitation, health and nutrition, prevention of HIV/AIDS, ethnicity, cultural and moral implications. Since it is essentially concerned with issues related to social and economic development, its relevance also extends to communities and regions outside of the developing world.

Programmes in development studies are designed to expose students to topics in development and create an understanding of participatory, self sustaining and people-centric public policies, development models. As the topic deals with the understanding and analysis of processes which are transforming people’s lives throughout the world, a degree in development studies provides avenues to a career in government and NGOs associated with aid and development planning. You can work with the United Nations (UN), the World Health Organization(WHO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank. The Red Cross also is a very big employer. You can also work for national and local government bodies and large private companies.

Some of the places where you can study for a masters in development studies are:

Ambedkar University (AUD), School of Development Studies, Delhi (www.csdindia.org/csd-aud-collaboration). Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar (Tamil Nadu) (www.ana laiuniversity.ac.in). The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Tiss), Mumbai (www.tiss.edu).

Some of the other institutes where you can study are:

1) Bangalore University, Bangalore (www.bub.ernet.in)

2) The Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai (www.mids.ac.in)

3) The Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai. (www.igidr.ac.in)