Santosh Kudada, a final year arts student of Karim City College, is a confident young man with good English communication skills and attributes his transformation from a weak student of the language to Employability Excellence with College Education and Learning (EXCEL) programme.
Like Santosh, students of six colleges under Kolhan University are thankful to EXCEL, conducted by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), for making them more confident.
From September last year to February, the programme has been rolled out in Karim City College, Jamshedpur Women’s College and Graduate School College for Women in Jamshedpur, Mahila College and Tata College in Chaibasa and Baharagora College in Baharagora.
TISS had signed an MoU with 11 colleges of Kolhan University. The remaining five colleges will implement the programme within a month.
EXCEL is an ambitious programme of the state higher and technical education and skill development department to help students get connected with the job market.
It is a remodelled version of the National University Students’ Skill Development programme started by TISS as a pilot project in 2013.
“Students have already given a positive feedback. Five colleges — G.C. Jain College in Chaibasa, Noamundi College, Singhbhum College in Chandil¸ Patamda Degree College and JLN College in Chakradharpur — will soon roll out the basic course,” placement co-ordinator of Kolhan University R.K. Karn said on Saturday.
After completion of the 404-hour basic course, TISS will host a survey to assess student demand and introduce specialised courses based on that.
Currently, the course comprises English, financial literacy, youth leadership, analytical skills, ethics, digital literacy, health and hygiene.
It also includes 60 hours of hands-on training.
“We have initially introduced a common programme, but will offer specialised training depending on the requirement of students and college needs. We can offer courses in project management, taxation and GST, travel and tourism, entrepreneurship and HR management,” TISS state programme manager (EXCEL) Avinash Anand said.
The course, which is optional, is aimed at enhancing specific skills based on the aptitude of students. Colleges can also choose to introduce disciplines needed by students in a specific area.
Rural camps end
Two villages near Chaibasa in West Singhbhum learnt about the importance of health, hygiene and education at weeklong special camps held by students of Mahila College, Chaibasa, under Kolhan University, which ended on Saturday.