Science and technology minister Gautam Singh inaugurates the cell in Patna on Thursday. Picture Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Feb. 10: The department of science and technology has started a training and placement cell to provide assistance to students from engineering colleges and polytechnic institutes.

The cell will not only advise the students on career options but also train them to face future challenges and encourage them to chase their dreams after passing out of college.

Gautam Singh, the minister of science and technology, formally inaugurated the training and placement cell. Speaking at the function Singh said: “The cell will help the students learn about the changing needs of the industry and steps will be taken to train them to meet these challenges. It will also develop networking links with the corporate world and ensure that they visit the institutes for hiring students through campus placement.”

The minister said other areas to be covered under the programme would be career guidance, career advisory services, communication skills improvement and resume writing. The state department of science and technology is planning to bring out a resume book so that corporate recruiters can have all the information on the students at one place. This will speed up the process of job placements and improve success rate in getting the prospective students employed.

Ravikant, joint secretary science and technology department, who was also present at the function, said that the cell will work towards creating environment for employment and training of students of engineering colleges and polytechnic institutions of the state. The condition of majority of these colleges, excluding NIT Patna, Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology, is not very bright.

Ravikant said: “Today, industry requires, among other things, a workforce having a scientific bent of mind and possessing the much-desired temper and skill essential to maintain the high quality and productivity on par with world standards. Technical educational institutions has to respond to these emerging challenges by taking the responsibility of developing and nurturing world-class engineers, technologists and managers.”

The secretary said that in the past five years, the state government has established new engineering colleges and polytechnic institutes in far-flung areas of the state, which have been deprived of opportunities of technical education.