Bhubaneswar, June 27: The International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Bhubaneswar, is starting a finishing school on its campus from this year to enhance employability of engineering students.

This was decided at the meeting of the board of governors of the institute held at the state secretariat today.

The finishing school programme is a certificate course to enhance employment opportunities of engineering students. The state government's department of electronics and information technology has initiated the programme.

The institute's board of governors were told that a target has been set to train about 300 students during this academic year in various batches. Each batch will have about 100 students. It was decided to start the first batch from July.

Any graduate in electrical science, communication engineering, information technology having domicile in Odisha is eligible to avail of the programme.

The programme will have a training duration of 150 hours spread across two months.

There will be around seven assessments, including two final assessments. The students will be made industry fit through the programme. They will also get associated to industries and possible employers.

More details about the procedures can be obtained from the website of the institute - www.iiit-bh.ac.in - to avail of the facility.

The training cost for each student has been estimated at Rs 6,000. Of this, Odisha government will provide Rs 3,000 and the students will contribute the rest.

The course contents will include quantitative attitude, logical reasoning, soft skills, mock group discussions and computer programming. Authorities of the institute said that engineering students were not able to find jobs because they were "unprepared" and "unconnected".

Under the certificate programme, the students will be trained on aptitude, technical and soft skills to prepare them for placement opportunities. There will be a final assessment after the end of the training. Recruiting companies will approach the students based on their assessment score.

Chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi asked the institute authorities to make the course industry-oriented through direct interface with the industries.