Bhubaneswar, July 30: Utkal University's placement process for postgraduate students is on in full swing with the varsity providing grooming classes to help them secure jobs.

The varsity recently notified all departments asking students to fill up an online form to enrol in the grooming classes. It has also set up a website -www.utkalplacement.org-for the placement process. Students passing out in 2015 and 2016 are eligible to apply. All applicants will be given grooming lessons before their interviews.

"We will invite experts in the field and conduct mock sessions with the students so that they are fully prepared for the interviews," said varsity placement officer Sarit Panda.

The grooming process will aim to improve English communication skills of the students and develop their personality.

"We have students from rural areas of the state studying here. The grooming classes would be quite beneficial for them," said Panda.

Classes for students of the anthropology department began on July 29. The other departments will follow shortly.

Panda said: "We are stressing on the social sciences because we want to reach out to the maximum number of students."

Students are also hopeful that the campus placements would be fruitful for them.

"The placement trend of the last few years has been encouraging and we hope this will be a good year too. I wish students, who are not from commerce and professional streams, also get their desirable jobs," said Subrat Kumar, a final-year postgraduate student.

The placements are scheduled to take place from August and some major companies have already confirmed their participation.

"A few organisations want candidates to join them immediately. For them, the priority will be facilitating students passing out this year. Thereafter, we will focus on students passing out next year," said Panda.

Apart from IT companies, the varsity is in talks with leading corporate houses, public sector units, banks and non-government organisations to facilitate recruitment at entry level positions. The placement session will continue till August next year.

The last placement session saw 140 students placed. A total of 107 students were placed in 2013-14 while 130 students got placed through the campus initiative the year before that.