Tag: students

COVID-19 and its effect on students career

In his prophetic Ted talk on ‘The Next Outbreak’ in 2015, Bill Gates mentioned  the great danger posed to humankind by global epidemics as compared to nuclear war. Five years later, we are right in the middle of what may be termed as the greatest global crisis since the Second World War. Covid 19 pandemic has swept the globe and is perhaps going to be recorded in history as the most impactful and consequential event of this century. It has stretched capacities of governance , public , health , infrastructure etc.

The covid 19 started out as a health pandemic, has created  long-lasting changes to the way we live and work. As it continues to spread across the globe, many countries have decided to close the schools as part of a social distancing policy. However, these closure od educational institutions has affected the education of more than 1.5 billion children and youth worldwide due to the amid pandemic situation.

1.students re-evaluating their career choices

With a lot of uncertainty surrounding future educational prospects a report says that 63% students feel that their initial career plans have been severely affected due to Covid-19, while 42% students feel that they have been forced to reconsider their preferred career choices and are thinking of having a backup plan now. The ongoing pandemic has further triggered and put question marks about travelling overseas for education. A lot of students who were originally planning on studying at an overseas university are now likely to change their higher education plans.

With the Covid-19 pandemic has  impacted student’s career plans and according to a report its  seen that careers like medicine, life sciences and allied medicine are among the top 15 careers which students are looking at pursuing. The top five career choices of students include business management, computer applications and IT, entrepreneurship, medicine and design.

2. E-learning

With all the educational institutes being  closed, its one of the biggest test of online teaching and home-schooling amid the covid 19 situation In these testing circumstances due to impromptu closure, the biggest scourge and the blessings in disguise are the online learning platforms also known as eLearning. This online learning method is catering  to the growing demands of the students in the most efficient manner. The online learning platforms have seen a spur in the number of students who are enrolling in the plethora of courses they offer. From courses on various Government sector exams, technical courses to activities like painting and even dancing there is a unceasing list that is available to the students at the most affordable price. Technology and online learning platforms have become increasingly crucial and due to this college costs could dwindle tremendously as more students will like via online methods. 

Nevertheless we cant deny the fact that this pandemic has  widen the digital divide.A country like India, which is not new to eLearning but it should be kept in mind that closures of schools are likely to widen the learning gap between children from lower-income and higher-income families. While many parents with access to technology and internet are progressively turning to online education technology to keep their kids learning at home while some may not be able to. In a recent survey from India Welfare Trust, it has shed light on how children are bearing the impact of the unprecedented outbreak.

3.Graduates facing uncertainty

  • Unemployment -Students graduating from college in 2020, will have a tougher time finding their first job, unlike your immediate seniors, and its obvious that unemployment levels three months after graduation will be higher.
  • Job first, choice later -Students will  start off fast through by making more efforts and by taking risks. Salaries may be lower by nearly 20% and students may not find jobs in their preferred domain so its important to prioritise getting any job to gain work experience and shift domains once the market improves. It is advisable that working through unpaid internships or investing  your time in family business will be beneficial
  • Digital skills– The job market always changes after a major crisis. This time, the change is an increased focus on online, technology and digital skills that enable workers to contribute remotely. Whatever your line of education be, you are unlikely to be considered unless you demonstrate comfort with digital tools in your field of work.

In this time of crisis well rounded and effective educational practice is what is needed for capacity building of young minds .

What are the options after graduation in Australia?

Many students aspire to study in Australia for their graduation across the world. Australia has world-renowned universities offering versatile programs to the students. Many of the prestigious universities are present in Australia. A large number of students take admissions in Australian universities every year for undergraduate, postgraduate, or doctoral programs. A valid question that would arise in most students’ minds is the options they can opt for post completing their graduation in Australia. Here is a detailed list of options every student has after they become a graduate in Australia.

List of options for students after graduation in Australia

  • If you are an international student living in Australia for your studies, you can return to your country. You can easily apply for jobs in your country, or become an entrepreneur. This is a legitimate option for many international students in Australia.
  • If you have completed your graduate studies in Australia, you are eligible to apply for the research fellowship programs there. You can apply for the Ph.D. programs at your university or submit your applications in other Australian universities. Once you get the offer to be a research fellow at one of the universities in Australia, you would be able to start your research under a mentor as well as teach the undergraduate students at the university.
  • If you plan on becoming a resident in Australia, you can apply for that as well. Many international students wish to stay in Australia after the completion of their graduation. You have to know the details regarding their visa program or migration program to become a permanent resident in Australia.
  • If you don’t want to become a permanent resident, you can choose to work in Australia’s suitable sectors. You can work for the educational sector or the business sector, according to your convenience. In this way, you will have experience in the market field, and with the in-hand expertise, you would be able to secure a better job anywhere in the world.
  • Many universities have excellent placement cells for the students who just completed their graduation. You can attend one of the workshops and choose your area of interest. After your interview, if you are selected, you will get the opportunity to work at one of the many companies in Australia.
  • Australia has a visa for students who wish to work and travel there. Once you are done with your graduation, you can easily apply for a visa, which will avail you one year. In this one year, you can work in Australia as well as travel in and around Australia.
  • Many students, after their graduation, plan on spending the upcoming months traveling around Australia. You can take a break and trip to the beautiful cities in Australia, and you can also decide on your plans while going.
  • After graduation, you can enroll yourself in a foreign language course in Australia. Learning a foreign language would widen your career opportunities and give you many other choices later. Also, it would be brilliant to be able to read, speak, and write in another language. After the completion of your foreign language program, you can try for various job opportunities in Australia like translator, interpreter, or working in the publishing sector.

There are innumerable choices when you think of the next step post completion of your graduation in Australia. All you need to remember is to apply for a new visa, and you can start working on the choice you made after securing your permit. Concentrate on what you want to do and how you would like to pursue your dreams after graduation. Once you are sure of your goals, it will be much easier for you to choose an option.

Commercialization of Education

Back in the 90s, getting 60 percent on your boards meant having a party in the whole neighborhood; it was a celebration. Today, even 95 percent is not enough to secure your admission in the college and course of your choice. So, what changed during all these years? Not the NCERTs for sure.

India is fast becoming a country where education is just another commodity. With everyone obsessing over education and paying any amount of money to get the best, the real essence of education has been devalued. It is no longer a noble cause; it is a mere means for people to earn a profit, to scam others into paying for a basic necessity.

To educate someone means to impart that person the knowledge so that he or she can survive in society. But the commercialization of education has turned almost every institution into a business or a money-making factory, charging huge amounts for all the facilities that they provide. And the sad part of it all is that these facilities aren’t even required most of the time.

Today, every nook and corner has a new coaching institute being run by someone who is not even a professional of the field they are teaching or tutoring students in. As a result, most of the students going from schools to colleges are not using any prior knowledge from their formative years. Furthermore, the students passing out of colleges are not ready to be employed right away. Yet they are being employed, many even as teachers. A teacher is a pillar of a child’s future, but what will happen if the teacher himself fails to build a strong foundation for his student’s life?

Another important parameter for quality education is having the right infrastructure. The environment of the place where you send your child to study matters a lot. As a student, it is important to keep in mind that nurture plays a huge role in the development of our minds and the correct environment is the first step towards nurturing the feeling of learning in our minds. Schools and colleges are spending way more on advertising their institutions and finding prospective customers in the name of students rather than spending that same money on improving the infrastructure and the facilities available for the students. The parents are falling prey to these lucrative ads, readily paying a huge amount of money to get their ward into the said institution, without even realizing that their hard-earned money will be used to catch other prey. Basically, they are being cheated in the name of education.

Instead of being the solution to a problem, education itself is becoming more of a problem. Even though the education industry is rising, it is lagging behind in fulfilling its social responsibility towards the society.

The education system has to improve, thereby improving the meaning of education. Providing education should no longer equate to just paying the fees. The youth has to be provided with quality education and the whole society has to work together to convey this message to the world.

Image Courtesy: Google

Importance of INTERNSHIPS for college students!!!

In the world full of competitors to be successful student/businessman etc. should have a different approach. They need do things which have already less participants. It would be best if none of the competitors are present, it doesn’t mean you have to do very odd thing. Everyone needs a better lifestyle and a proper career so that they can live luxurious life with the family, for that we have to start at early as possible and gain the maximum experience. There are many of the websites nationally and internationally that provide work to college students as in the name of freelancers some of the popular sites are:

1- Internshala

2- LetsINTERN

3- LinkedIN

4- GlassDoor

5- Hello Intern

6- Twenty19

7- AngelList

8- Indian Internships

9- Oyster Connect

10- Interlelo

The above listed Internship site are the popular one yet there are many more to be listed.

  • Internships not only make a student financial independent at college life but it plays a very important role as while on last year of college it boost the CV and the chances of selection in your dream company gets increased by 10 folds.
  • Internship help a student start to build a professional network that can be a resource for the student.
  • Internship also help student to decide a second option of career and also can make it as a part-time works on his professional job.
  • Many companies are in search of students who have already completed an internship related to professional job which will also help student to do the work which is of his choice and already experienced on it.
  • Internships provide a great impact on confidence of the student which will help a lot in the actual job.
  • Students gain knowledge and get aware on how to talk with superior person, how to keep conversation on and most importantly how to influence anybody with the power of the words.
  • Students also get hands on to manage the task assigned. They also get to know to give a separate time table to each task and mange the workflow while studying.
  • They get the professional guidance even if they fail to mange the task as the internship provider cannot force any student and they encourage the student on compilation of task.

 

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This are the most benifits of the Internship…Hope it will be helpful.

If you are in college and not having any internship, than go for it…It will prove helpful in the future.

 

HOW TO STUDY PROPERLY

Studying for long hours is only beneficial if done in the proper way. If you are not studying in the right manner, it is a certainty that all those hours would not lead to desired results. By tweaking your studying techniques backed by research project you’ll improve the standard of the content learnt and may also retain it for a extended time. 

1. Focused and diffused learningUse both focused and diffuse modes of learning. Focused mode is when you focus attentively on a topic and study it with no distraction. After doing this for some time (can follow the Pomodoro technique), you can switch over to some other tasks. In this time period, the brain works on the material learnt, processing and understanding it. This is a reason why if you can’t understand something, you’ll grasp it easily once you visit it later. 

2. Play hard, study smartInclude activities like exercising, walking, playing any sport in your daily timetable. These physical activities assist your brain in understanding unfamiliar topics and ideas . Do not think of them as just another pastime. It is not smart to only study for the whole day with zero physical activity. 

3. Sleep!Sleeping is very crucial to your learning. Waking up the night before the exam and cramming the entire night can help in the short term but it is not at all helpful when it comes to longer retention span. Sleeping helps in clearing the toxins produced in the brain during the day and consolidates the material learnt.

4. Spaced studyingMake sure that your learning is spaced over a period of days. Learn every day, this gives the time to make the previous concepts stronger and understand the new things in a better way. It is not smart to study a lot one day and then not studying anything for the next five days.

5. Apply what you have learntPractice what you have learnt. If you cannot solve a problem, do not see the solution immediately. Try using the concepts that you have learnt and if you are still stuck use hints if available. After exhausting all paths, you can check the solution but make sure to actually work it out. Just reading the solution is not enough. 

6. Mixing up thingsAfter mastering one topic do not stick to it, move to newer concepts. This might seem difficult and it is quite likely that you would end up procrastinating, but start anyhow. Reading the same concepts might give you the sense of progress but you should be real to yourself. 

7. Learning from basicsWhen learning a new concept, approach it right from the basics and then explain it to yourself in simpler terms. This is also known as Feynman’s technique and it is very effective when dealing with difficult and layered topics.

8. Watch out for new ideasBe open to new ideas and techniques when solving problems. If you are acquainted with a method, you might often feel that it is the most effective approach. This can block you from knowing and trying better techniques that exist. So be receptive to learning new things.

9. Consistent learningLearning compounds with consistency. Even if you’ve got started late, do a daily portion everyday. An essential aspect of smart study is to spot the facility of normal learning. Throughout human history, there are many samples of people that have started late and achieved mastery in their field.

EDUCATION IN TIMES OF CORONA

We all are well informed about the current unfortunate scenario created by the deadly Novel Corona Virus. A lot has been said and discussed how much it has impacted the environment, society and the economy of the countries. This pandemic has tremendously affected the education system, this is also needed to be discussed widely. Almost every day, the teachers and students are facing new challenges. Education is the backbone of a society and the students are the future. Life becomes valueless without education. The suffering of the entire education system is not at all desirable.


From the very beginning, the main mode of education was offline and the basic source was school. But it is obvious that due to this corona outbreak all the offline modes of education are closed for an uncertain period of time. On 14th March the nation’s Prime Minister announced the first nationwide lockdown, and the news dropped like a bombshell for the institutions and teachers, because at that point of time many board exams were going on in schools and colleges and some results were about to be declared.


The lockdown is getting extended in increments since March. Given this situation, it is not possible for the institutions to take a complete break from teaching the students neither it is possible for the students to stop studying since whenever their schools/colleges will reopen they will have to give their due exams. In this situation the only thing that is feasible, is to introduce e-learning in their curriculums. Internet learning was always an option for extra studies for the students, but now that option has become a necessity for almost all the educational institutions.


Education is a basic right for every citizen of a country. But this overnight change of the mode of study from offline to online has made education unreachable to some of the students. Numerous students do not have an internet connection and thus the study materials that are being given to them are becoming unattainable for them. Some of the institutions have even started marking their attendance in the online classes. Those schools/colleges use to allot marks on the attendance of the students, so, those students who aren’t being able to attend these online classes are getting affected severely. All the sources of learning have become unobtainable for these students since their tuitions are also off now. Even the teachers are facing copious issues due to this sudden change. Many teachers are not technologically equipped so along with the students they are also taking time for getting used to it. The teachers are also facing pressures of converting all the teaching materials to digital formats. Even if the majority of the students are getting the facility of attending their classes through online conferences, it can not be apprehended how the pending and future exams will be taken through online mode.


Amidst this situation where all the students and teachers were already struggling to get adjusted with this newly formed learning system, the government of several states announced that the junior classes of the schools and the intermediate semester students of the universities will be promoted to the next class or to the next semester. Regarding this a lot of hassles has been created since most of the universities are still not agreeing to promote their students without taking their tests. Some of the institutions are planning to take their exams very soon even in this crucial situation. The students were already distressed and this being added into their suffering, they are now completely perplexed.


The university students who had their terminal semesters just when the lockdown started, are suffering the most. Most of them had their career plans ready already. Since the entire exam procedure got delayed, they are living in an extremely uncertainty right now. The school kids are facing problems in paying the fees of the schools and tuitions since most of the parents do not have the facility of online banking. The government and the institutions are trying to make things a little less difficult for the students. The sense of insecurity in the students are making them depressed and it has affected their mental health badly. No one knows what the future holds for all of us, but what we can do is to try to keep the students engaged not only with studies but also with creative things so that they can stay healthy and productive in this pivotal situation.