Aiming for a degree higher

Degrees never seem to go out of fashion and continuous education seems to be the new hit. In spite of a cushy job and a fat pay packet, many are feeling the need to enhance their CVs with an additional degree.

So don't be surprised when you come across those in high-profile careers, but are still pursuing some course or the other. In fact, it's only now that the saying "� education is a lifelong process "� has become a hard reality.

The reasons to arm oneself with an additional degree may vary from person to person. While some go for a job early in life and therefore resume studying later just to upgrade their qualifications, there are others who do it simply to expand their horizons of knowledge. And for many others, it is a stepping-stone to success in their careers.

Says K Stevenson, head of the department of communication and journalism at Osmania University, "There are many working professionals who come back to pursue courses at our department to add another credential to their profile. Besides, there are some organisations, especially public sector ones, which insist on post-graduation degrees while recruiting. So in every batch, we have at least five students who are learning while they are earning."

So how do the working professionals manage to find time to pore over books while they are still working?

Says Shankar Prasad who was earlier working with Hindustan Lever Limited as a product development manager and is now doing his master's programme at the Indian School of Business (ISB), "I did my chemical engineering at the IIT-Mumbai but just thought that business education would give me greater scope to grow. It was not something that was asked for at the place where I worked. But in the long-term, I believe, this degree will provide me with broader choice in terms of career opportunities."

Then there are many others who try to manage via correspondence or distance education courses.

Besides, there are other avenues in the form of Direcway Global Education (DWGE), for instance, that offer programmes, wherein professionals can attend daytime, evening or weekend classes to earn degrees from institutes like the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), XLRI Jamshedpur, or the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) among others.

"Called Interactive Onsite Learning (IOL), this programme enables a student to interact with a professor onsite and clear his doubts on any subject instantly. This interactivity is possible due to the satellite and technology network by Hughes, providing one-way video and two-way audio facility to students," Srikant Acharya, vice-president, Hughes Escorts Communications Limited, says.

DWGE is an education initiative of Hughes and has four centres in Andhra Pradesh out of the 48 spread across India.

Incidentally, Pankaj Aggarwal, head (marketing) at DWGE, says that though there are professionals who come to DWGE from all kinds of sectors, the maximum influx is from the IT and ITeS sectors.

Corroborating this point of view is Ravi Vadapalli, who works with Satyam Computer Services Limited as a member of the leadership development group.

Vadapalli did a management course at the ISB after an engineering and an MBA degree from the Osmania University besides an MS in software engineering from BITS Pilani, so that he may "not lose out to a younger guy who has a management tag from a reputed institute."

Vadapalli has now moved on to the organisational level from the earlier business level at Satyam.

"The profile of people working in this industry has also changed today. New roles have emerged making it imperative for professionals to be on the fast track. A degree that can help you be in sync with the changing needs of the industry, therefore becomes essential," he sums up.