US-based training institute Dale Carnegie & Associates has opened a finishing school in association with an Indian training institute, Walchand PeopleFirst. The institute, to be called Walchand Dale Carnegie Finishing School, will impart soft skills' training to students interested in IT/ITeS, retail, banking, telecom and FMCG.The school will cover 25,000 sq ft and which will eventually be ramped up to a 35-acre campus at Ramanagaram satellite town with an investment of Rs 70 crore. The school will train students in communication skills, verbal skills and personality development. The course will be targeted at students from small towns who are technical proficient but are not proficient in communication skills.Headquarted in New York, Dale Carnegie has a presence in over 80 countries. The institute was founded by author Dale Crnegie, who is best known for his books like 'How to Stop Worrying and Start Living' and 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'.The insitute has corporate training centres in Delhi, Pune and Bangalore and has trained over 12,000 people in India so far. It has also been working with schools and colleges in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore. Dale Carnegie and Walchand are now planning to start a second finishing school in Maharashtra.Graduates, who have scored 45% marks and have some technical knowledge as well as knowledge of English will be eligible. The course's duration will range from four months to six months. The fee for the course will be Rs 40,000. According to Dale Carnegie, the course will also include 16 weeks of classroom instruction and eight weeks of industry internship."A lot of companies will be visiting us this year and they will give us their requirements. So we will see to it that the courses help train students in the skills these companies require," Pallavi Jha, CMD, Walchand PeopleFirst said. The institute plans to train around 8,500 students in the first year."The curriculum focusses on developing and enhancing the very skillsets that employers seek while recruiting candidates," Raj Bowen, CEO, Dale Carnegie Training, said.This is the second finishing school in Karnataka. The first one was an IT finishing school that came up in Mysore a few months ago. The state is also going to get a finishing school for biotechnology that is likely to be launched by the end of the year.
