Better presentation helps campus placements, says Raha

Engineering colleges of West Bengal should be paying more attention towards presentation on the campus to attract companies for placements, Subir Raha, chairman of ONGC, said here today.

Speaking at a conference on 'Higher technical education in West Bengal: Prospects & issues' organised by the department of higher education, government of West Bengal, Raha said, "The campus must work not only on internal activities but also the look at attracting companies for placement."

There should be quality assurance for the technical professional coming out of any engineering college, said Raha.

Praising West Bengal, Raha said, "Lot of investment is involved in placing engineering graduates and therefore companies should be assured 'quality' education. West Bengal has been among the pioneering state working on the issue but it is not the same in all states."

However, Bengal colleges have to work together to build their brand, noted Raha.

West Bengal should be serious about uniformity in the quality of engineers produced as private institutes are proliferating fast, Raha advised.

He asked engineering colleges to include a separate module on 'standard productivity technique' for better performance of candidates in the workplace.

Poor English and other soft skills were the greatest hurdles, said Raha.

"It is most unfortunate when companies cannot absorb a potential candidate only due to inefficiency in communication. Institutions should work more on developing soft skills including personal grooming and etiquette development," said Raha.

He urged inclusion of engineering techniques in agriculture, earth science and other related bio-science course curriculum.

"With mechanised agricultural techniques spreading, and other subjects like earth science becoming important, there is great scope for employment here," said Raha.

The manufacturing and production sector could absorb the higher risks facing the services sector.

"India needs to focus more on manufacturing. The way the call centre jobs have come to India can also flow to a new destination when that country picks up the American English accent," said Raha.