Hyderabad, June 2 (TNN): The global economy might be slowing down, but the flow of Indian students to educational institutions across the world does not seem to be affected, going by KAB Educational Consultants Megha Education Fair being held at Institution of Engineers in Khairathabad.
Inaugurating the three-day 19th Megha Education Fair organized by KAB Educational Consultants here on Tuesday, the first woman Home Minister of the State, Smt Sabitha Indra Reddy, advised the college managements to take concrete steps in curbing ragging on college premises.
The Minister said that college managements and staff should evolve a strategy to curb ragging menace in colleges and hostels.
“Stringent punishment would be initiated to serve as deterrent for those indulging in ragging. Our anti-ragging committees were mostly only on paper, but these will now be practically functional under the supervision of top university officials,” she said.
Ragging was prevalent more in hostels, she observed and said the officials will be asked to make more frequent visits during the time of students in the hostel.
Counselling will help the juniors get accustomed to the professional college atmosphere, she said.
K Venkatesh of KAB Educational Consultants, said: "The main objective of the fair is to provide expert guidance and detailed information about educational opportunities at under-graduate and graduate levels.''
The fair will feature pre-counselling guidance given by experts in different fields. With the EAMCET counselling and admission programmes scheduled to begin in July, students and parents need a common platform to interact with institutes and experts and learn more about the scope of different courses, he said.
The fair will also give an opportunity to EAMCET rankers to get an idea about their position and admission prospects in different colleges and courses.
The fair will have several leading colleges and institutes offering various disciplines. Each day is packed with a series of activities that include counselling, lectures on career options, an interactive session with experts and so much more. Innumerable career options are available today but choosing the right field is very crucial.
"The counselling sessions will help the students make the right career choice on the basis of their interest, aptitude and performance and will also help to clarify their doubts,'' he said.
More than 200 educational institutes participated in the fair from the city.
STUDENTS RESPONSE
The fair received good response from students and their parents.
“At a time when campus placements have frozen up, it makes more sense to use this time to study. With an international degree in hand, it will be much easier to go job hunting, and hopefully the economic slump will be over by that time,” said V. Ashok, one of the students who attended the fair, scouting for options for a postgraduate degree in biotechnology.
He was one of the 1,500 students, who attended the fair on the opening day on Tuesday.
Apart from educational institutions, the largest number of which were from the United Kingdom and Singapore, a number of agents offered information of institutions in the United States, Australia and Canada. Representatives of institutions from Germany, Malaysia, Dubai, the Philippines, Russia, Poland and Georgia are also present.
Several agents also insisted that the global recession had not discouraged outbound Indian students.
“The clever student knows that studying now will give him a better chance in the rebound economy,” said C. Vijayalakshmi, a parent.
Though management education was the most sought-after by students, medical education abroad and courses related to aircrafts and pilot training too received attention from the students.
Several students looking for undergraduate courses abroad also found the fair very useful.
As Suman, a XIth class student puts it, “The fair gave me enough information to decide on my plans to study undergraduate courses.”
She was looking for courses in engineering and sciences and the representatives gave her minute details like how to apply, when to apply and various processes involved in admissions. “I attended an education fair earlier but this was more informative,” she said.
“I have gathered enough information about the courses offered in different countries and this will help me make an informed choice,” said Vivek, an engineering graduate.
The fair also helped students pick up some key information and opened up new avenues in this time of recession. “I was confused whether to go abroad or do my PG in India. But the fair shattered my confusion and helped me understand the options available in various countries,” said Kiran.
The most popular courses continue to be related to information technology, engineering and management, but a number of institutions mentioned that interest in life sciences and biotechnology was seeing a huge surge.
Medicine, design, environmental studies, aviation and hospitality are some of the other popular disciplines about which information is available.