GUWAHATI, Nov 11 ? The Training and Placement (T&P) Cell of the Assam Engineering College (AEC) is now devising strategies for overcoming the hurdles of post-graduation unemployment. It has been successful in arranging for the appointment of many of the college?s students in some reputed organisations. It is expected that the Cell will be able to make the college a permanent hunting ground for employers from across the country and abroad.
Over 2,000 engineering graduates all over the State are waiting for employment. The State-run AEC and Jorhat Engineering College (JEC) together produce about 450 graduates yearly. However, these graduates are not treated by the employers in a very special category in matters of skill etc. So far as the employment potential from NE is concerned, the graduates from the IIT, Guwahati and National Institute of Technology (NIT), Silchar, are the first choice of the employers.
But this distinction is because of the All India Centre of Technical Education?s (AICTE) ranking system. The AICTE places the seven IITs of the country at the highest step of the pedestal. The 15 NITs and the institutes like the Birla Institute of Science at Pilani, Delhi College of Engineering and Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University at Hyderabad, follow them. Around 150 engineering colleges run by the State Governments, semi-Government organisations and the trusts fall in the lowest rung. However, the T&P Cell of AEC has been using the reputation of the college for quality education, its dedicated and qualified faculty members and its distinguished alumni in the efforts to attract the employers. The AEC is also known all over the country as the oldest engineering college of the NE region.
The T&P Cells were created in the AEC and JEC following the joint initiatives of the authorities of both the colleges and the State Government in mid-1990s. However, the posts of the T&P Cell Officers are still to be filled up permanently. In the AEC, for the past ten years or so, some Assistant Professors have been officiating as the T&P Cell Officer completely on an ad-hoc basis.
The AEC Cell functioned from a specified office room since November 2002. Working from the office room made the functioning of the Cell more effective as it can now work in a manner, which is formal and transparent, said Arup Misra, an Assistant Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department and the T&P Cell Officer of the AEC.
The involvement of students with the activities of the Cell also grew since then. A portfolio ?T&P Cell Secretary ? was created in the AEC Students? Union in 2003 and the Cell has now two members from each of the eight hostels of the college, Misra added. The day scholars also have a few representatives, he stated.
The Cell created a database of the prospective employers and is maintaining contacts with the alumni of the college who are serving in good positions. It has also become a part of various Internet users? groups ? like the aecyahoogroup ? created by an ex-AECian now residing in the Netherlands.
Initially in January 2003, the Cell contacted 200 prospective employers via e-mail and conventional post. Responses started coming since March 2003. About 30 companies acknowledged receipt of the communications.
Then came the Siemens India Ltd, Indian Army, Denso Haryana Ltd ? makers of the MPFI automobile engines ? the Reliance Telecom Ltd, PRADAN ?one of the major NGOs of the country working on behalf of the World Bank ? the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Hindustan Paper Corporation, TVSL ?a subsidiary of the Maruti Udyog Ltd the Tata-Honeywell, Cummins Diesel and the ASM Labs, among others.
These organisations sent their representatives to the AEC between March 2003 and January 2004 and recruited around 110 graduates from the college?s 2002 and 2003 batches. This emboldened the AEC T&P Cell and it then started vigorous marketing of its graduates, Misra said.
This year, after the summer vacation was over, some of the most highly rated companies, like the Cognizant Technology Solutions, Mahindra British Telecom, Future Soft, Ashok Leyland, VSNL (TATA Indicom) Infosys, Crompton Greaves and the Sterling Net systems, started visiting the Jalukbari AEC campus for recruiting in advance the college?s 2005 batch graduates. Of about 250 students, over 52 were issued appointment letters about ten months ahead of their obtaining graduation, said an elated Misra.
And in the current month, some more distinguished organisations like the L&T, WIPRO, Polaris, Reliance Telecom Ltd, BMG Informatics and the National Airports Authority of India, among others, are on the queue, Misra said.
He also apprised The Assam Tribune of the efforts of the Cell to prepare the AEC graduates and students for the recruitment drills. The Cell is organising regular pre-placement talks, motivational lectures and short training courses etc for the students and the graduates. The situation has become so encouraging today that many students have enrolled themselves in various institutions of the city for learning communicative skills etc, said Misra.
He also claimed that besides serving the graduates and the students of the AEC, the T&P Cell is now providing a common platform for all the graduates and students of the JEC, Silchar NIT and the Arunachal Pradesh NERIST.
However, Pankaj Gogoi, the first T&P Cell Secretary of the AEC Students? Union (SU) and Kollool Medhi, the present T&P Cell Secretary of the AECSU, resent the present funding pattern of the Cell. The Cell has to depend primarily on the students? welfare fund. But the size of this fund is only around Rs 20,000 annually, they said and demanded that the Cell be developed into a full-fledged one. They also stated that some recruiting companies had been complaining that the AEC curriculum was not up-to-date. The syllabi needs frequent updating, they added.
Misra said that those seventh semester students selected by various companies, were now working very hard to help the Cell regularly run its affairs by collecting resources on their own. They are offering their services even to escort the companies expert teams to the college. They also share their experiences in the interviews they faced with their fellow students.
Besides, the students have also started an annual youth festival ? ?Pyrokinesis?, to make the AEC a centre of attention. Its organization needs resource mobilization of approximately Rs 10 lakh, said Misra. Mentionably, ?Pyrokinesis-05? this year is a part of the AEC golden jubilee celebration with a three-day programme from February 18 .