"Add a 'sense of purpose' to any Event that you design and make sure it maps with the core values of our Institution"

Study Abroad Seminar | A Report

The Study Abroad Seminar organized by the Deanery of Student Affairs in association with MCC Placement Cell today in the Martin Hall Auditorium, MCC, proved a very enriching and rewarding experience to all participants.

Speaking on the occasion, our Principal Dr. P. Wilson observed that,

Students who wish to go abroad, have been making their own, personal efforts to go abroad, which gave them a lot of difficulty, as they were confused about choosing the right course of study, the right university and the right scholarships. This subsequently led to a considerable loss of time, money and effort on the part of the students.

To ameliorate this situation, the College decided to step in, and arrange special orientations for students who wish to go abroad.

We had 225 students registering for this event from both Aided & SFS. 85% among the registered participants, have expressed their desire to do their Postgraduate programme abroad, while the remaining 15% wanted to pursue their research programmes abroad, he observed.

Added Excerpts from our Principal’s talk -

The Placement and Higher Education Ecosystem should be created by the students themselves, where it is owned by the student. This ensures sustainability of the events, by passing on the legacy to subsequent batches of students.

If you try to take this ownership and promote this ecosystem among students, we will give you full support from our side. This is part of student autonomy.

I’ve been periodically meeting with students in clusters, to curate their grievances. If a strategic consultancy is created in our College, in the near future, it can focus on addressing the needs of students who opt for entrepreneurship, placements and higher education.

One of the core values of our College – Academic Excellence – will become a meaningful and rewarding endeavour, by curating information from students themselves.

We have been taking up lots of events without any purposefulness to them – events that do not map with any of the core values of the college. In many Tier I institutions, the whole culture of the institution is tuned to be in sync with academic excellence.

In 90 working days in any given semester, we have a host of events like Department events, Hall events, College events, Sports events, etc, and so students are distracted on all sides and find it difficult to negotiate this pressure, and thereby do not have the time to cultivate academic rigour and excellence.

So when designing an event, it should not only be fun-based, but make sure you add a rider to it – some meaningful purpose to it – like cultivating leadership – for which your event would act as a prototype.

You should always remember that, we’ve been given these core values by our forefathers that we’ve to comply with. Only then can we sustain the heritage and the legacy in tune with the founding principles and core values of our great Institution,

said our Principal.

The Resource Person Mr. Anand Manohar who spoke next, had a very interactive session with the students.

He started his first session by highlighting on the array of information needed for students who wish to pursue their higher studies abroad.

Stating that, while our students found it a prestige to work part-time, when they study in Universities abroad, in India, they were embarrassed to work part-time, he therefore urged and encouraged students to take up some part-time work at least on one single day during the weekends, to gain part-time work exposure, which would be an added reference for higher studies abroad.

Stressing on the importance of setting a clear goal for their lives, he said that, when it comes to planning for studies abroad, it is best to start preparing for your admission requirements at least 12 months prior to the start date (usually September).

He also detailed on the tuition fees in Western countries, that may be in the range of Rs.14 lakhs to Rs.18 lakhs per year approx.

While in European countries, it could be anywhere between Rs.10 lakhs and 15 lakhs per year, approx.

In Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, South Korea etc, the tuition fee was in the range of Rs.2.5 lakhs to Rs.6 lakhs per annum, approx., while in Germany, it was literally free tuition in many public universities.

Students are given the freedom to work part-time 20 hours per week in most of these countries, he added.

He also outlined on the scholarships, and the documents required for overseas education.

Dr. Annet Pearl, the Dean of Student Affairs, welcomed the gathering, and Prof. Tony Thomas, Associate Dean of Student Affairs [SFS], gave the College Prayer, while Dr. Rufus Associate Dean of Student Affairs [Aided], introduced the Chief Guest. Dr. Alexander Raymand, Placement Cell-In-charge, delivered the vote of thanks.

Acknowledgements: A heartful of thanks to Prof. Udhayaraj, Dept of English (Aided), and to Dr. Chinnamuthu, Dept of Commerce (Aided), for their noble suggestions, support and guidance in designing this event. 

Thanks are due to Dr. Alexander Raymand for the excellent hospitality rendered, and to Ms. Madhivathini, for her meticulous help with the Registrations.

We immensely thank Dr. Ananthi Rachel, Warden, Martin Hall, for gladly consenting to provide us with all the facilities in their lovely Auditorium.