Choosing the Perfect College

It’s almost time to make your big college decision! But after you’ve spent so much time visiting and researching colleges, what are you really looking for in a future college? Is it enough that your dream college offers your intended major, or should there be more to your decision?

The students’ strongest motives for entering higher education are instrumental. They are largely associated with their desire to improve their employability skills and to fulfil their career or entrepreneurial aspirations. Many others further want to continue learning and go for Choosing a college is a big decision. There are many aspects of the college to consider and how they relate to your personal preferences. And, it’s easy to get caught up in certain aspects of a college — like the really fancy dorms or the fact that your best friend goes there – and loses sight of the big picture (Is this the right place for you to learn skills for your career?). Believe it or not, there are many other factors that you should consider when choosing a college!

  • Placements

Knowing the cold, hard facts about how many graduates in a particular field find a job, and how quickly, will help you evaluate a potential college. Many colleges publish data about the percentage of students receiving a job offer within six months of graduation. Some colleges will offer more assistance to graduates seeking employment than others. Finding out the job placement rate will help you make sure that your tuition fees will be well spent and can influence your decision regarding the institution you choose to attend, as well as your area of study.

The placement record of Noida Institute of Engineering & Technology, Greater Noida, has been outstanding. It has been acknowledged many times in the past for providing Best Placement in the region consecutively for four years. Some of the companies visiting for campus are TCS, Accenture, Microsoft, ICICI Bank, HCL, Aditya Birla Group, Headstrong, IBM, Union Bank of India, Sahara Computers (South Africa), Blackberry, Indian Army, Evolution Consulting Ltd. (Canada), Tech Mahindra, HDFC Bank, etc. offering a highest package of INR 30 lpa for 2014 batch.

  • Finishing School

College can open your eyes to careers you never knew existed, and the finishing school can be instrumental in preparing you for your professional life after graduation. This includes interview preparation, counselling, resume reviews, job placement support, and much more. A graduate needs not only excel in academics, but need a 360 degree improvement, in the areas like soft skills, life skills, technical skills and etiquettes. The Institute should also be exposing the students to time management, team-work and project management.

In order to address this, NIET boasts of a ‘Pyramid Finishing School’ to increase employability skills amongst fresh graduates, imparting world-class business skills for sustained performance and career success and to meet the ever-growing industry demand for suitable talent at the entry level. The students from all walks of life have gained tremendous confidence and have polished their personalities to be readily employable. This has resulted in NIET achieving the award for Visionary Minds – 2015 & 2016 and Most Employable students – 2014 & 2015 in the region.

  • Industry Tie-ups

There is a huge gap existing between industry and academia. To ensure that students passing out of the college are ready professionals, it is very important to bridge this gap through industry tie-ups. Colleges having these tie-ups help the students in being regular touch with the companies, have their manager visit the campus frequently, interact with the students and impart their own curriculum if needed, while students are undergoing training.

NIET has made tie-ups with MNCs like Microsoft, Cisco, Apple, Amazon, PTC, KPMG, ICICI Direct, etc. These tie-ups not only promises to enhance student employability by manifold, but also takes the lead in encouraging ‘innovative’ learning like never before.

  • Entrepreneurship Development Cell

It takes more than just early stage risk-capital to get a company off the ground. Entrepreneurship has an unmatched ability to bring about disruptive change in society and engage with ventures across technology. The Entrepreneurship Cell should help budding entrepreneurs turn ideas into viable businesses.

NIET has set up a Technology Business Incubator which is approved by DC-MSME, Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India to provide financial assistance to innovators and entrepreneurs for bringing innovations and ideas to life which will create economic opportunity and jobs for the country. In partnership with the mentors, corporates, development agencies, community and investors, the Institute cultivates a rare breed of entrepreneurs by incubating, accelerating, mentoring and funding innovative start-ups. It ensures a conducive ecosystem critical to promoting entrepreneurship.

  • Support for Higher Education

Access to higher education has become increasingly essential to obtain economic independence and success in today’s world. Students opting for further studies need outreach, professional development, advocacy, and networking opportunities for the right career path.

NIET conceptualizes academic support to include academic advising; student academic transitions; academic preparedness; and developmental education among other forms of support. The Institute also trains students for the GATE / GRE/ GMAT, etc. We have devised the most effective modules which have been responsible for the outstanding results that our students have produced on these tests. NIET also has in-house Test centres like Prometric & Pearson which further enables students to give these exams within campus and at discounted prices.

While deciding where to apply is often a stressful experience, knowing what things to consider when choosing a college can give you the confidence to apply wisely and end up at the institute that best meets your needs.

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Importance of Employability Skills

To be employed is to be at risk, to be employable is to be secure

The Art of Building Windmills, Peter Hawkins (1999)

The biggest challenge in India’s growth and future is the shortage of the skilled employees across the industries. According to NASSCOM, each year over 3 million graduates and post-graduates are added to the Indian workforce. However, of these only 25 percent of technical graduates and 10-15 percent of other graduates are considered employable by the rapidly growing IT and ITES segments. The need of industry is knowledge and skills acquired with an eligibility to include skill-ready employees from day one. So, what we have today is a growing skills gap reflecting very small availability of high-quality college education in India and the multi-fold growth pace of the country’s service-driven economy, which is growing faster than most countries in the world. Thus, there is a need felt for the integration of job learning, and thus creating  a need for customized programs for the industry.

Since businesses are planning to increase their workforce two-to-three times, India is facing challenges in maintaining its position in the global marketplace. To maintain the sustenance, it has become important to have an innovative, competent and talented workforce of world-class standards.

One cannot ignore that to sustain the economic development and social presence in the knowledge society, knowledge, skills, and resourcefulness of the people is very critical. Given the current high-paced growth and dynamic investment climate in India, the demand for knowledge workers with high levels of technical and soft skills will only increase.

The spectra of a severe shortage of trained, skilled and knowledge workers is haunting India Inc. While demographics weigh in the country’s favor, quality of workforce does not. A look at the Indian education system will reveal that the number of technical schools in India, including engineering colleges, has actually more than trebled in the last decade, according to the All India Council of Technical Education. Ironically, creating a robust and continuous pipeline of talent has become even harder. The best and most selective universities generate too few graduates, and new private colleges are producing graduates of uneven quality. In this scenario, will industry-academia partnerships bridge the demand-supply gap?

Further, universities and educational institutions have been unable to update their syllabi in tune with the high speed changes taking place in the technological world. Hence, the students churned out are not equipped to meet the current industry requirements and often companies have to incur additional expenses (time and monetary) to train new hires. Corporate houses also feel the need for a stronger element of vocational training. Besides the technology aspect industries also evaluate competencies ranging soft skills, team building, overall attitude, and values. Success of countries like Japan and Germany can be attributed to the presence of a strong vocational training set-up.

Simply put, getting a degree, and putting a few letters after your name is just not enough to land you that plum job, or to launch your career.  What you need is a portfolio of employability skills.  Employers like to recruit graduates who have gone the ‘extra mile’, ‘joined in’, can work both individually and in a team, shown a capacity for leadership, and demonstrated a willingness to take risks by spending time travelling, and experiencing new situations and culturesThe success of individuals in a knowledge-based economy will increasingly depend upon skills, creativity and imagination.  While basic literacy, numeracy, technical skills craft skills remain vital, today’s economy and society increasingly demands people with an ability to cope with change and adapt quickly to new environments.

Academic curriculum does not necessarily prepare individuals adequately for these workplace requirements. The ever increasing demand for skilled professionals and domain specialization has led to innovation within the academic space. The good news is that, while many soft skills are inherent, others can be learned. You can train yourself just as you can in hard skills.

There are also courses on communication skills that can not only teach you some soft skills but help you demonstrate to employers, self-awareness and initiative simply by the fact you have signed up. If you are shy, for example, get involved in debating societies and other clubs at school and university. Soft skills are what make your personal brand but you need to think about them. Instead of thinking, for example, ‘I have only worked at McDonald’s’, think ‘What did working at McDonald’s teach me?’ For employers, getting the right people means identifying people with the right skills and qualities to fulfil the role and contribute to the organization’s success. Candidates may have the qualifications and ‘hard skills’ needed to be able to manage the job role but, without a well-honed set of ‘soft skills’, employers are less inclined to hire.