AK Saini Interview

Ques. Statistics of the previous years’ placements show that our students are unable to get good placement offers. Why do you think this is so?
Ans. No this is not true. The students placement varies from school to school due to the nature of programs offered by them. for example USICT we have almost cent percent placements with top companies picking up in large numbers, USMS , USLLS have also been reasonably good. There are some schools such as USBAS, USHSS where the students are not employed by companies in bulk like for Law, management and IT. They do get placed in different companies at different point of times. Likewise in USBAS, USCT and USBT, majority of the students opt for higher studies. Further not all students actually opt for placements from the campus. The factors that primarily affects placements are:

• Students academic record. Majority of the companies ask for 60% or more from XII onwards. Since we admit students with 50% or more the students in the range below 60% face the problem of not getting shortlisted.
• The time of joining. A large number of good companies want the students to work with them initially as trainee from January onwards. But our academic system doesnot permit the students to join them before June because of which they miss lot of opporunities.
• The backlog of papers for some students is not permitted by the prospective employers.
• Lack of proper focus on liasion with the industry and corporate through fulltime dedicated staff. A faculty member is assigned additional responsibility for the same which dilutes the whole effort.
• Brand building for GGSIPU is required.
• Indadequate focus on technical skills required by the industry for actual placements.
• Lack of seriousness from students on soft skills etc.

Ques. Most of the students from various streams are unemployed even after post graduation. What, according to you, are the factors responsible for this?
Ans. As I said earlier, the students are not able to clear the aptitude test and therefore the hit rate for selection is very low.

Ques. Since various colleges of IPU have a different curriculum as compared to that of USS, do you think that pooling of placement offers is an efficient way of on campus placements?
Ans. Pooling of placement is useful in a affiliating university. The pooling of resources and contacts from various colleges helps to provide a neutral place at Univ. for large number of candidates and the companies alike. This is useful for companies who get a wider choice and this also avoids conflicts in various colleges as well to lure companies to their campuses. The companies which have either large requirements or want students in specific streams contacts us and we bring such companies and the students together.
Centralised placement cell in no way is taking the onus of placement for all. The Schools and colleges are required to continue their efforts for placements of students and CCGPC simply extends and facilitate their placement inititatives.

Ques. What kind of steps, workshops or seminars are you planning to organize in order to train the students and faculty, so as to help them attain proper skills for their future endeavours?
Ans. Yes we plan for such events on School to School basis as the needs of all schools are different. We have requested all USS placement coordinators to organise relevant seminars and workshops for students and CCGPC assists them in the process.
Further we have initiated a proposal for an employability test assessment for students of USICT and USMS as a pilot project to identify the skill gaps and then taking corrective measures.
Likewise an exercise was carried out with CII and wheebox for the same objectives but the response of the students has been very poor.
We have also planned 'train the trainer' kind of model for soft skills training of students School-wise which is in formative stage.

Ques. An issue with the University’s administration is that even if students put in their efforts, they are not able to organize workshops. How are you making this system more transparent?
Ans. As stated previously the responsibility lies with the School placement coordinators for the same. They in turn involve students for various such activities.
In our last meeting we have approved the formation of a forum comprising of two students per school to be nominated by the School placement coordinators and the members of the University Students Council for organisation of such events. Since we do not directly interact with the Schools, it is the primary responsibility of the School Placement Coordinator to ensure involvement of all concerned.
We have also got the approval for holding an HR Summit and is being worked out.

Ques. In spite of having good campus facilities, we seem to be lacking in placements as compared to other institutions. What are the drawbacks in the placement cell?
Ans. Primarily it is the non-availbility of a full-time liasion executive who is expected to be in the field develping contacts and interface with the industry people which is very important.
The School placement coordinators are not being extended full facilities for discharging their functions and are occupied with many tasks.
Slow administrative decision making.

Ques. What strategy has been adopted by you to call various companies and firms for placements?
Ans. We have been writing letters and sending emails to the companies by developing database of companies.
We have to use our tie-ups with the professional bodies for reaching out to them.
We are trying to request all USS to organise alumni meet and involve alumni to mentor the students.
We are working on holding career and job fair. One job fair was organised in Jan 2014 and another is planned shortly.
We have developed a weblink for inviting companies to the campus for placement and other industry related activities.
But the response is very low as simply sending a letter does not serve the purpose. There has to be a personal followups with them.

Ques. What would your message be to the students of USS?
Ans.

• Work on their basics and subject knowledge
• Acquire and sharpen soft skills
• Work on the punctuality in all placement related activities
• Assess your worth first. Dont expect fat offers without performing in the selection process.
• Get involved in the placement process pro-actively as it is a collaborative effort.
• links with your alumni.