Vellore Institute of Technology has been one of the leading colleges in the country for many years now. It has a record for 100% placements and is known to mould students in such a way that they establish themselves not just as academically sound students but also smart individual, ready to face the corporate sector, head on.
The VIT Vellore has always given importance to individual development of students and has a separate counselling ward for students. Recently, the University held a National Conference on ‘Psychological Skill Development Among Students of Higher Education’.
The University believes in couseling students in such a way that they do not feel demotivated and can cope up with the academiccuriculum strategically. The Conference was held in collaboration with SarvaShikshaAbhigyan.
Many notable people like SK Devamany, Deputy Minister in Malaysian government, Pooja Kulkarni, State Project Director, SarvaShikshaAbhiyan, Tamil Nadu, and Kiran Devendra, Professor and Head (Retired), NCERT, along with officials from Indian School Psychology Association were present at the conference.
The admissions for the university programs have been relaxed with regards to the same and students are facilitated with proper counselling sessions which not only helps students select the right course but also gauges their psychometrics ability through proper tests and suggestions are made on the admission of the students regarding the same to enable the students chooses the right course path and impart an idea regarding their respective career road maps.
All students were invited for the conference and the main aim of the conference was to make students understand that they must not be afraid to seek help should they need it. A source said “ Students are often under the impression that depression or the need to speak to a councillor would imply that he/she is mentally unstable but that is not the case”
The faculty members and the management of the University have been extremely supportive of student’s sentiment and they have tried to establish a student friendly environment within the campus. Students are expected to mingle with each-other irrespective of economic backgrounds.
Pooja Kulkarni says that students in fact must be given counselling from the time they study at school and they must never loose heart in any matter, be it academics or social/economic problems. Seeking help for impediments is something that the University believes in. The rate of suicides in Engineering colleges is paramount.
Most of these students take drastic steps because they haven’t been getting the right counselling. Students must learn to like their subject and enjoy the syllabi. Through this conference, the University hoped to develop and grow the morale and self- confidence of students. A faculty member said “ Self-belief is the key to success and that’s what we want our students to grow.”
