Education fair showcases non-conventional courses

COIMBATORE: Nearly 100 colleges from various parts of the city and outside showcased their courses at the education and career fair that began here on Wednesday. Students scoured the stalls, leafing through pamphlets and discussing the options available at various colleges and abroad.
Organised by Dinamalar in association with Air Tel, the three-day fair also had speeches by the Vice-Chancellor of Bharathiar University, S. Sivasubramaniam, and the Vice-Chancellor of Madras University, S.P Thiagarajan.
More than run of the mill courses such as engineering and management studies, most of the colleges aimed at enlightening students about the unconventional yet rewarding options such as costume and fashion designing. Students who had completed Plus Two and those who completed their graduation had plenty of options to choose from.
The stall put up by Sri Krishna Arts and Science College displayed a few costumes designed by the students.
The college, which offers a B.Sc in costume and fashion designing, gives a hands-on training in the entire process that starts from the conversion of fibre to fabric, says U.Ratna, Head of the Department of Costume Design and Fashion.
Attractive fee concessions and the facility of paying the fees in instalments are some of the other attractions of the fair. VLB Janakiammal College of Arts and Science announced that it would give concessions to students who have secured more than 80 per cent marks in the qualifying examination.
Hindusthan Educational Institutions also offers scholarships for meritorious students. Pearls Institute of Fashion and Garmenting offers a three-month part-time course in garment merchandising and one-year full-time post-graduate diploma courses in visual merchandising and garment merchandising.
The course also offers placement opportunities to students.
"The growth in the garment industry in Coimbatore has been on a steady rise but, it is not met with enough manpower," said V.Sekhar, CEO of Pearl Group. They also plan to set up an institution at Annur for the benefit of rural students.
Angappa College of Arts and Science offered scholarships and free bus for the first 200 students who sought admission to the college. Sri Jayendra Saraswathy Maha Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science, Dr. N.G.P Arts and Science College, Avinashilingam University, PSGR Krishnammal College for Women, Karpagam Educational Institutions, Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science and SNMV College of Arts and Science were a few of the college from Coimbatore that put up stalls at the fair.
A few colleges from Erode, Namakkal, Madurai and Pollachi also participated.