Kolkata: IIT Kharagpur introduced a new position, that of dean of career development, to focus on holistic career development beyond internships and placements. The aim is to mentor students in personality development and life and leadership skills so that they can excel in alternative career paths, build startups and pursue higher studies.Mechanical engineering professor Sanjay Gupta, who was the Career Development Centre (CDC) chairperson, was appointed as the new dean. after IIT Dhanbad, IIT Kharagpur becomes the second IIT to appoint a dean of career development. “Career development doesn’t merely mean getting a job or an internship. There is a more holistic aspect to it that goes beyond placements and internships and we want to provide this through our CDC,” said IIT-Kgp director Suman Chakraborty. “The decision was taken to align with IIT Kharagpur’s Platinum Jubilee motto: From job-seekers to opportunity creators. Under CDC, students will be mentored for someone opting for a deferred placement for a startup company or wanting to pursue another career path, like social entrepreneurship, or wanting to go for higher studies. Personality development, motivational talks, leadership development programmes will be held for students’ holistic development.”He added, “As we have professional-oriented departments, such as medical, law and education, we need to step outside the traditional IIT mindset that mostly focuses on BTech and MTech students. We must equally consider the career development of students in other professional courses, who are also IIT students. Traditional companies might not consider them, so we need to explore opportunity paths for them.”After taking on his new post, Gupta said the aim was to empower IIT Kharagpur students to learn, grow and lead. “The restructuring in CDC, headed by the dean, four associate deans, support staff, faculty and student representatives, hopes to strengthen industry-academia partnerships and prepare our students for an impactful future. CDC is introducing training programmes to improve students’ communication and presentation skills, and eventually enhance their performance in the recruitment process. Departmental Training and Placement Committees (DTPC) have been created in academic units to help improve placement opportunities for students in specialised fields and for PG courses.”
