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We talk about career counselling, and its importance every single day. As it should be. But who makes career counselling happen? The Career Counsellor. And, their job is anything but EASY.

Counselling in itself has been considered among the toughest jobs in the world. Now imagine, counselling young students!

Keeping aside personal opinions, biases, emotions, and everything else to help children find their calling – That’s what the daily life of a career counsellor is.

But today, being in the field of career guidance, we understood how a career counsellor’s job revolves around – Listening. So, we decided to shift roles.

This time, our counsellor spoke, and we listened.

Here’s an interview with Ms. Muskaan Bhatia, one of the top career counsellors at Univariety.

During the time as a counsellor, what is the most common issue faced by students or parents for career choices?

Ms. Muskaan Bhatia – One of the most common issues that I as a career counsellor have noticed is the lack of knowledge and awareness amongst parents or students.

It is important for students to understand their personalities and what career they could excel at. By taking a personality test as early as the 8th standard, they can have a better understanding of their likes, dislikes, strengths and aspirations.

When it comes to parents, most of them do not know what their child’s aptitude is. More importantly, their lack of knowledge makes them take the easy way out. By nudging their child to take up what their relative has chosen as a career or even maybe a friend. Due to this, most children end up choosing subjects, or a career that they cannot connect to after some point in time.

What percentage of students have their careers already decided by their parents?

Ms. Muskaan Bhatia – Students that go to the schools where careers are discussed and talked about, usually make their own decisions. In those cases, parents offer their opinion but there is no ‘force’ or any kind of pressure.

However, roughly 40% of parents push their children to take up a career or subjects according to their preferences. Many times, they also stop their children from going to another city or country even if they have better opportunities or scope for a career of their choice.

I feel that the most important aspect of career guidance is finding a middle ground between parents and students. However important it is to educate a child to help them recognise their career aspirations, it’s equally important to educate parents as well. There was no counselling for them, and it is not their fault. But it’s never too late to start.

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In the past 2 years, we saw constant changes in the various aspects of our life. There was a change in work culture, and an even bigger change in the education, especially in college admissions.

The college admission process was strongly defined and specific before. The changes that have taken place over the past few years have made it more holistic. Colleges are now more interested in the overall development of the student, than just focusing on their academics. More colleges and universities, both abroad and in India,  are looking for values beyond what’s displayed on students’ marksheets.

Shifting focus from academics to giving more attention to the profile of students has become the ‘new normal’ in the college admission process. Student profiles includes:

Extracurricular activities

Skills apart from academics

Essays and SOPs

Ambition and aspiration

By gradually shifting the approach to college admissions, students are now more involved in their holistic development alongside academics. But a few crucial factors remain.

Let’s take a look at the 5 factors that determine a child’s college admission:

Academics

The one thing that has not changed in the factors that determine a child’s college admission is academics. However, the level of importance given to academics has certainly reduced. Colleges and universities have understood that academics do not showcase every aspect of a child’s development.

If before, college admissions were 80% academics, and 20% the rest of the factors, now the ratio is more like 40% academics, and 60% other factors. The pandemic and its effect have made it difficult for students to perform well academically.

With this, college admissions have gradually shifted away from academics, giving it its due importance, but not making it the only criteria.

We have seen many students ask us, “Can I get admission to a college abroad with average marks?”, “What about scholarships?”, and more. To have these questions answered, you can always explore career guidance with our expert counsellors and get clarity on these topics.

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There are more than 1.5 million schools in India – making it the second-largest schooling system in the world. While this number is a positive reflection on the evolving education system in the country, for your school, it means more competition. Our engagement with parents shows that a prospective parent considers 5-6 schools while seeking admission for their child. To attract these prospective parents and drive your school admission, you need to meet their expectations.

So what’s on the minds of parents when it comes to school admission for their child? There has been a huge shift in parental focus. They are increasingly looking for holistic growth,  a wide range of skill sets and working on the emotional intelligence of their children. These are much beyond the traditional wants of high academic scores and assured obedience.

Top Questions Parents Have During School Admission

How future-ready is the school? What is the vision the school has to make students ready for the changes and challenges of tomorrow?

With many new fields and job avenues opening up; and many new functions emerging from the ‘gig’ economy, children need to be ready for non-traditional opportunities. Preparing and educating for traditional, steady and straight career paths are a thing of the past.

While the entire school admission ecosystem worked based on student’s board percentages for years, now parents aren’t just looking for immediate successes while choosing a school. They care about how the school is helping in the development of their child’s future career decisions.

What are the skill levels of the teachers? Are they equipped to impart beyond the traditional demands of education?

Teaching is no longer the ‘keep yourself busy’ profession. Teachers need to be up to date with the latest happenings and contemporary developments to make knowledge relevant. Many people with a passion for teaching are also taking a plunge into this profession – which was uncommon until a few years ago. This brings fresh perspectives and real-life experiential learnings for students.

Does learning happen outside the classrooms and textbooks? What values are emphasised in the school?

This is perhaps the biggest change that is being harped about. Textbooks and reference materials have their rightful place. But the end result of 12-year schooling is not just a coveted entrance exam anymore. It is the confidence of students, their ability to adapt to changes, thinking unconventionally, embracing the future work culture, accepting others despite their differences and much more that has become much more important.

Let’s not forget that a student’s college admission chance itself depends on these values!

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Does Character Education Add Value to Your Child’s Academic Growth?

Nothing is of more importance for the public weal, than to form and train up youth in wisdom and virtue.

— Benjamin Franklin

Character can be defined as the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. Before anything else, what does education constitute in layman terms? You must have guessed world-class academic coaching with some extra-curricular activities that could assist the former. It’s a bummer that we take character education which is ideally meant to be on top of our priority list for granted.

Even now, if you’re questioning the importance of character education, we can delve right into details of

Why is character education important?

Research shows that the students who have been exposed to character education across schools have turned out to be visibly honest and positive. We might think teachers at school must be teaching them, children will learn it at home, or it would just come to them as they face life.

Character education when introduced formally as a course in school, can significantly change your child’s life in terms of quality, which on a large scale, ultimately builds the society. Let’s all be held accountable for what goes wrong and try to get this “Character/Value Education” into action.

Quite a character..

Character is not something you’re born with. It is developed gradually over time based on the environmental influences. The major influencers are family, school, community, friends circle, etc. The art and culture of the place also have a major influence on your character. The media is a major force in the current development of children’s value formation. Television, social media networks, etc. mold them to be what they are.

Children=Future

This is a fact that goes without saying. It is extremely important to develop a base of character education for the children in the appropriate ages. They have a tendency to watch and learn. They try to pick up the behavior of their parents or teachers or any figure they respect and admire. It’s a great yet dangerous phenomenon that needs to be given attention collectively.

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Does Character Education Add Value to Your Child’s Academic Growth?

In June 2021, the Central Board of Secondary Education announced a new marking scheme for the students of Class XII.

40%Pre-Board marks

30%Class XI final exams

30%Class X Board exams

This new marking scheme proposed by the CBSE and submitted to the Supreme Court could be either a bane or a boon for the students of 12th grade.

There will be other options that can be considered by the students that can help them take the ‘usual’ route for their college admissions.

But before we talk about the other options, let’s dig deeper and understand how the marking scheme will be implemented by the 21,000 CBSE schools in India.

The Computation Game

How will these percentages be computed?

What does it mean for college admissions?

To answer the first question, the percentage will be based on the student’s performance in each subject in either the unit tests, mid-term or pre-board theory exams.

A ‘Results Committee’ will be set up in each school consisting of the principal, senior teachers, and two other teachers of Class XII in a neighbouring school. The decision of which test will be considered will be left to the discretion of the ‘Result Committee’.

When it comes to the marks from Class XI, it will be computed based on the marks received in the final theory exams that students had written in 2019-2020.

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Top 5 Career Trends To Look Out For This Christmas In India

We live in an ERA of TRENDS

Trends on Instagram, on Facebook, on Youtube, and even in career options.

These trends are also festival-based now. Trends for Diwali, Dusshera, Ramzan, and now even Christmas!

Trending career options change almost every 2 years due to various factors such as:

Technology

Relevance

Employment Growth

Demography

Let’s NOT FORGET the most important factor that has changed the trend of career options – COVID-19.

Now, with COVID-19 along with the other factors, the trend in career options in India has shifted drastically.

6 years ago, we found some interesting facts to boggle your mind!

Gen Z hired were being hired for internships (they are the ones doing the hiring now)

Students had just started shifting from traditional careers

Women had started making their mark in the industry

Scope of social media was MINIMAL

There was NO Green Tea at workplaces (the AUDACITY)

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Your Alumni is your greatest asset. And likely, this is unrecognized, under-utilized or both. Alumni engagement in most Indian schools is a concept that is relegated to a once in a year reunion, which is a few speeches, dinner and dance. Still, wonder why most communication to Alumni doesn’t get an enthusiastic response? The good news is, you’re not alone. 99% of Alumni is High Schools do not add value in any capacity.

Then, there are the progressive Schools who have been steadily cultivating their Alumni networks for decades now. But they are few and far in between.

Here are the 5 things that the world’s smartest schools do differently to engage successfully with their Alumni:

A 2-WAY STREET

Your Alumni are busy individuals with a lot going for them. So, make it worth their while to invest their time and energy in their Alma Mater. Banking on their sentiment of ‘giving back’ or emotional mollycoddling does not cut it beyond a point. Schools can encourage and reward Alumni participation by providing Professional Letters of Recommendation, Internship/Volunteer/Job Opportunities in the school, featuring the most involved Alumni on the school website and maybe even Continued Academic Support Programs to recently graduated Alumni among several other tangible benefits.

Friend-raiser not Fund-raiser

The great thing about young alumni is that what they lack in immediate monetary value, they more than make up for in adding serious muscle to your Guidance System. If cultivated and engaged well, Alumni are the single most effective reinforcements in guiding your students to stellar Academic achievements and college placements. By sharing tips, tricks and their own experiences, they can significantly pivot student success.

Univariety offers a comprehensive Alumni Management and Guidance System to Schools. A key aspect of the Guidance experience offered by Univariety is Alumni sharing tips, insights, and experiences with their juniors through videos.

Tanya Datta, actively involved with Alumni Guidance at DPS Mathura Road, shares in the video below how she gained admission into The Lady Shri Ram College, DU, through the Extra-Curricular Activities Route.

TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY

Rahul is at Northwestern while Ananya is at Yale NUS. Meanwhile, Yash is at O P Jindal Global University and Kriti is at Manipal. Most will miss the Annual Reunion, and many will not have the time to read through your emails let alone respond to them.

Your Alumni is a moving target. They need to be engaged through technology on platforms they use and understand. So, their physical location and time zone is hardly a deterrent in being actively involved in alumni activities.

TODAY’S COHORT = TOMORROW’S ALUMNI

Your current cohorts are tomorrow’s Alumni. Ensuring a warm and smooth experience in school is paramount for them to positively associate with their Alma Mater. Early seeding and first-hand experience of Alumni interactions and guidance will nurture current cohorts into highly contributive future Alumni.

ONE SIZE DOESN’T FIT ALL

Your Alumni Engagement Activities need not be many, but they need to be diverse. Introducing chapters to bring together students within the same geographies as well as areas of study is a great starting point towards customization. Recognize that motivations to engage are more than one. So, roll out 2-3 benefits for active alumni including the ones mentioned in the first point of this post.

What do you do differently in your school to engage with Alumni? We would love to highlight your story!

Click here to speak to us about how you can make your Alumni engage with you.

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Maximizing The Value of Alumni Impact

A school without its alumni is incomplete! They are the brand ambassadors for an institution and a testimony of what the school does for its students. Their relationship with their alma mater should not be limited only to their memories and sweet moments at school. There is so much more they have to contribute even after they have progressed beyond their school years. 

So, do alumni feature in your school’s marketing strategy?

Most schools are familiar with the importance of alumni and do stay in touch with many senior students. While a few schools have a wide alumni network, many are still trying to collect and keep up with the contact details of their senior students. 

Any school, no matter what the size of its alumni or batches, can implement a well-structured and integrated alumni system that truly makes an impact! Let’s show you why and how it can be done for the best results.

Why Does Alumni Impact Matter?

The best schools in India and the world have a robust alumni network to their credit. This is also the reason why they stand out from the rest and continue to be popular for admissions, year after year. 

Active engagement with your alumni allows you to capitalize on the influence they have. A great alumni impact solution can help you achieve this and create huge value because:

Click here to speak to us about how you can make your Alumni engage with you.

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Looking Beyond The Obvious: Alumni as Game-Changers

As part of our initiative to reach out to our community with valuable insights about the industry, Chief Operating Officer, Nitin Barman held an exclusive webinar for School Leaders on the importance of alumni engagement. So on a warm Saturday morning, a good gathering of educators listened to the Univariety COO talk about why alumni can be a game-changer in realizing their schools’ vision, especially during the lockdown.

Highlighting the financial contribution they bring in, Nitin also touched upon other areas that alumni could be useful for – from sharing their time with their alma-mater to being brand ambassadors of their schools. Taking the example of international schools in the USA, he revealed how they are truly leveraging from their alumni network of thousands. Not only do they solicit donations, but they also draw internships and mentorship programs.

Want To Know How You Can Tap Into Your Alumni Network?

Going Beyond- Mayo College, Ajmer and Ryan Group Of Schools

Drawing parallels with Indian schools, he spoke specifically about Mayo College, Ajmer, and the Ryan Group of Schools. By utilizing Univariety’s Alumni Management System, both these schools have been able to organize several events (meet-and-greets, sports), establish an alumni-student communication channel, felicitate their successful alumni and do so much more.

Click here to speak to us about how you can make your Alumni engage with you.