Wednesday, 11 May | PNS | Dehradun
At a time when the Covid pandemic has made educational institutions adapt and enhance their functioning to the situation, the Graphic Era Deemed University is doing its bit in the interests of the students. The university’s PR and marketing head, Sahib Sablok spoke in detail about the university’s achievements and other aspects.
He recalled that the university started small as the Graphic Institute of Technology from a room of the founder president Kamal Ghanshala. It shifted to its present campus, progressed, secured university status in 2008 and is now graded among the top 100 universities in India with about 24,000 students, four campuses and over 90 courses.
Regarding the impact of Covid-19 he said, “Most universities have now become more technically sound. On the positive side the students have become more tech savvy and open to online education too. We have a proper set-up to facilitate all the classes, doubt clearing sessions, submission of reports and examinations can all happen online. The biggest challenge for us was our students from different parts of India and abroad being unable to go back home during the pandemic. But the management was sensitive and all the students were taken care of and sent back home by flight at that time.”
Regarding the mental health of students he said that most of them have personality development classes. The university also has a psychologist available and various activities to motivate the students. “We also lost some of our employees, alumni and faculty members due to Covid-19 but we are in touch with their families and they have also been provided with financial support from the university,” he said.
Sablok said that Graphic Era is known for its placement services. He said, “One of our students, Amisha Aggarwal got placed with Adobe with the package of Rs 48.50 lakh last year, Maittri Rawat got a Google placement of Rs 58.50 lakh and 25 of our students are still doing internships in Amazon. We are working with multinational giants and have the ability to get our students these opportunities. And another thing, no college or university has a 100 per cent placement surety- anyone guaranteeing it is lying- because some students drop out, some students prefer freelancing, some prefer entrepreneurship and some just are here for a degree to do some other work in the future, which is totally fine. But we promise to provide the students who are looking for placements opportunities the best options possible and guide them through with it.”
For students about to enter the university, he said, “We are a university where people are closely knit. It’s more like a family, but then you have to be a part of the family as well and there are some duties and responsibilities which will be given to you and if you have an open mind and you participate in things with an open mind I think the sky is the limit. For those graduating this year, I will say that this is just the beginning for them. They shouldn’t be afraid of failures. Even if you fail, stand up and try again, and keep trying till you find that which makes you happy and helps you become financially independent.”
