BENGALURU: After the introduction of many ‘musts’ at its affiliated colleges, the Visvesvaraya Technological University Belagavi (VTU) has asked all its affiliated colleges to now hire a counsellor.
This should be implemented from the current academic year itself, and the person hired by the college should spend at least two to three hours at the college every day. According to officials from the university, this is to help students both psychologically and to provide them career guidance.
“We got to know through companies that a lot of students are confused and failing to take a decision about their career. Also, there are students who are suffering and struggling with psychological and emotional issues. To help them sort all these, we have directed colleges to hire counsellors,” said Prof Jagannath Reddy, registrar VTU.
However, some colleges already have counsellors. “Some of the affiliated colleges and autonomous colleges conduct counselling sessions for students once a month and at some colleges there are regular counsellors available on campus during college hours,” added Reddy.
As per the current directions issued from the university, it is compulsory for all colleges to conduct both entry and exit counselling for students. Entry counselling will be during the one-month orientation programme in the beginning of the academic year for freshers and exit counselling for final year students at least four months before the completion of the course.
This move by the university has been welcomed by the engineering colleges. A principal of one of the private engineering colleges said, “We have observed that after joining higher education programmes and staying at hostels, some students become homesick and this affects their academics. There is definitely a need for counsellors at colleges.”
As per the observations of placement officers, several students need help of counsellors while taking decisions about their future.