HYDERABAD: Working in groups has been largely proven to be the best way of learning. Exchanging ideas can be helpful in more ways than one; giving you an exposure to think beyond what you already know of, ways to approach an idea differently, where you can look for information, understand the psyche of people, develop your soft skills and also learn to be more considerate and compassionate while sharing what you know with others.
And working in groups begins at the college level, though it would be ideal at a much younger age. Groups and clubs at college level play a vital role in a student’s life, enabling good spirit of working together and also in building individual leadership qualities.
With good support from the administration, clubs at the college level work for the benefit of students. We present a few clubs in colleges from the city.
With around 30 clubs running in the ICFAI Business School (IBS) for the welfare of students, there is much more than just classroom lessons that they go through.
SpeakUp, with the tag ‘official soft skill club’, works to improve students’ soft skills. Started in the year 2009, it organises at least one event every month. Currently they are 15 members in the club.
Ranging from guest lectures, group discussions to mock personal interviews, every student in the club is required to participate. Apart from that, they also train students to give simple class presentations, while eventually readying them for the recruitment. They have specific solutions for students’s problems. The vice president of the club Mohitsarda says, “The sole aim of the club is to bring change in the overall personality of a student and help them excel in life.”
If this sounds like the regular club that exists in most of the colleges, there is another club that looks for students’ prosperity, literally. The ‘Official Finance Club IBS Hyderabad’, named as the ‘money matter club’, has been designed to impart knowledge in the area of managing finances.
Consisting of 23 members, it conducts events and workshops that are delivered or coordinated by senior executives and financial advisors from renowned organisations. One of the executive members of the club says, “These events help students to understand the financial concepts in them and can acquire skills and knowledge related to finance,” and goes onto add, “Our faculty members like Prof Vijaya Lakshmi and Amlan Ghosh make the back bone of the club, as they are very cooperative and help in conducting such events and lectures.”
The students, in the process, are kept up to date with facts and happenings in the field of finance. For instance, Money Matters brings about an awareness of the financial logistics that affect the economy.
Another student club at another campus in IBS is the Macon club, which is part of the Entrepreneurial cell of IBS. Founded in 2008, the club was formed when Anup Aggarwal, a student and aspiring entrepreneur felt that there was a need for guidance and support in order to achieve his entrepreneurial dreams.
Today, it conducts a myriad of activities throughout the year, for the benefit of students within IBS Hyderabad as well as those in other colleges throughout India.
Apart from conducting workshops, Macon publishes a monthly E-magazine called L’Entrepreneur.
While these clubs in IBS help students in grooming themselves for their work place, a club in Osmania University looks to benefit students coming from economically poor backgrounds.
Kanaka Raj Yadav, member of the Telangana student Force organisation says, “The clubs mainly focus on rural students who come from economically poor backgrounds and help them exempt their tuition fees or get them some concession at various institutions which are mostly located in the campus and give coaching for various government posts at state and central levels. Many students make use of these coaching facilities inside campus to shape their future.” Helping in affecting change in students’ lives, they prepare them to be competent as well as contribute better to society.