KOCHI: With colleges in the state witnessing a downward trend in new admissions, the institutions are adopting the new gen route of reels and videos to attract students.
A short video of a woman placed with KPMG, a multinational professional service, thanking her alma mater at Rajagiri College of Social Sciences in Ernakulam and another one in which an MSC student is seen singing to the strums of the guitar to show how the college is also helping students embrace their extra-curricular skills have been posted on the FB pages of Rajagiri College.
Similar videos of other educational institutions are also doing the rounds on social media. Even as the colleges are struggling to fill the seats in traditional courses due to the migration of students to foreign countries, the confusion among parents and students regarding the new format of a four-year degree course has added to their woes.
Regarding the decision to shoot shorts and reels, Ernakulam St Teresa’s College vice-principal Dr Kala M S said, “They are being used to attract students. Every department in the college has been asked to prepare shorts or reels besides giving out brochures to acquaint prospective students with the courses and the excellent facilities being provided by our college. We had adopted this mode of advertising two years ago.”
She said another reason for going the digital way is to clear the general confusion about the four-year UG courses. “We wanted to show how the four-year UG courses that we are providing are more skill-oriented. We want to tell the public that the courses they are searching for in colleges or universities outside the state or on foreign soil are available here also,” Dr Kala said.
Agreeing with Dr Kala, an assistant professor of Sacred Heart College in Thevara said, “There was a time when just the name of the college was enough to attract students. It was all the advertisement needed. Can you believe that even a premier institution like Cusat has been forced to bring out posters?” SH College has also started social media publicity and appointed special faculty advisors (SFAs) to guide students applying to the institution in selecting courses.
“If this is the situation of big names in the higher education sector in Kerala, one can only imagine the plight of colleges in rural areas. SH College, which used to get over 25,000 applications every year, has received only around 9,000 applications,” he added.
Meanwhile, Rajagiri College principal Fr Saju MD, CMI said the college has not faced the issue of vacant seats but the campaign is only to attract more students. “This initiative is driven by our commitment to excellence. But we want more bright students to join us. By leveraging various social media platforms, we aim to showcase our programmes’ unique features,” he said.