Students from world’s best colleges clueless as COVID-19 hits placements

The COVID-19 crisis is tough for everyone, especially the fresh pass-outs from the world's best known colleges who are clueless on how to pursue their dreams as the virus has turned everything topsy turvy leading to uncertainty about a bright future.

Mormukut Rathore, a hospitality student from Jaipur, was lucky to get admission in Glion Institute of Higher Education in Switzerland.

"I went to pursue BBA in Hospitality Management with Specialization in Finance & Hotel Development which was a three and a half year course and was completed this year in February. Even after spending around Rs 1.5 crore on my education, it seems I have nothing in my hand", he says.

Mormukut, however, is lucky to have a family business in hotels. "I am using this time as an opportunity to build a strong foundation at each of our hotels, and prepare for accelerated recovery when the crisis subsides. On the education side, I have been doing a couple of online courses and learning more," he says.

"The pandemic has challenged the hospitality industry strongly and some of my placement offers are on hold until further notice while others have been postponed to next year."

Another student Pranaav Parrth went to New York University to pursue his Bachelors' in Public Policy and Economics. The duration of the course was 4 years.

Although he will complete his course in May 2021, he is worried as most firms have postponed recruitment for the time being.

He says, "I am interning with a venture capital firm in Dubai. This is my final summer before graduation which is considered to be the most important professionally since industries like investment banking and consulting have set up recruiting pipelines that hire college students based on their internship performance. All of those plans have gone awry as firms postponed or cancelled their internship programmes. Although I am happy where I am, there's no option on the horizon."

Student Karni Singh too faces an uncertain future after completing his four-year course in Bachelor of Technology in Automotive Engineering, SRM Institute of Science & Technology, India this June as he has no job in hand. He is now going for higher studies in the upcoming field of electric vehicles to acquire the necessary skills in this field.

He has already spent Rs 30-40 lakhs on his education but he understands the fact that times are tough.

"With disrupted supply chains, declining sales and reduced R&D spending due to the pandemic, it is a pivotal moment for the automotive industry. For automotive manufacturers planning on redesigns this year, the COVID shutdowns have made them rethink their timelines, cut additional costs, and also put a pause on further recruitment as well. But despite this, the global pandemic is accelerating the development of both electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles, keeping in mind the difficulty of investing without sales. Hence, Plan B would be to pursue higher education in the upcoming field of electric and autonomous vehicles, to acquire necessary skills for this field," he says.