The Covid-19 pandemic not only brought the education sector to an indefinite halt but also opened a myriad of opportunities, including digital learning, e-classrooms, biotechnology, etc, to grow. Once the lockdown is lifted, a large number of students who have recently finished their schools will enter India’s higher learning centres and they should opt for career paths which allow them to grow in a pandemichit world. These are the five courses which will trend in the near future:
Courses in Bioinformatics involve a combination and utilisation of data innovation, particularly sub-atomic science. It explores life sciences, particularly bio-medicine, by the use of computational science. Successful graduates of the course find lucrative employment opportunities in the fields of biotechnology, biomedical sciences and in pharmaceutical organisations. Private and government hospitals and nursing homes, colleges and universities, bio-research establishments, enterprises that produce biomedical items are other options of employment that can be explored. The career prospects are in research, teaching, marketing, as product analysts, etc. Biotechnology is a field in applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bio-processes in engineering, technology, medicine and other related fields. Job opportunities are there in planning, production, management of bio-processing industries, biotech firms, pharmaceutical companies, etc.
Eligibility: Students from Science background of classes 11th and 12th are eligible.
Hospital Management is a field related to leadership, management and administration of hospitals, hospital networks and healthcare systems. This course provides students with sufficient knowledge and skills to carry out the administrative operations of clinical and support service departments. It imparts professional knowledge for overall coordination of activities of a hospital. The course helps find opportunities with public health departments, hospitals, nursing homes, laboratories, health agencies as managers, chief executive officers, head of the department, etc.
Eligibility: Students from any discipline at the 11-12 level are eligible.
A course in Artificial Intelligence will cover basic ideas and techniques underlying the design of intelligent computer systems. Topics include introduction to AI and intelligent agents solving problems by searching, heuristic search techniques, constraint satisfaction problems, stochastic search methods. Artificial Intelligence is a source of both enthusiasm and scepticism in different measures. As humans and machines are coming together now more than ever before, AI is no longer confined to innovation labs and is being appreciated and used because of its transformational capabilities.
Cyber Security is the protection of Internet-connected systems, including hardware, software and data, from cyber attacks. In a computing context, security comprises cyber security and physical security — both are used by enterprises to protect against unauthorised access to data centres and other computerised systems. Information security, which is designed to maintain the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data, is a subset of cyber security. The syllabus includes: introduction to hacking, foot printing and reconnaissance, scanning networks, enumeration, malware threats, sniffing, social engineering, cryptography, etc.
Courses in Data Science include concepts from statistics, computer science, and software engineering. Students learn the necessary skills to manage and analyse data. They learn concepts such as exploratory data analysis, statistical inference and modelling, machine learning, and high dimensional data analysis. The main objective of the Information Security course is to train students to become information security professionals for the high-end jobs in the security industry. The objective of this programme is to create security professionals who will be handling the real-life problems and challenges the industry is facing today in connection to cyber security. The unique design of the programme focuses on providing a high degree of industry exposure, academic and functional experts from the industry in this domain. This programme offers a brilliant career pathway to those who are passionate about knowing more about security challenges and solutions as well as practicing security analytics, cyber security, and related tools and technologies.
Eligibility: Students from Science background at the 11-12 level are eligible.
At present exponential expansion of digital space is taking place. On one hand, many traditional jobs are vanishing, on the other hand, in the area of content management and social media marketing, there are many jobs, but takers are very few. There is a huge gap, which can be filled in by individuals with proper training and qualification in this field. This will help the students in choosing their right career in future.
Eligibility: Students from any background are eligible.
Courses in CSE offer candidates specialisation in computer programming languages and computer system technologies. Students investigate complex problems through research and use appropriate modern engineering tools to find solutions. The programme aims to guide students towards developing analytical abilities for tackling technical problems, formulating and testing new techniques, using advanced communications and multimedia equipment and working for product development. Information Technology (IT) is intended for students who wish to work in the IT industry. It incorporates essential elements of traditional computer science. Apart from imparting technical knowledge, the programme teaches managerial and other cognate skills that are essential for a successful career in today’s competitive IT industry.
Eligibility: Students from Science background at the 11-12 level are eligible.
The author is the Vice Chancellor of Maulana Abul Kalam University of Technology, West Bengal.