An investment or a disappointment?

As colleges have just begun a fresh year and students are gearing up to face the grind, there are an array of certificate courses to make their life a bit harder yet exciting. 

Students have a platter to pick from such as counselling, work and health, public speaking, proscenium theatre, photography, baking and bartending. But are these courses useful or are theyanother money-making tactic by private colleges?  

Charles, a former BCom student, feels that credit courses are like a breath of fresh air from the normal routine. He says that though credit courses may not help a student in his course work, they come in handy especially after graduation.

“The whole point of a certificate course is to learn something apart from one’s stream work. My certificate course in college taught me how to manage time effectively, how to de-stress at a heated workplace and the art of multi-tasking.

Though it was not related to anything I learnt in class, it is currently helping me at my workplace. Though certificate courses benefit students, schools and colleges should start appropriate diploma courses that reflect on a child’s resume.

 Once a student completes a certificate course, he acquires a certain amount of credits and this is an additional point to the resume, especially when the student applies abroad to study.”   

Praveen, another BCom graduate, has a different opinion. He had finished two certificate courses during college on work and health and software testing methodology. 

   “I wanted to learn something other than my stream work as otherwise my days would get too monotonous. But these courses didn’t help me.

I took these courses up as my faculty said it was compulsory and mandatory to acquire a certain number of credits. It was a waste of time and money,” he says. “College thinks that they are beneficial for students but most of the certificate courses are tailormade only for science students.

They offer the certificate courses on a first-come, first-serve basis. It is hard to get your pick as there are limited seats. So ultimately, students end up doing what they don’t want to do only for the credits,” he adds.

Bhavya, a science student of St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, completed her certificate course in food technology. 

“This is an investment for my future as the knowledge. I acquired will really help me in my career. It is true that it is a money-making tactic by college and a lot of people sit through the certificate course just to acquire credits.

 But personally, this course helped me as it was similar to what I was learning in class.”Abith Pallegar, who has completed a certificate course in econometrics, adds that the course didn’t help him due to a lackadaisical lecturer. 
“It was a waste of time right after college as it took away my energy but inspired me to pursue my passion in the future.” Attractive and plentiful as these certificate courses may be, they do make one ponder over how far can education be commodified.