Go the extra mile

studying abroad

Dear Madam,
I am currently in the third semester of industrial and production engineering and I am not sure about what I would like to do next. At present, the campus hiring isn’t faring well in my college. Being a girl, I have always been looked down upon for my choice of branch. Could you please shed light on the kind of job opportunities that are available for this course? Also, I am very keen about pursuing masters abroad. So, kindly tell me about the courses and universities that offer them abroad.

Dear Student,
Please don’t let any one taunt you. Industrial engineering like any other branch of engineering is not exclusive to any one gender. If any of your peers are making you feel uncomfortable for choosing this branch, you must realise that they are probably insecure and threatened to compete with an intelligent person like you. Don’t waste your time worrying about what others think of you or your choices. If you enjoy the subject, you are bound to do well and many jobs will come your way. After you complete your BE, you could pursue your masters in industrial and production engineering.

You could specialise in areas such as operations research, systems engineering, quality engineering, healthcare technology, ergonomics/human factors engineering, organisation and decision systems etc. The job opportunities available for industrial engineers are industrial engineer plant layout, planning engineer safety and reliability, methods analyst simulation, system analysis quality control, design engineer, quality engineer, plant manager, project analyst controller, information analyst, productivity consultant, operations research analyst, manufacturing engineer, production engineer and project manager.

These courses are offered in many good universities. With a high GPA and good GRE scores, you can apply to the best universities anywhere in the world.

Dear Madam,
I am currently studying in second year PUC. I wish to pursue architecture after this and have heard that pursuing architecture in India has no value abroad but taking up the course abroad has value here. Is it true? If yes, kindly suggest some universities and the selection criteria for them. Also, shed light on the expenses involved.
Tejas

Dear Tejas,
You can study architecture in any country and practice as an architect in any part of the world. If you want to study in the US, you need to take the SAT and subject SAT test along with an English test such as IELTS or TOEFL. For the rest of the world, it is sufficient if you write the IELTS test. Some of the top universities for architecture are MIT, UC Berkeley and Harvard in the US, Cambridge, UCL and Cardiff in UK, TU Delft in Netherlands, NUS in Singapore, ETH Zurich in Switzerland, University of Tokyo in Japan, TUM in Germany, University of New South Wales and University of Queensland in Australia, University of Auckland in New Zealand, UBC and University of Toronto in Canada. For a complete listing of universities and expenses involved in studying in these countries, please visit www.umaaswani.com.

Dear Madam,
I passed out of information science engineering in 2012 and wish to pursue my MS in software testing in Germany. Is Germany the right place for this? What are the other streams that I can choose which has good scope and  job opportunities for someone with information science as the background? My aggregate in BE is less. Will it affect my job prospects? Is it difficult to live in Germany (food, weather etc). Kindly help me out.
Bharat

Dear Bharat,
Do your MS in software engineering, information technology or electronics technology. Software testing and quality assurance is a necessity in every company these days. Conducting trials of newly developed software, detecting bugs and performance issues before a product reaches the consumer is imperative in any industry whether it is a financial institution, medical company or a video game developer. If you wish to pursue a career in this field, it is important to be a certified tester. The different kinds of certifications are CQA (certified quality analyst) CSTE (certified software test engineer) CSQE (certified software quality engineer) etc.

Please visit the official website of The International Software Testing Qualifications board www.istqb.org for more information.

Germany is a good country to study MS. Food and weather is something you need to get used to wherever you live. Learn to cook what you like to eat and food will never be a problem anywhere. Yes, you can change your stream from information science to automobiles at masters Level. Universities offer both one year and two year programmes. For detailed information on study in Germany, please visit www.daad.de.

Dear Madam,
I am currently studying in second year BSc (physics, maths and computers science) in Bengaluru. I wish to pursue my masters in physics and astronomy abroad. I want to know which country is better apart from UK and US and the possible exams which I have to write to get admissions. Is New Zealand a good study destination?
Prajwal S Gowda

Dear Prajwal,
To study your masters in physics and astronomy, you need to write the GRE and IELTS. New Zealand is a good study destination. People are friendly and welcome international students. All students on a student visa can work up to 20 hours per week during semester and full time during vacations i.e., 40 hours. Many New Zealand institutions offer a student employment service called Student Job Search to help you find work.

If you complete your course successfully, you automatically get a 12 months work permit under the student visa policy. In most instances, this permit will be done at your institution itself. This allows you to work full time in any job of your choice. However, if you want to get a New Zealand Permanent Residency (PR), then you have to find a job that is relevant to the course that you have completed. This will immediately give you a two-year work permit with all rights like free medical, etc.

Upon receiving this two years work permit, you can apply for PR and normally will get it within 5-6 months. There are plenty of jobs in NZ for talented people. University of Canterbury, Victoria University and University of Auckland are the some of the Universities in New Zealand which offer masters programmes in astronomy and physics. Universities in Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany and Canada also offer excellent programmes in this field.