Kerala University Finishing School was formed in 2013. Prof. Dr. Simon Thattil served as Hon. Director from 2013-2016, followed by Prof. K.S Chadrasekhar (2016-2017) and Prof. Sabu Joseph (2017 onwards). An Advisory Committee was formed under the chairmanship of Hon’ble PVC in April 2013, and the proposal for the Finishing School was accepted as follows:

Objectives of Finishing School

• To identify students with skill or competence gaps, with otherwise good potential to excel and bridge their latent skill gaps
• To address issues relating to employability of students of the University
• Identifying numerous opportunities for employment both inside and outside the country and ascertain the anticipated skill requirements
• Imparting short term courses, on add-on skills as well as soft skills
• Undertaking orientation programs, seminars and need based training to bridge the gap between academic content based knowledge and employability skills as envisaged by the industry
• Act as a forum for Industry-Institute linkage that helps in identifying skill -gaps
• Co-ordinate with the Government, Professional bodies and other agencies on associated Finishing School models

The School would have activities that help in achieving the above objectives. Such activities would be under two heads :

• For the students of University Departments /Centres
• For students of affiliated colleges and institutions.

The university may consider a nominal fee from affiliated colleges, along with affiliation fees, for services of the Finishing School

Advisory Committee

The Advisory Committee would meet at least once in a year and evaluate the progress achieved in terms of objectives set. The Advisory committee would be assisted by a Steering committee

Training Programs

The School would identify skill deficient students in the final semester of their learning program under different broad disciplines and impart:

• Soft skill training program in batches of 50. It is proposed to undertake separate programs in the disciplines of Social Sciences, Humanities, Languages and Sciences. Thus, four such training sessions are proposed.
• Practical need based training at the learners’ centre in collaboration with the Concerned Department/institution
• Educative workshops for teachers on issues relating to employability, Additional Skill acquisition etc

In July 2013, the Pro Vice Chancellor officially inaugurated the School and the first Batch of the training programme took place in Sept 2013. So far the School has imparted soft skill training to four batches of students through the specialized trainers, three in 2013-14, the fourth in July 2014. Four batches were conducted in 2018.

The training covers

• Personality development
• Communication skills
• Behavioural skills
• Etiquettes
• Interpersonal personal skills and team building besides Cyber laws

The School also monitoring the functioning of Students Skill Acquisition Clubs(SSACs) formed in its teaching departments.

Objectives of SSAC

• Developing soft skills among students
• Enhancing learning capabilities, organizational skills and promoting team work
• Enhancing general awareness among students and supporting in the choice of a career path.
• Imparting leadership skills

Activities

SSAC may undertake all such activities that help in achieving its objectives. These may include: Newspaper reading and reporting, GDs, Quiz competitions, Discussions and Analysis on events of contemporary relevance, essay writing, student parliament, poster competition, career guidance, debates etc. The list of planned activities could be displayed in a separate SSAC notice Board. Activities to be classified as : Regular short duration activities (under 30 Minutes) Newspaper reading and reporting, GDs Discussions and Analysis on events of contemporary relevance, etc- on week days during lunch Break Week end activities, Debates Quizzes etc -on Saturdays One time TERM events, once in a term, Seminars, workshops

Organization

All Students of the department would be members of the club with one among the faculty member as the Faculty Advisor. The Department Council to nominate the Faculty Advisor who would motivate and direct the students. Member students to elect the following members as Executive Committee members for SSAC: President, Vice president, Secretary, Exe. Committee members, four members representing different semesters/courses. The faculty advisor and HoD will monitor the activities of the SSAC

Documentation and Reporting

All activities of the SSAC should be systematically documented with themes, photographs and outcome notes. A separate register to be maintained for activities and participants in each activity. Annual report of the Club to be forwarded to the Finishing School.

Soft Skill Development Programme, 2018-2019

The Finishing School organised one day orientation programme for the Faculty–in-charge of the Students Skill Acquisition Club (SSAC) of each department on 11/9/2018 in the Seminar Hall of Finishing School located at Kariavattom Campus. Dr. Sabu Joseph, Hon. Director welcomed the participants and Prof. Dr. Gabriel Simon Thattil, Director, IQAC inaugurated the event. This was followed by interactive sessions scheduled by eminent resource persons from Model Finishing School, IHRD. The first one was “Soft skills of communicative skills”, followed by Learning capabilities, Personality development programme using the powers of sub-conscious mind etc. Teachers were divided into groups and discussions were also conducted at group levels. This was an amazing experience for teachers to organise programmes in the SSAC club of each department. The valedictory function was chaired by Dr. S.N. Kumar, Director, Placement Cell, University of Kerala. Certificates were distributed to the participants.

A three day soft skills training programme in four batches (each batch with 50 students) were conducted for the second semester PG students of the university campus. For this, the 42 departments of the campus were divided into four disciplines, viz., Social Sciences, Languages and Humanities and Science and Technology - I and II. The departments coming under each discipline were asked to send five students from each department to this training programme and the selection of students were based on students who need more care and attention and was done at the department level by the Head and faculties of the department. A total of 200 students (4 batch x 50 = 200) were participated the programme. The programme was conducted simultaneously for two batches and the dates of the programme were during 12-14 September and 17-19 September 2018.

For each batch, various programmes were scheduled by Finishing School, University of Kerala and Model Finishing School, IHRD. It began with an inaugural function that kick started the three days long programme. Dr. Gabriel Simon Thattil, Director, IQAC, inaugurated the event for the first two batches. On the first day, two sessions were covered. One session was on public speaking. Students got an opportunity to come out of the shell of hesitation because, at least for some of them it was a first time experience. The other session gave an opportunity for the students to bring out their creativity and ideas through activities like group discussion. Indeed, it was an eye-opener for all the participants.

The second day had an in depth self-analytical session that induced all the participants to analyse themselves like never before. The interview training was a dynamic session which provided many valuable inputs for the students to face an interview effortlessly.

The third day offered everyone an enriching experience of exploring the potential of sub-conscious mind. The participants were made to undergo the process of mass hypnosis through which we could communicate with our sub-conscious mind. It gave us an insight about the importance of affirmations that can help us in realising our goals.

The students were privileged to have three brilliant trainers, Dr. Ajay Shankar, Dr. Vishnu and Mr. Sreedhar whose dedication to their field of work is an inspiration for all of us. In a nutshell, the three-day programme was an enlightening and enriching experience. The entire programme was an enlightening experience for the students to polish their skills that play a crucial role in one’s career.

A valedictory function was conducted in the afternoon of 19th September. It was chaired by Dr. R. Jayachandran, Registrar, University of Kerala and was inaugurated by Dr.S. Nazeeb, Member Syndicate, University of Kerala. Mr. Maneksh, Officer-in-charge, Model Finishing School, IHRD, Govt. of Kerala felicitated the event. Dr. Sabu Joseph welcomed the dignitaries and Miss. Syama (Dept. of Env. Sciences) proposed the vote of thanks.