Realty down,but NICMAR up on placements

“Even during these ‘bad times’,we could better the campus record as the jobs in consultancy and designing have been in demand. Courses like project engineering and management has helped students to find jobs in these sectors,” said M G Korgaonker,director general of NICMAR. He said over 1,000 executives were availing themselves of the benefits of the postgraduate management development programmes conducted on the Pune campus.

According to Korgaonkar,as many as 12 overseas companies recruited students this year. “While the domestic companies gave an average package of Rs 3.9 lakh,the highest being Rs 6 lakh per annum,the average package given by the overseas companies was Rs 9.5 lakh. Around one-third of our students received overseas jobs this year,” he said.

Korgaonker said the institute had developed a case development activity as an educational tool that would provide students real-life experiences to get a better idea of the topic. “Our faculty has developed case development activity,in which they have so far studied 121 cases related to road,highways,buildings and aviation from the Indian context. While teaching a particular topic,these case studies help understand the topic better,” he said.

Korgaonker also said the institute will be sending a proposal for deemed university status. “We are complying with the requirements of the UGC and hope to get deemed university status soon. We are thinking of starting undergraduate courses once we get deemed status,” he said. “The institute will start a real estate and urban infrastructure management course from July 2009,” he said. “We are also carrying out our expansion plans with a new academic building and a hostel to accommodate 320 students,” he said.

CONVOCATION

The NICMAR is holding its fourth convocation ceremony this Saturday and Oxford University vice-chancellor John Hood will be the chief guest. “Over 1,850 students from three campuses — Pune,Goa and Hyderabad — graduate this year. The institute will also be honouring some persons with lifetime achievement awards for their contribution to the institute,” Korgaonkar said.