Though the necessity of extracurricular activities is impossible to be undermined in college life, the biggest factor governing the career of an individual is the academic opportunities and professional endeavors one utilizes during this period. And the Academics and Career (AnC) Council makes sure students don’t miss upon all these opportunities one can avail during their undergraduate and postgraduate years.
As the name suggests, AnC aims to foster all needs pertaining to academics and research for the student community. The council comprises various wings including UG/PG Academics Wing, Research Wing, International Relations Wing, and Career Development Wing which together thrive to fulfill all academics and research-related needs of the students.
So how do these wings specialize individually and what do they have in store for Y20? Here it goes:
UG/PG academics: It pertains to all academic matters, working on academic curriculum and catering to related doubts for both the UG and PG students. It holds academic and departmental orientations to acquaint students in the respective avenues. The wing works in tandem with SUGC/SPGC (Senate Under/Post-Graduate Committee) and DUGC/DPGC (Departmental Under/Post-Graduate Committee) nominees of the Senate to respective committees in order to ensure smooth working. Also, the wing keeps in touch with the DoAA (Dean of Academic Affairs) for academic purposes and reforms, sort issues and doubts.
For Y20: Will provide info about the courses offered, how can they choose their courses later on, and learn from the feedback of seniors. Also, there would be department mentors who would act as a communication point of view to efficiently plan their template and judiciously approach their respective departments, and hold departmental orientations too.
Research wing: Interested in research activities and internships? This wing caters to all the research activities on campus, plus provides options of research through off-campus opportunities, internships and informs of all the possible scholarship opportunities.
Student Research Convention(SRC): SRC aims to foster student-based research and create a platform for young researchers to meet and exchange ideas. It organizes competitions, projects options, and helps students connect with professionals in the industry to get more insights on the field.
To generate the necessary intellectual and physical infrastructure for further research, the institute created the Dean of Research & Development position(DoRD). The Technopark in IITK serves as a vibrant research and innovation ecosystem for academicians, industrialists, and entrepreneurs to connect, collaborate and create highly advanced and innovative technology solutions addressing current and future challenges of the society. Further information can be found in the below website:
For Y20: SRC will be open for their participation. Professors will take the session and spread awareness on relevant topics. There would be a UG Research handbook detailing them of all necessary and relevant information, including the availability of scholarship options.
International relations wing: Being the one-stop to stepping a foot overseas, The International Relations(IR) wing is a student organization dedicated to work in close association with the Dean, International Relations(DoIR) and the Office of International Relations(OIR), IIT Kanpur to improve collaborations of the Institute and its foreign counterparts. It also acts as a complementary link between the student community and the office.
It works in tandem with offices of international institutes and universities, manages foreign exchange programs, research and internship options abroad. Also, it covers the prospects of semester exchange programs with several reputed universities overseas, which can serve as a wonderful learning experience for students!
More information could be found at: https://home.iitk.ac.in/~smohit/cs300A/campus-wiki/2A.html
Recently there was a language event from Japan and the IR wing was responsible for organizing it.
The prospect of applying to an international graduate school is exciting as well as daunting. As the application procedure itself takes up considerable time and effort, and relevant preparation and the aftermath are equally important, the AnC initiated GRAD (Graduate Research Application Directory) which is a compilation of experiences and methodologies of the recent alumni who went through a similar journey and hurdles and ultimately overcame them in favor of their application. It can be accessed below:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oeSLXFXlEEI8zctiDi3vh6Hc9yvrp65I/view?usp=drivesdk
For Y20: A handbook is being prepared which would guide them to the opportunities overseas.
It would inform about PhD applications, higher studies opportunities, increasing MoUs, etc. For example, there’s a body called IAESTE which facilitates international opportunities like internships and research abroad.
Career Development Wing: For the much-awaited season of interns and placements, students need to have a really good preparation to ensure a smooth pathway in the selection process. Enter the Career Development Wing, which guides the various career paths like options in core and non-core sectors. It conducts various workshops and sessions in acquainting them about the system, and also to improve soft skills during placements and internships. Here experts in industries are allotted as mentors, mock interviews are conducted to familiarize the students with the real scenario. Career Counselling is done to resolve dilemmas and to find an interest in a particular career path. To add more, there are specialized preparation manuals for different fields, for example of quant preparation, consultancy preparation, even for CAT preparation!
For Y20: Handbooks are being created where things to explore in their departments are included so that they can make a plan for their future. Newsletters, blogs, and handbooks are made available to help students in exploring different career options.
To recount the experiences of seniors and make it more relatable, there are several blogs on the original website, where seniors have shared important tips and tricks. And there are several individual blogs for various fields: starting from internship experience to placements fundae and even research abroad. There are several sessions organized for important events like branch change, choosing a particular OE/DE/ESO where students can clear their doubts from the council members who were in a similar situation before, and several more.
And to keep in touch with the latest trends and make sure students aren’t lagging behind with their peers from other institutes, the AnC holds sessions for various important and beneficial courses like Machine Learning, introduction to Autodesk, approaches to file patents, etc.
The AnC opens recruitment for the students from their 2nd year as secretaries, where they assist the managers of their respective wings in the works pertaining to the council. The General Secretary is responsible for overseeing the work of the council acting as an interface between the Institute policymakers and the students on all important matters.
Credits:- Aayush Priyadarshi(Writing), Sandipan Mitra(Writing), Aditya Sonthalia(Poster)
