Dr. Pankaj Sharma is backed by a rich experience of over 23 years across diverse industries like Media, Education, IT, and FMCG. He is deputed as the Director – Admissions & Placements at JK Lakshmipat University. He has helped various institutions like SRM University, NIIT University, and BML Munjal University with thoughtful leadership during his professional journey. After completing his PhD in Consumer Behavior, he attained a Global Leadership Management degree from IIM, Lucknow. With such a profound knowledge of consumer behavior and global leadership, he has contributed to new business & marketing development across industries.
The coronavirus pandemic has intensified college admission anxiety among Class XII pass-outs as they stare towards an uncertain future. With everybody affected from the pandemic, students were no exception as prospective students applying to colleges were particularly hit hard. As the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 fuels a third wave, many college hopefuls find themselves in the lurch.
Impact of COVID-19 on education
The pandemic saw the transition of students and teachers to online teaching-learning after schools were shut down to prevent the virus from spreading. Education contributes to a country’s individual growth, but it was hugely affected by an unprecedented crisis. Students as well as their parents suffered anxiety and stress disorders due to the situation. According to a report, the pandemic has denied almost 32 crore students an education.
The usual classroom teaching style first received a jolt in March 2020, when the nationwide lockdown was imposed. However, this led to an immediate increase in innovation and technology which contributed to remote learning, opening new doors for students as well as the whole education sector.
How admission and recruitment process has changed post-pandemic
Online interviews and assessments
As online learning, webinars, and conferences became the new norm, online interviews and assessments helped universities and colleges in the admission process. Online interviews became a boon for both students and colleges. Apart from that, many big companies are today conducting online recruitment drives with engineering and MBA institutes to hire fresh and young talent. The process includes a virtual online assessment and shortlisted candidates are required to undergo video interviews.
Schools offering online assessment tests for students to prepare for higher education
To streamline the admission process, many schools are today offering online assessment tests for students to prepare for admission tests for colleges and higher education institutes. These tests may focus on areas that a student has to focus on to beat the competition and secure admission to their favorite colleges. For instance, online assessment tests can help in assessing verbal, numerical and reasoning abilities of prospective students.
Colleges admitting students after online aptitude test and counseling
At the other end, colleges are also helping students to choose what is good for them through online aptitude tests and counseling. This provides a sense of satisfaction to students as well as parents that their ward has chosen a course based on his/her aptitude and not peer pressure.
Increasing weightage of soft skills & creativity
For almost one year students were taking the classes online, it almost became a trend to for students to learn extra skills like digital marketing, creative writing, designing, presentation skills, coding etc. Many schools and education institutes provided online training on such skills to students through webinars or regular online classes. Such skills other than academic scores are added advantage for students. Therefore, students must work on such skills to improve their ranking.
Bottomline
Students are advised not to see the whole pandemic situation as an obstacle to their journey for accomplishing their dreams and rather use technology to move forward. They can polish their skills and try to get letters of recommendation from their teachers as many colleges may rely on these recommendations for an insight into the student’s learning style and strengths. Apart from that, students can make the best use of technology by learning new skills and apply for online certification programs to gain an edge. Technology disruption has been working wonders in several sectors like health and manufacturing, and the education industry is also not behind, with EdTech ushering in a new dawn of learning and teaching.