SOA’s annual business conclave Scalerz 2022 held

Bhubaneswar: Learning in universities or colleges is important but students need to build enough depth and expand their knowledge to face the requirements of an uncertain future, Sahil Nayar, senior associate director, KPMG, said on Saturday.

“We are living in an age in which disruption is the name of the game and the future looks scary,” Nayar said while delivering the keynote address at ‘SOA Scalerz 2022’, an annual business conclave of SOA Deemed to be University here.

Stating that a college or a university in the country was opening every other day, he said there was a mismatch between demand and supply with the students passing out and not getting employed.

“The environment is complicated and a degree was no longer the passport to a job,” he said adding that students had to expand their knowledge to face the requirements of the day.

Interacting with participants, he said it was the skill acquired by the student which mattered and universities need to take up live projects so that students could learn skill.

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“Institutes need to build attitude and help students acquire skill as they are needed to use hardly 10 per cent of the theory they learn in classrooms at the workplace,” Nayar said while speaking on the theme ‘There is a brand within you and future workforce.’

“I believe there is a brand in you,” Nayar told students while advising them to focus on the 5Cs of clarity, confidence, communication, consistency and character to build their brand.

SOA’s Pro-Chancellor Prof. Amit Banerjee, who also addressed the inaugural programme, said a degree in management was important today as professionals from varied fields like engineering, medicine, pharmaceuticals and law were seeking it late in their career to further strengthen their portfolio.

Prof. Anup Samantaray, Dean, Institute of Business and Computer Studies (IBCS), SOA’s faculty of management sciences and Ripti Ranjan Dash, SOA’s Head, Industry Engagement, also addressed the gathering.
Ashis Bhalla, India Head, University Relations and Recruitment, HCL Tech was the other keynote speaker who spoke on the subject ‘Negative vs Positive Feedback in Workplace and How to Handle’.

The panelists who were present included Sushant Kumar, India Lead—University Relations- Tata Technologies, Debargha Deb, National Manager, HR, Dabur India Ltd, Harsh Raj Jain, TAG Leader, APAC- Ebix Inc, Mrinal Das, Director, Head of TA Delivery- Ericsson, Anindita Mohapatra, People Experience Architect—CureBay Technologies, Dr. Tanaya Mishra, Vice President and Head, HT- Endo International plc, Veena Ramadasani, Associate Director, TA- UBS, Joshua David, India Campus Lead- Mphasis, Rahul P, Associate Principal, Talent Acquisition- The Math Company, Abinmash Mohapatra, Head, KPIT Technologies and Ujjal Sengupta, Deputy General Manager, HR- Reliance Jio.