EDUCATION

[Mathew Moothasseril]

EDUCATION
Gateway to study Humanities
Hema Raman JANUARY 05, 2019.



If you like arts, languages and statistics but wonder how you can
combine them all, then this course is tailor-made just for you

IIT, which was hitherto synonymous with the JEE (Joint Entrance
Examination), is increasingly getting popular with yet another of its
entrance, HSEE (Humanities and Social Sciences Entrance Examination).
Conducted by the IIT, this entrance exam is a gateway to study
Humanities in IIT Madras. This five-year integrated programme, after
class XII, is one of the niche programmes in the field of Humanities
in India, which has stood the test of time. There has been a steady
increase in the number of students seeking to explore the uncharted
boundaries of this course to give themselves a strong base in social
sciences and use it as a testing ground to discover their area of
specialisation.

Launched in 2006, this five- year integrated MA integrated programme
soon after the class XII exam, is a boon to students who are keen to
study humanities but are unsure of where their interests lie and the
field they would like to specialise, in the future.

The Department of Humanities in IIT Madras fulfils the dream of such
aspirants by offering them a multidisciplinary programme that exposes
them to a wide range of subjects such as English, foreign languages,
international relations, economics, culture studies, drama and
theatre, logic, and statistics among other subjects. This five-year
course also serves as a platform for those students aspiring to appear
for civil services exam.

With career opportunities available for postgraduates of this
programme in consultancy firms, research institutions, world
organisations, NGOs, banking sector, academia, centres for policy
making and journalism, this programme seems to be attracting a good
number of students.

Development studies

Students who specialise in this stream can look for opportunities in:

Policy institutes or think tanks recruit postgraduates from this
background to carry out research and advocacy in fields such as Social
policy, Economics, environment and so on.

International development organisations look for candidates for
policy-making positions which involve functions such as preparing,
coordinating, advising on development programmes.

Private sector organisations with an active corporate social
responsibility departments and NGOs require people from this academic
background to serve as coordinators and project managers for
implementation of their projects.

Government agencies require field and development officers for
coordination and implementation of social welfare schemes.

Global consultancy firms hire candidates possessing strong economics
and research skills as business analysts.

English studies

Journalism: Candidates who have a flair for writing and who are
endowed with creativity can look at a career in journalism, a field
which provides myriad options such as content marketer, copyeditors,
social media specialists, to mention a few.

Corporate communication: Major corporate houses need a corporate
communication specialist who is responsible for communicating company
specific information to employees, stake holders and the press.

Corporate trainers: A Corporate trainer is an educator who works in a
business environment and imparts knowledge or skill to employees.
Large companies frequently hold in- house training sessions for its
employees. Such companies hire full-time trainers to meet their
training requirements.

Academia: There is always a dearth for good English language teachers
in universities and related teaching institutes, which offer ample
opportunities for people who have passion for teaching and possess a
strong academic background.

Eligibility

Students who will be appearing in class XII exam in March 2019 and
students who had appeared for the first time in class XII examination
in 2018 are eligible to apply.

Entrance exam structure

HSEE is an online examination with MCQs designed to test the general
aptitude of candidates. The exam also includes a written component
comprising of a 500-word essay on a topic of general or contemporary
interest.

The General Aptitude Test comprises of following sections:

English: Questions based on vocabulary, comprehension passage,
grammar, idioms and phrases and literary devices are asked to test
students’ standard of English which is vital to the main course of
study in this programme.

Analytical and mathematical ability: Any research oriented programme
expects students to have reasonable logical, basic arithmetic and
statistical skills. To test these skills, questions in this section
revolve around puzzles, analogy, series completion, time and work,
ratio and proportion, data interpretation and so on.

General knowledge: This section, apart from testing the general
awareness of candidates, also focuses on students’ knowledge on
subjects such as economics, history, contemporary world affairs,
ecology and environment.

Timeline

Deadline: January 23, 2019

Date of exam: April 21, 2019

Log in to www.hsee.iitm.ac.in for more details

The writer is the Director, Sriram Law Academy.

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*GATHER THE SCATTERED*

Fr Mathew Moothasseril
Sant Thoma Bhavan
Post Box 306
RAMAN MALA
Kolhapur,416 003
Maharashtra
INDIA