The right course of action

Food and Hospitality

When Janki Patel, 27, working as a front desk manager in a Mumbai hotel wanted to switch careers, she joined a three month-long baking and patisserie course in Bangalore. Over the past one year, she's supplied cakes to bakeries in Mumbai and is now setting up her home baking venture. With short-term courses offering quick fix training for professionals who don't have the time to go through regular undergraduate degree courses, a gamut of careers are opening up in the food and hospitality sector.

New hotels, cafes and restaurants and retail stores are setting up shop offering career opportunities and growth possibilities. From noted hospitality institutes to privately run courses and baking schools, there are opportunities for those who want to take up short-term courses to boost their career. Candidates can look for placements as chefs, housekeeping and hotel managers.

Three-month part time diploma at ASK Institute of Bakery and Confectionary, Bangalore. www.studyaskibc.com
Wines and spiritsThree-month course at the Indian Institute of Bartending, Chennai. www.iibtindia.com
Food and beverage service Six-month certificate course at Amro Institute, Nashik in association with the Maharashtra State Board of Vocational Examinations, Mumbai. www.amroinstitutes.com
BartendingThree-month intensive course at Cocktails and Dreams Beverage and Bar Studio, New Delhi. www.cocktailsndreams.net
ELIGIBILITY:Class 10JOB PROSPECTS:Bartender, beverage manager, patisserie chef, restaurant and cafe serviceSALARY:Monthly salaries start at Rs 15,000 and go upto Rs 2 lakh

Mass Media

Mass media is all about being part of a larger story where opinions are voiced and untold tales shared. From music production to journalism, these short-term courses equip an individual with the tools to create good content for dissemination. Within the radar of mass media fall TV, radio, news, filmmaking and music production which are now taught at numerous specialised institutes over the country.

News journalism which was a niche education option has now become wider encompassing variants such as broadcast, print and digital media to choose from. The one-year diploma courses on offer in media institutes like Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, and Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi, are known to train journalists and also help them secure jobs in the industry. While filmmaking institutes prepare students for camera operation, script writing, video editing and cinematography, music academies on the other hand, like True School of Music, Mumbai, maintain small classrooms and train good music composers.

TOP COURSES
Radio and TV journalism One-year postgraduate diploma at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi. www.iimc.nic.in
Journalism One-year postgraduate diploma at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. www.asianmedia.org
Sound engineering One-year intensive course at the True School of Music, Mumbai. www.trueschool.in
Creative documentary One-year intensive filmmaking course at Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication, New Delhi. www.sac.ac.in
Feature film screenplay writing One-year diploma at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. www.ftiindia.com
ELIGIBILITY: Bachelor's degree JOB PROSPECTS: Journalist, public relations executive, radio jockey, TV news production, music composer, and filmmaker SALARY: Monthly salaries start from Rs 20,000 and go upto Rs 1.5 lakh

Niche Arts

With the fine arts scene witnessing a revival in the form of specialised sub-disciplines and curriculum, there's an interest in honing aesthetic sense. The marginal status of fine arts is undergoing a change, both in terms of perception and pedadogy. The benefits of enrolling in short-term courses in arts may not be immediately obvious but the compact programme structure draws more out of students.

A hands-on course that engages comprehensively with students is often convenient than a degree course. Contrary to popular opinion, these skill-driven courses are not limited to the medium of observation. Being skill-based, these are transferable to different environments and act as a refresher session. Convenient for testing the waters instead of plunging headlong into a full-time course, it offers breadth to make up for the lack of depth. Linguistics, fine art and museology tie up into an interesting profile offering a range of prospects spanning creative design to archiving.

TOP COURSES
Art appreciation Five-month course at National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Museology, Delhi. www.nmi.gov.in
Introduction to linguistics Two-month course at Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune. www.deccancollegepune.ac.in
Archives keeping One-year postgraduate diploma at Annamalai University, Chennai as a part-time evening course. www.annamalaiuniversity.ac.in
Photography and interior decoration One-year apprentice training course at Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art, Mumbai. jjiaa.org
ELIGIBILITY 10+2, Bachelor's degree for Annamalai University JOB PROSPECTS Museum/gallery curator, illustrator, graphic designer, art historian/dealer, and archive conservator
SALARY Starting from Rs 20,000, it can go upto Rs 60,000 per month

Healthcare

From a nutrition expert to a nurse assistant, diverse job opportunities are now being offered in the healthcare and wellness sector, partly due to rising awareness on preventive healthcare and fitness. Most of the short-term courses in this sector offer flexibility in terms of the teaching mode you could opt for distance learning or take classes over the weekend. This opens up learning opportunities for working professionals who can take up such courses alongside their day job to give them an edge in their careers.

There are a lot of hands-on courses being offered by most healthcare facilities for different categories of employees hired by hospitals today including doctors, nurses and the paramedical workforce. Diplomas in critical care or emergency medicine not only train nurses for a specialised career in emergency and ICU departments of a hospital, but also entitle them to a differential compensation as compared to a regular ward nurse.

TOP COURSES
Hospital care assistant One-year certificate course at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, which also has similar courses in orthopaedic techniques and operation theatre assistant. www.dmch.edu
Sanitary inspector One-year diploma at the All India Institute of Local Self Government, Mumbai, with centres in all major cities. www.aiilsg.org
Clinical nutrition Five-month intensive course at the Exercise Science Academy, Mumbai, which also has similar courses in sports nutrition and weight management. www.exercisescienceacademy.com
Nursing administration One-year diploma at the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) with centres in major cities. www.ignou.ac.in
ELIGIBILITY 10+2 in science, work experience for IGNOU JOB PROSPECTS Nutrition expert, fitness trainer, sanitary inspector and nurse SALARY Starting from Rs 7000, it can go upto Rs 75,000 per month

Information Technology & Science

The human race has advanced rapidly on technological and scientific fronts in the last decade. Considering the free and easy access to information today, scientific discoveries and inventions are within the grasp of anyone with a technical bent of mind. Along with the major science and engineering degrees that most opt for, there are numerous short-term diplomas and certificate courses that can be used to either supplement your main education or specialise in a completely new field.

All data is recorded electronically these days and analysing this information to organise and predict future market trends gives rise to business analytics, a skill that is in great demand in every industry. Agriculture technology, nautical science and solar engineering are other specific fields of science that have an increasing demand for efficient professionals.

TOP COURSES
Business analytics One-year postgraduate diploma at Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD), Pune. www.scmhrd.edu
Soil science and agricultural chemistry One-year postgraduate course at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Delhi, which has a wide range of similar agricultural courses (IARI). www.iari.res.in
Nautical science One-year diploma at the International Maritime Institute (IMI), Greater Noida. www.imi.edu.in
Solar photovoltaic application, design and technology Three-month certificate course at Gujarat Institute of Solar Energy (GISE), Gujarat which also has three-day technical solar workshops. www.gise.in
ELIGIBILITY Bachelor's degree in any field for SCMHRD and GISE, in science for IARI and IMI JOB PROSPECTS Data analyst, soil scientist, merchant navy and solar engineer
SALARY Starting at Rs 15,000, it can go upto Rs 1.2 lakh per month

Tourism

Proficiency in a foreign language combined with an outgoing personality is all you need to launch a career that takes you places, literally. As new roles emerge in the hospitality industry, a crash course in tourism and culture studies can pave the way for interesting job profiles. Aviation and catering are booming sectors within the larger scheme of tourism. When supplemented with managerial experience and problem solving skills, the role of tour guide extends beyond that of travel consultant.

You become a travel guide, concierge and knowledge expert rolled into one. Cultural awareness imparts a nuanced edge to the profile, adding to a tour guide's credentials. Combine the best that the hospitality and tourism sector has to offer to build up a covetable profile. While travel agencies continue to be the obvious choice absorbing most tourism diploma holders, related areas of specialisation are also opening up like adventure tourism expert, holiday consultant and food travel expert. Cultural heritage in relation to local gastronomy is on its way to becoming one of the biggest travel trends.

TOP COURSES
Heritage management 10-month postgraduate diploma from Centre for Museology and Conservation at the University of Rajasthan. www.uniraj.ac.in
Travel and tourism management One-year postgraduate diploma from Kuoni Academy, Srinagar. www.kuoniacademy.co.in
Travel and tourism Four-month certificate course from Delhi University (DU). Includes modules on tour planning, international fare calculation and computer reservation system. www.du.ac.in
Tourism and environmental law One-year postgraduate diploma from National Law University, Delhi in collaboration with World Wildlife Fund (WWF). www.nludelhi.ac.in
ELIGIBILITY Bachelor's degree in any discipline and 10+2 for DU JOB PROSPECTS Interpreter, tour guide, information assistant, and cultural consultant
SALARY Starting from Rs 30,000, salaries can go upto Rs 1 lakh