ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to express my profound and sincere gratitude to Prof. Anubha Ray I would also like to acknowledge with much appreciation the crucial role of the staff of English Department, for extending their support during course of this project

I would be failing in my duty if I dont acknowledge the co-operation rendered during various stages of project by my project guide, Maam Mrs. Asima Mattagajsingh

I am highly grateful to my parents and friends for the successful completion of my project work, for, without their constant co-operation and help the project would have not been feasible. Last but not least, I am highly indebted to the seniors and faculty members of English Department who have given their full effort in guiding me in achieving the goal as well as their encouragement to maintain my progress in track.

Biswajeet Maharana

CONTENTS
PAGE NO. 1. Acknowledgement 1

2. Executive Summary

3. Introduction

4. Methodology

5. Analysis and Data interpretation

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6. Benefit Realization

14

7. Findings

15

8. Recommendations

17

9. Annexure

18

10. Bibliography

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Today's educational system is becoming increasingly competitive for both students and institutions. The key to successful job placements is an individuals personality and way of presentation. That is why corporate clubs, namely, Scintilla (language club) and Srujanee (literary club) were introduced in C.I.T, a unique chair that have the potential to become a very effective tools in polishing students with their fluency in English and honing their personality The fear and lack of confidence when students appear for job interviews are the basic and most vital factors due to which they get rejected .My project is a desk oriented for finding out the lacunae behind the failure of interviewees in C.I.T even though these two clubs have been functioning for almost 2 years, still the problems prevails in the campus drive selections. My project is aimed at finding out the basic reasons of low student attendance in Scintilla and Srujanee. Although these two clubs are student oriented and work for their benefits, students refrain to join or attend these clubs. To get the feel of the scenario, I conducted questionnaires; video recorded students to know their outlook and interviewed some prominent faculties of the institution.

As the fight for jobs is becoming more grueling, students need to have a lively personality and are required to increase their vocabulary as well as fluency standards. I believe that the students must not be coerced to join these clubs, rather inspired and motivated properly so that they can see their future bright and hence, willingly join these clubs, seeking their own development.
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A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE CLUBS

It has been observed that students lose their potentiality in job market due to poor communication and lack of soft skills. The risk factor for the below average students is almost unbridled. It is high time to groom these at-risk students and join hands to make them stand confidently in this global competitive market. Therefore, the faculty members of Dept. of English, CIT have decided to form a club under CSR Program, Scintilla, which aims to develop confidence in the students to speak the target language and to make them equip with skills useful for their employability.

Srujanee, the literary club of CIT takes its origin with an ambition to nurture the literary sprouts of the young budding talents in the midst of technology and science. This provides the students a suitable platform to outpour their innermost thoughts and powerful feelings in the form of poetry, skits, pictorial presentations, creative writings etc. In fact, the incongruous and antipodal thoughts are juxtaposed together to bring a wonderful harmony.

INTRODUCTION OF THE STUDY UNDERTAKEN

1. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Various experts have debated over the mannerisms of communication and the efficient applications of the same in work sector. In C.I.T, we also come across this inevitable aspect of life where we have to face people who expect us to communicate in English properly with effective use of self presentation. Having come across this issue, I took up this project to highlight the concerns of students who fail in this field and their reluctance to work it out, even though the institution has initiated welcome clubs concerning their personality development.

2. OBJECTIVES
My basic objectives of the project are aimed at: i. To find out the reasons behind low student attendance in respective clubs. ii. To get knowledge about initiatives taken by clubs to gather more student attention.

iii. To provide ideas so that students participate willingly, not forcibly.

iv. To motivate students through success stories of their seniors in the club.

3. SCOPE OF STUDY
My project aims at throwing light on the causes and remedial measures that need to be taken for low student attendance in corporate clubs of C.I.T, viz., Scintilla and Srujanee. I was able to gather vital information through i. ii. iii. Surveys (Audio and Video Recording) Circulating questionnaire among different class of students Personal interviewing students as well as faculties of respective clubs.

Through my methodologies, I gained insight to the actual scenario of the proceeding s of the clubs and got to know about students lack of interest and the way of perceiving the clubs. However, I had to face a few hindrances in the course of the project. Being a non-hosteller time proved to be the major obstruction. Secondly, interviewing students was a challenge for me as we have a fixed and rigid timetable .Thirdly and most importantly, data collection and personal interviews with faculties was difficult since they have an extremely busy schedule.

METHODOLOGY EMPLOYED IN THE STUDY

RESEARCH METHODS The project was carried out with the help of a few strategies, stepby-step, as follows: A few questionnaires were conducted to find out students opinion on the clubs. Straightforward and simplified questions were made so that the students who were going to appear the questionnaire dont feel awkward or shy while answering them. A total of 100 copies of the questionnaire were made and distributed equally among students of 1st year, 2nd year and 3rd year respectively. Students who couldnt speak openly on their problems provided their thoughts freely on paper, since their identity werent going to be disclosed. That increased their confidence to answer genuinely.

 Few groups of students were interviewed on their ideas about the clubs and their expectations from them. Apart from written questionnaires, Concerned faculties and active members from the clubs gave their valuable suggestions regarding the participation of students In session videos were done to gain an insight on the working of the clubs. Students have the basic fear factor of stage presentation due to which they feel reluctant to participate in club activities

In order to get the true facts of the relevant sections of the project, I needed sources of data from which I could interpret the statistical findings of my project. Data was collected from two sources, viz, Primary Data sources, such as questionnaires, personal interviews with students, video recordings, etc. The questionnaire was based on practical problems and areas of improvement, suggestions on the clubs and personal views on the working of the clubs and feedback on faculty members in charge of the clubs.

Secondary Data sources such as magazines, publications by the clubs and websites such as - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_skills - www.london.ac.uk ... Staff Development - www.britishcouncil.in/english

These websites proved to be vital in the course of my project as I gained knowledge about various methods to develop communication skills (soft skills) and mannerisms of presentation. Further various aspects of personality behavior also unfolded the reasons behind low student attendance in C.I.T

ACTION TAKEN To gain further insight on why students refrain from participating in these club activities, I interviewed students, faculties and members of the management section of C.I.T. Some excerpts from these interviews were: I personally feel that workload from studies is affecting my participation in language club, which I truly want to do. Since we all have a busy academic schedule, I too feel that there should be some separate day for these club activities and not within regular classes - Jeevan Jyoti Samantaray (Mechanical, 2nd year)

Though the language club is somehow functional and students are aware of it, the literary club (Srujanee) isnt much popular among students due to lack of awareness. Majority of us do not get to know about the club activities due to improper infrastructure and irregularities in club proceedings

- Sneha Samuel (E.C.E , 2nd year)

I have been regularly participating in club activities and I feel that proper utilization of resources needs to be done to achieve the goal on which these clubs were formed. Nevertheless, students should feel that it is their own career and not a mere responsibility

-Reghu Vaisakh (Mechanical , 2nd year)

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DATA INTERPRETATION
From the data collected through questionnaires, video recordings and personal interviews, data can be put up in bar graphs in relevance to my project objectives.

Reasons behind low student attendance in respective clubs.

40 20 0 32 28 25 15

Sheer Academic personality unnecessary compulsion improvement development

Have the clubs taken proper initiatives?

60 50 40 30 20 10 0

48
22

16

14

Yes

No

Information Not about them chanellised isnt sufficient properly

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Students' participation in the clubs

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 48 30 16 6 Willingly Coerced by Never faculties participated Motivated through seniors

Are you motivated from your seniors?

80 60 40 20 0 Yes, their success is a benchmark for me No, their feedback is negative 32 68

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The language and literary clubs, which are a part of the CSR curriculum, have online data charts on student participation. A list can be shown as below, updated till the last activity done by the clubs:

Detail of the activity Name of the Club

Date of the event

Approximate no of students participated.

Movie Review Role Play Competition Quiz Competition (Mind your language) Quiz on movie review on Gandhi Scintilla Role Play Competition Language Club Debate Competition" Are we really independent" Jokes Telling Competition Pictorial Description Contest Srujanee Literary club Essay Writing Interpret the Quote Essay Writing Poetry Recitation

17 10 24

th

Oct. 2012 Nov. 2012 Nov. 2012

147 78 63 58 25 31

th

th

9 March 2013 19 9
th th

th

July 2013

August 2013

30 27
th

th

August 2013

24 90 25 30 40 20

September 2013
th

12 26 02 13
th nd

July 2013 July 2013

th

August 2013

September 2013

As it can be seen, with chronological order of club events, the student participation kept on decreasing which shows the unwillingness among students to participate.

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BENEFIT REALISATION Visible impact

Students prefer more interactive sessions than monotonous ones. They feel that participating in the clubs is a beneficial to them, provided they get adequate entertainment from it. On the other hand, students opting not to participate have a different opinion. They consider it as a waste of time and add to the workload. Approaching faculties for gaining knowledge about the schedules, events was found as major lacunae. Fear factor and time management keeps students bereft of all the proceedings in the clubs.

Potential impact
Few effective measures like developing a healthy classroom environment, sufficient advertising of club events by use of notice boards, social networking sites, emails, etc can contribute to more student attention towards the clubs. In the future, healthy competition can be expected as the number of students joining the clubs is increasing, even though at snails pace, but this can popularize the cubs on large scale. Students can inculcate more skills and refine their soft-skills.

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FINDINGS
The project was aimed at determining the loopholes behind low student attendance in corporate clubs of C.I.T. A number of findings were made eventually. Some of them can be enlisted as below: Students feel they are being pressurized by concerned faculties. A section of students surveyed considered it as a real benefit for them to improve their character and skills. On the other hand, some students felt that it was an overburden on studies. Some of the revered members from the English department felt that students should see the initiative as a proper career development tool.

However, during the course of my project, I had to face several roadblocks. It wasnt easy for a student who lived outside the campus and collects data, undertake surveys within the stipulated time. But it was the generous helping hand of faculties, support of friends and my determination that has led to the completion of the project. Some of the problems faced by me were:

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 Time factor: The biggest blockade was time. Managing time between course curriculum and project was a serious twister.

Lack of proper infrastructure: Lack of proper cameras, MICs, etc made the task a bit difficult. Had there been provision of proper utilit9ies, the project would have been completed much earlier with better data.

Reluctance of students to face an interview: Students in C.I.T face a common phobia for facing the camera. I had to convince them of good healthy discussions and they showed some interest. This problem has been seen among interviewees also, hence they low result of campus placement in the college.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
From the study, it can be concluded that developing personality, working to improve the factors influencing personality, all depends on the zeal of the student. Habits and moral/ethical values cannot be developed overnight. It requires self determination and willingness to accept the challenge. However, a few recommendations can be given for all-round development of clubs, such as: Reduction of workload so that students can find time for the activities Coercing by faculties is highly regretted, students develop negative attitude by doing so. Make the club sessions more student oriented, rather than a part of C.S.R curriculum. Feedback from students should be collected regularly and worked upon them. And finally, student representatives should forward the problems faced by Students to concerned faculties, so that a healthy environment exists.

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ANNEXURE
NAME: SECTION: BRANCH: SEMESTER:

FEEDBACK FORM FOR LANGUAGE AND LITERARY CLUBS IN C.I.T

(PLEASE BE FRANK IN ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS)

1. Why do you think students should join these clubs? a. Due to sheer compulsion. B. For academic improvement c. For personal fluency d. Not necessary at all 2. Personally, do you feel it is a necessity to join such clubs or simply its an overload of excessive responsibility? a. Considering the workload from studies, these clubs double up the pressure only. b. Very much educative and useful, considering present day placement situation. c. The clubs are, to some extent, beneficial. But at the same time, uneven session timings are a serious headache. d. Personally, I do not have interest in the clubs due to the constant coercing by the faculties to join the clubs which is now becoming a severe nuisance. 3. Are the events conducted in the clubs of any help to the students practically? a. Yes, they help me in improving overall personality. b. I dont think they are of any serious help. c. The clubs have been effective only in certain areas only. d. Practically, the clubs are detrimental to academic progress. 4. Almost all the faculties of concerned clubs belong to the English Department. Are you motivated in any manner by their dedication to these clubs? a. b. Yes. No

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c. d.

Barring a few, other faculties are of no help None of the above.

5. How do you rate the overall performance of these clubs? a. Excellent c. Average b. Good d. Poor

6. How can students willingly join and participate in the club events? a. By creating a livelier atmosphere rather than monotonous sessions. b. By conducting interactive and entertaining events. c. Both (a) and (b). d. Impossible for students to join willingly, as they are rather being persuaded more than being motivated. 7. Did you ever talk personally to the faculties regarding your problems in the clubs? a. No, I fear to approach them since academic performance is at stake. b. Yes, they have been very much helpful and co-operative in sorting out my problems. c. I never felt the need to approach them. d. Whenever I approached them, my problems became more problematic.

8. Two practical ways to make the clubs a hit among the students : i. ii. 9. Any suggestions for the faculties of the concerned clubs?

a. LANGUAGE CLUB (scintilla)

b.

LITERARY CLUB( srujanee)

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
References and online websites are the biggest bonus for any type of project. These websites have beyond adequate information regarding any subject. I took the help of many websites, a few from them can be stated below as:

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-and-vocabulary http://my.englishclub.com/forum/topics/the-importance-of-students-

participation http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1838/Clubs.html http://cutm.ac.in/Language_Club.php http://cutm.ac.in/csr_literary_club.php https://www.facebook.com/scintilla.centurion?fref=ts http://www.talkenglish.com/

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