Student"s Corner

Banking blues

I will be completing my BCom this year. After this, I would like to take the bank probationary officer's exam. Could you please tell me about the selection procedure?
   Gitanjali Poori
Public sector banks recruit probationary officers through PO exams from time to time. The PO exam tests your reasoning ability, quantitative skills (numerical), English usage and general awareness. The minimum requirement is a Bachelor's degree. Except in some cases (SBI asks for 65%), no minimum percentage of marks is specified. The age limit is usually 30 years (relaxation for reserved category). Those who clear the written test (objective and subjective, bi-lingual) are called for group discussion/interview. The SBI test includes a psychometric (aptitude) test and a test of computer literacy. While you must try and attempt as many questions as possible and as fast as possible, beware: some tests have negative marking.The trick lies in preparing thoroughly.
   Upon selection, POs are put through an intensive on-the-job training to equip them for a career in commercial banking. You can progress through the ranks to reach the top management cadres. Starting salaries are in the range of Rs 12,000 -15,000 per month.
   Banks also recruit specialists in management, economics, statistics, computer science, engineering and agriculture as specialist officers. International banks prefer MBAs, CAs, CFAs etc.

 

 

Accounting abroad

I am pursuing CA and I am keen to know the prospects of Indian CAs abroad. Is it recognised or not?
   Manish Dewan
The perception of Indian chartered accountants in the international market has changed dramatically. Earlier, CAs from the western world were more in demand due to their command over English and the colonial mentality prevailing in different countries but the scenario is now changing.
   Indian CAs are in demand in other countries as well. The apex body of CAs - Institute of Chartered Accountant of India (ICAI), the world's second largest body of accounting professionals with over 1.40 lakh members - claims that it has received requests from 25 countries seeking Indian accounting professionals.
   Apart from the Middle East,there is a huge demand of CAs in countries like Australia, New Zealand and Nigeria.In the last ICAI campus placement in March 2007, both recruiters offering the highest pay packages to candidates for international destinations (Olam International and Sharaf Shipping Corporation), were from overseas. Olam offered a package of over Rs 38 lakh a year while Sharaf Shipping recruited a CA for about Rs 11 lakh a year.

Immigration blues

I am planning to immigrate to UK with my family under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP). Is it essential for my family to clear the English language test before immigrating there? What is the visa fee for HSMP as well as other categories?
   Diwakar Gupta
UK's latest immigration laws make speaking and reading English compulsory for those coming to Britain from non-European Union countries. This is bound to block a large number of skilled migrants probably as many as 35,000. Applicants will now be strictly tested on English traditions and values, apart from spoken and written English. Under the government's new 'points' system, there are three main categories of immigrants coming to Britain from outside the EU for work: highly skilled, skilled, and low skilled.
   While the first two can eventually settle permanently, the third cannot. But now, the condition will be extended to all skilled migrants (96,000 last year). According to government sources, about 35,000 of them would not have passed an English-speaking test. All these laws are being introduced so that unemployed low-skilled Britons could be trained to fill the country's 'skills' gap rather than relying on additional migrants.
   Meanwhile the UK government has announced a steep increase in visa fees from April this year for students, visitors, and those wishing to settle down in the UK from India. The basic visitor fee has been increased from 50 pounds (Rs 4,250 approx) to 63 pounds, the student visa from 85 pounds to 99 pounds.
   Long Term Visa, including work permit and Highly Skilled Migrant Programme Visa, from 260 to 500 pounds. The transit visa fee has been increased from 30 pounds to 44 pounds.

 

 

Cyber security

I am a final year student pursuing computer engineering. I want to pursue my post graduation in security field in computers and internet. Please tell me about the institutes offering courses in cyber security?
   Rohit Jindal
Information security and ethical hacking are the latest buzzwords in the IT industry and not without reason. In the past five years, the percentage of hacking crimes, data thefts, data losses, viruses and other cyber crimes have increased exponentially. As a result, against the requirement of 1.88 lakh information security professionals in India, only 22,000 has been fulfilled.
   What distinguishes a hacker from a cracker is that the former is actually paid to identify security breaches in an organisation's network. Constructive hacking is legal and ethical because it is done with the client's permission.
   A security professional must understand how hackers operate in order to ensure security from hacking attacks. The underlying principle being: 'To catch a thief, you must think like a thief.'
   But all said and done, hacking is a double-edged sword -both parties need to agree that none of the exercises carried out will violate Section 65/66 of the IT Act. Besides IT companies, job opportunities exist in financial institutions, insurance companies, banks, research institutions, media and entertainment organisations, government, defence and law enforcement agencies.
   You could check out the following courses:
   IIIT, Allahabad offers a PG diplo-

Chemistry mystery

What are the prospects for someone specialising in chemistry? Is it a dull subject involving endless mugging up of formulae as we have been doing in school?
   Rohan Thakur
ma in cyber law and security, one year.The selection is through a written test and interview.
   E2-labs, Hyderabad offers a three month course in cyber security, which covers computer and network security aspects.
   Cisco Networking Academies in 22 states offer a course in security and wireless LAN.
   CISCO's ISS Certification (Internet Security System) covering design and implementation of security systems has been designed by IIIT Hyderabad.
   C-DAC, Mohali, www.cedtimohali.org conducts workshops on computer internetworking, *Network Security for practicing and aspiring networking professionals with a degree/diploma or graduates with one-year work experience in IT.
   SecureSynergy Pvt Ltd, Centre for Information Security and Assurance Technologies (CISAT), New Delhi, www.securesynergy.com, CISAT offers its own security awareness courses as well as those in network security through an educational collaboration with Network Associates' Sniffer University.
   Manipal University (multi-location) offers a certificate in ethical hacking and information security (four-month) MASE (Manipal Appin Security Expert). The exam can be taken online. For more, log on to
www.mase.manipal.edu
Just about everything we consume is obtained through a chemical process, all medicines are chemical derivatives and so are most cosmetics. Being a core or central field of science, chemistry overlaps physics at one end and biology at the other besides constituting basis for the material sciences. The greatest excitement for those involved in chemistry lies in formulating new substances and new combinations

Practicing abroad

Now that the US has recognised our Indian MBBS, can we directly go and practice in the US after completing our course?
   Arjun Khanna
or properties eg: nylon or a solid that is lighter than air or plastics which conduct electricity or hitting upon a simple cure for a dreadful disease or discovering the implications of the established laws of physics.
   While the present curriculum is relatively outdated replete with some redundant outdated techniques, what the present job market essentially requires are researchers trained in instrumentation based on chemical analysis.
   Like any pure science, chemistry is by no means an easy subject. However, a background in this subject will equip you to enter an array of specialist-applied fields, eg. polymer science, food processing, environmental monitoring or the increasingly relevant area of biotechnology.
Although infinitely cheaper, quality undergraduate medical education in India is as good as that in the US. Indian medical courses are rigorous and the lengthiest in the world; which is perhaps why Indian doctors do so well abroad.
   The US National Committee on Accreditation has given its approval to the system of evaluating medical education in India. It has granted parity to the parameters (curriculum, teaching, method of evaluation, extension, research and impact of educational processes) for health science courses including the MBBS programme set by the Medical Council of India (MCI).
   However, this parity does not give students or doctors automatic passage to the US or any other country. It only means that our standards of education will be treated on par with those in the US.You have to still go through the stipulated procedure of clearing the mandatory tests etc which can be fairly cumbersome and expensive too.