Inaugurating the two –day international conference on Soft Skills Development Strategies : Corporate and Academia Perspectives organized by the Languages Group of BITS, Pilani, Prof.V.N.Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU, New Delhi, said “the purpose of education is to improve the quality of life.” He stated that Media and Satellite can easily help in inculcating soft skills amongst students through Open Universities. The conference attracted about 100 participants including international participants. “Soft skills , variously known as life skills, people skills or workplace skills are vital for improving one’s career prospects and enhance one’s personality and they need to be developed in students so that they are more employable and progress well in their professional career” said Prof.Meenakshi Raman, the convenor of the conference while introducing the theme.

Prof.L.K.Maheshwari Vice Chancellor in his welcome address informed the audience how the course curriculum in BITS supports the soft skill development among the students and expressed his views that this conference serves as a meeting forum for the academicians, industry personnel and the educational planners to deliberate upon the various aspects of soft skills that are required to meet the emerging corporate challenges in the global world and to arrive at effective soft skills development strategies.

Dr. Sangeeta Sharma gave a comprehensive overview of the Languages Group which has organized this conference. Dr.Y.S. Rajan, Principal Advisor at CII, Gurgaon also highlighted the importance of soft skills and he articulated the view that only one mantra will not work since evolution is human nature and it is complex. Dr. Sara Garrison, Senior Vice President, Sabre Holdings Texas, USA in her key note address stressed on the relevance of soft skills in business organizations. She stated that hard skills are valuable competencies but what we bring on the table are soft skills. Mr.Mukund Menon VP,Global HR, Satyam, Mr.Kishore Pallam Reddy, VP, Sabre Holdings, Dr.Patrice Buzzanell, Purdue University, USA, enlightened the audience on the industry specific soft skills and the training the corporate houses provide for their employees. Mr.Sunil Kumar Goyal ,Chief Project Manager, Western Railways, Baroda in his valedictory address shared several interesting anecdotes from his profession to showcase the importance of soft skills. Prof.R.K.Mittal, The Deputy Director said “ Just as computer hard ware and software can’t function independently, hard skills and soft skills should complement each other. The conference ended with Dr.Sanjiv Choudhary’s summary of the proceedings.

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Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani is a Leading University in India offering degrees in Engineering, Management, Pharmacy, Sciences, Engineering Technology, Information Systems, General Studies, Finance, etc presently at Pilani, Dubai, Goa campuses and in the near future at Hyderabad campus. BITS Pilani also offers an array of work integrated learning programmes for HRD of a vast spectrum of Indian corporates.