With the world sitting on the threshold of the fourth industrial revolution, students should prepare themselves to seize the opportunities about to unfold in the future, Tapan Kumar Chand, president of Vedanta Limited, and former chairman-cum-managing director of Nalco, said on Monday.

“Studies have shown that management education has become popular globally and it has received a big boost in India as well. Students passing out in two years’ time will get huge job opportunities,” he said while addressing the Freshers’ Induction Program at the Institute of Business and Computer Studies (IBCS), SOA’s faculty of management studies here.

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Chand said many jobs would disappear even as many would get created with openings for management graduates expected to expand over next few years.

SOA Vice-Chancellor, Prof. (Dr.) Ashok Kumar Mahapatra presided over the programme that was also addressed by Prasanna Pradhan, Director of the Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar, Shashibhushan Upadhyay, resident dsirector, Jindal Stainless Ltd and Bijay Kumar Mohanty, Assistant General Manager (Small and Medium Enterprises), State Bank of India.

Prof. Anup Kumar Samantaray, Dean, IBCS, who welcomed the guests, said the focus of the institute was to improve the skill-set of students so that they could get good job opportunities or operate independently. Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das, Dean (Students’ Welfare) and Prof. Duryodhan Jena, Academic Coordinator, MBA programme, also spoke.

Upadhyay stressed on the continuous upgradation of skill saying it was the need of the hour as the world was passing through an uncertain phase while Mr. Mohanty said though all major economies were slowing down due to the global situation; the Indian economy was unlikely to face its adverse impact.

“Once the present turmoil subsides, the Indian economy could grow at 8 to 10 per cent offering big opportunities to management students,” Mohanty said.

Addressing the freshers, Prof. (Dr.) Mahapatra said the most important aspects of management were time and life management. “We are suffering today because we are not able to manage ourselves.”