Reinforcing the placement rate of our students, JD Institute of Fashion Technology recently organized an industry lecture on Employability skills where the Jediiians learned the key details about industry-specific skills and attributes. On 18th December 2021, our speaker, Dr. Mona Suri enlightened the students on the employability skills for their chosen career path. The webinar focused on the desired skills and attributes of the industry. The speaker taught our students how to adapt to the ever-changing and competitive creative domain.

Employability is the set of skills and attributes that make graduates likely to gain employment and be successful on their chosen career path. Universities value employability as a  key constituent that prepares graduates to become leaders who are engaged members of their society,  demonstrating initiative and lifelong habits of learning and individual development. Students receive an outstanding academic education in universities and a student experience that supports effective personal and professional development. The curriculum provides the highest quality of education in a  breadth of academic disciplines, which gives students the opportunity to enhance their employability skills in an ever-changing and competitive graduate labor market. A  systematic framework for the development of personal,  professional, and employability skills for students needs to be developed and implemented that will contribute to their profile and will make them employable. Embedding employability in the curriculum, having more extracurricular engagement, developing career guidance and management activities,  and engaging with all stakeholders are important factors contributing towards students’ employability. Through giving greater focus to the development of employability skills linked to high levels of academic achievement, the graduates will have the opportunity to become outstanding global citizens and to contribute to the community, and will value life-long relations with their respective Universities.

The speaker, Dr. Mona Suri is the former Academic Vice President at Royal University for Women. She is a Principal Fellow of Higher Education Academy, UK, with a teaching experience of more than 31 years in India and Bahrain. After 20 years of an academic career at Lady Irwin College, Delhi University, she joined RUW in 2008 and was actively involved in the Quality enhancement initiatives and raising the academic standards at RUW. Dr. Mona has effectively steered RUW through various leadership roles and has provided the much-needed strategic vision in the academic field to enhance student learning. She has been teaching both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. After completing her studies in Fabric and Apparel Science from Lady Irwin College Delhi University, India, she has been actively involved in research and teaching and has successfully supervised six Ph.D. and 45 Master’s students. She has many publications, presentations, and awards to her credit. Our notable speaker has been part of many National Projects in the Kingdom of Bahrain and India, including projects with the Supreme Council for Women and BAPCO in Bahrain and the Ministry of Textiles in India. Presently Dr. Mona is providing consultancy to Research committees and sharing good academic practices with various universities.

The session gave our students an in-depth understanding of the industry requirements and how to deal with the dynamic environment of the professional arena. This webinar was concluded with a live discussion session wherein the students asked some questions to our noteworthy speaker regarding jobs, internships, and portfolio building during the ongoing Covid restrictions. Apart from the insightful discussion, our speaker also guided the Jediiians on how to battle the lockdown and enhance their skills for the amelioration of their career.