Find the right niche

Sreeram Gopalkrishnan

Lakhs of engineers, lawyers, media professionals, MBAs and students in other traditional careers pass out across India. While the supply of students is high, the number of jobs is very less. As a result, thousands of students remain unemployed or do jobs that are below their academic qualifications. Realising this scenario, many educational institutes have launched niche courses.

These niche courses enable students to gain expertise in a particular sub-specialisation rather than studying only generic courses. For example, an MBA in telecom management focuses only on telecom-specific curriculum and development of relevant business skills. LLB institutes are offering niche courses in cybercrime, air and space law, etc. Niche courses are known to teach real-world job skills so that students are job-ready as and when they enter the employment market. Moreover, career prospects are bright with niche courses as they offer better salaries and job satisfaction than traditional careers.

Here are some niche courses that are gaining popularity among students.

Brand Ecology

Brand ecology is the process of understanding how organisations create, manage and sustain their brands to create strong brand equity. This course teaches you various brand models, planning and implementation of brand marketing programmes, analysis and interpretation of brand performance, brand building process, brand positioning, brand design and all other elements that go into building brand equity.

OTT Media Platform courses

In the past two years, there has been a flurry of Over the Top (OTT) media platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Voot, Hotstar, ALT Balaji and many others in India. According to a report, the Indian OTT market is expected to reach $5 billion by 2023. Needless to say, it will also be generating lakhs of jobs. If you are interested in making a career in OTT media, then a niche course in this field can build your expertise. You can learn about OTT service providers, the business model, aggregators, content delivery, multiple screen sizes, video security, video quality, technology elements, advertising model, streaming and much more.

Photojournalism 

This an exciting career option where you are required to tell a story or newsworthy events using photographs as your storytelling device. Usually, these pictures can be of war, an act of terrorisms or any disasters that invoke strong human emotions. However, you can tell any story as long as it connects with readers. The niche course in photojournalism will introduce you to areas like researching for the subject, capturing/editing/developing/captioning pictures, using technological tools, selling photos to publications, building a professional portfolio, following the journalism ethics and even some basic survival skills when you are shooting in adverse situations.

TV Channel Management

This course aims to provide knowledge about television channel programming, production, technical, distribution and marketing management. It also teaches you about different genres of televisions and its formats such as fiction/non-fiction, soap operas, game/quiz/talk shows, reality shows, sitcoms, etc.

Visual design and digital multimedia

Be it a desktop or mobile handset; a majority of content consumption is in the digital form. There is no doubt that a career in the digital field has a wide scope and there are several interesting job profiles. A course in visual design and digital multimedia will take you through the modules on the web and digital publishing industry trends, digital production, responsive web design, technical design skills, etc.

The above list of niche courses is inclusive and not exhaustive. No matter which field you want to build your career in, there are niche courses available in them. Niche courses enhance your job skills and give you the much-needed competitive edge in the job landscape.

— The writer is Officiating Director, Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication (SCMC), Pune

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 BA Journalism & Mass Communication

Though humanities students commonly opt for this course, students from commerce and even non-med streams also veer towards this course. In the three-year course, be prepared to study over one dozen subjects from the traditional print media, TV and Radio or public relations and  advertising to the new-age digital media, blogging, social media content writing, news photography, newspaper business management, printing techniques and design. Writing assignments, presentations and internships are part of the curriculum. 

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Bachelor's in Film and TV Production

An ideal course for those with creative instinct and a passion for creating stories. Filmmaking is a tedious and grueling process and all departments require people who can work tirelessly to see an abstract idea take a concrete shape. Thus, a bachelor’s degree involves backbreaking schedule, practicals and theory classes. As the whole process requires coordination of several departments, students are trained in every aspect of filmmaking in the course and then they can choose an area to specialise in.  

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BSc Animation and Multimedia Technology

 A three-year professional degree, the Bachelor of Science in Animation is an exciting option for those keen on pursuing a career in animation, film, television, VFX, advertising, and gaming. It combines traditional theory with application-based modules that equip students with the necessary skills to pursue their passion in this field. The course begins with basic training in drawing with computers and using software such as Photoshop and Flash, and culminates with training in more specialised technology used in animation.