Approaches to Confidence Building as a Primary Objective in Postgraduate Degree Programmes

Abstract

The aim of higher education is to equip the youth with confidence in professional and public life so as to meet the challenges in life. University education is aimed at distinct objectives such as enhancement of knowledge and skills. But the application of knowledge requires skills and application of skills require confidence. Fulfilling these objectives imposes specific demands, not only on the content or teaching methods or teachers but also the variety of experiences the students are exposed to that count their excellence in the professional realm. Designing, developing, focussing, and exposing students to these confidence inducers are of paramount importance. This approach points to the myth of curriculum as a singular means of learning, alternatively a convergence of multiple approaches necessary to impart confidence among the learners. A variety of activities which are carried out as part and parcel of postgraduate degree level courses carry along with it inbuilt confidence inducers which serve to attain the desired outcome of learning. This paper discusses the role of confidence and the techniques of imparting confidence among learners vis-a-vis knowledge and skills.