Finishing School-An Overview

A finishing school is an institution, which offers training in cultural values and norms.
People attend finishing school after their basic education is completed, “finishing” their
education with instruction in how to live in society. Many finishing schools focus
specifically on upper class values, generating cultured, polite women who tend to do very
well in society, thanks to their extensive training.

The length of a session at finishing school varies. Some programs last up to a year, while
others offer much shorter, intensive terms. While at a finishing school, students are
expected to conduct themselves in a well mannered way, and many schools have dress
codes and other behavior requirements which are designed to remind students of the basic
rules of polite behavior.

Obviously, etiquette is a big part of finishing school, and etiquette courses include
everything from being a well-mannered hostess to meeting foreign dignitaries. In addition
to etiquette, students also learn about a variety of activities. Many finishing schools offer
instruction in the arts, such as painting and dance, and they also offer instruction in things
like tennis, riding, skiing, and so forth, ensuring that their graduates will be able to enjoy
themselves in a variety of situations. Language instruction has also classically been
offered at finishing school.

Need For a Finishing School

The finishing school has to be started with the vision of enhancing employment amongst
fresh graduates, imparting world – class business skills for sustained performance and
career success and to meet the ever-growing industry demand for suitable talent at the
entry level. The philosophy and objective of the Certificate Program in Executive
Excellence, which is the core program offered is designed to be interactive, experiential
and is oriented towards development of skills, necessary for success in the globalized
workplace.
The Certificate Program in Executive Excellence would run for four months of classroom
instruction, followed by two months of internship training with prospective employers,
before final placement. The course would also provide for coaching and mentoring,
assessments in the areas of cognitive, behavioral and English skills and preparation for
interviews, group discussion and placement.

Faculty
All faculty at the Finishing School are full time employees of the Institution. They carry
with them rich corporate backgrounds from diverse fields like IT, ITES, Banking,
Insurance, Telecom, Manufacturing, Hospitality, Healthcare, etc. and add tremendous
business relevance and value to the pedagogy through the breadth of their work
experience. In addition, Finishing School would also organize guest sessions and Industry
talks involving practicing managers from the best of organizations, from different sectors.

Facilities
• At the Finishing School, the concept is that learning and development happens
best in an environment, which supports it. Given this belief, the school offers to
its student’s best in class facilities as they learn and grow.
• A fully structured building, along with state of the art infrastructure, is combined
to create a platform providing functional suitability and personal comfort.
• A well-equipped computer lab enables the students to take learning from the
classroom to the World Wide Web and study and practice through self – learning
tools.
• A large multimedia Audio Visual Theater creates just the right ambience for large
group activities and Industry talks and events.
• A fully functional cafeteria makes sure that while the school takes care of food for
thought, students have access to hygienic food options in the premises itself.
• All students will be provided with the requisite course material for the program
enrolled. A library facility is also available for adding to the learning and
development activity.
 • Students are encouraged to maximize usage of these facilities that are provided to
add to their all-round learning.
At Finishing School, these practices are set which ensure smooth transition of a student
to a working professional.

Practices followed at the Finishing School:

• Benchmarking of the course syllabus with that of the requirements of IT

companies to find what is lacking and appropriately modifying the content.
• Syllabus audit by working senior software professionals to find the areas for
further improvements
• Using tools like video conferencing for delivering quality by industry experts
from different parts of the globe to a large number of students.
• Infrastructure ensuring smooth functioning of the school- PCs, LAN, Internet,
LCD, over head projectors etc. for use by faculty and students.
• Orientation for faculty to ensure compatibility with latest development tools and
methodologies
• Code of conduct for students and faculty members, including professional ethics
and social responsibilities.
• Periodic review of student performance
• Corrective measures identification for performance enhancement of the students
• Periodic industry visits and seminars by industry leaders
• Bio data preparation
• Library access
• Student motivation practices
• Conducting mock interviews for equipping students with necessary interview
facing skills
• Live project execution
• Presentation skills
• Unlimited access to labs for practice sessions
 • Employability and Life Skills
• Confidence building.
• Communication/Fluency in English.
• Effective group interactions.
• Interpersonal relations.
• Presentation skills.
• Social manners and etiquettes.
• Public speaking skills.
• Duration 3months.
Soft Skills:
• Analytical and problem solving skills.
• Decision making skills.
• Planning and time management skills.
• Team management and leadership skills.
• Negotiation skills.
• Tolerance to cultural diversities.
• Advanced social etiquettes.
• Managing meetings.
• Total time required 60 hours.
Multimedia Centre:

The Finishing School in association with Animation Academy provides training in

Multimedia and Animation and offers Master Diploma Certificate in Multimedia and
Animation.

ITES / BPO Training:

ITES and BPO sectors are one of the fastest rowing sectors in India today for the young
generation and offers numerous job opportunities for graduates from various
backgrounds.
In association with Enhance Technologies, Chennai, Finishing School started Advanced
Career Oriented Training Programs on ITES / BPO.

Voice / Accent Training

Voice / Accent Training is being provided by the finishing schools which aims to
enhance the communication abilities of individuals that help them to speak English
fluently in any situation as well as to present their thoughts more effectively in groups of
people.

This training mainly seeks for individuals who can understand, read and speak English
and want to develop their command over various aspects of spoken English-Grammer,
fluency, diction, vocabulary, letter writing, sentence framing, public speaking, group
discussions, presentations and email drafting

Leadership Development Training

This Training is designed to develop general management skills with which individuals
can achieve cross-functional responsibilities of company leadership, rather than focusing
on subject matter expertise in a specific function.
This mainly aims to enhance individuals self-awareness of their strengths and weakness
that helps to improve their abilities to lead others and thereby developing leadership
qualities.

Finishing Schools-Supply chain of talent in labour market

• A finishing school is defined as a private school for young women that emphasize
training in cultured behavior, social graces, etc.
• The name reflects that it follows an ordinary school and is intended to complete
the educational experience.
• It may consist of an intensive course, or a one-year program.
 • But in organizations Training and Development is a very common phenomenon.
• In organizational development, the related field of training and development (T &
D) deals with the design and delivery of learning to improve performance, skills,
or knowledge within organizations.
• Both the concept of finishing schools and T&D come under Learning and
Development (L&D). So the L&D has a common purpose.
These are as follows:
• To ensure the candidate about the right knowledge, skills and experience
to perform their current role effectively.
• To help the candidate to develop their career in line with their and needs.

Finishing Schools-Gateways to Employability

The concept introduces finishing schools as gateways connecting many worlds.

Geographically, people pass through them to opportunities in different regions.
They allow people to cross over from unemployed to employed. Employers too cross
over to meet people who are unemployable now but can be trained to be employable.

Who pass through these gates? Who are the gatekeepers? What
transformations occur during this transition? Even more interesting is the fact that these
skills are often acquired as "personality development" rather than with a specific career
focus.

SWOT Analysis of Finishing schools in Kerala

Strengths

• The concept of ‘Finishing Schools’ is widely understood now, is

relatively new to Kerala, though Kerala has for several years many vocational
training schools, nursing schools, Industrial Training Institutes and so on,
imparting instructions and training in specialized professional areas and this has
helped Kerala youths in getting jobs in the country and in different parts of the
world as well.
• Restructure and intensify the skill formation training programmes for the
unemployed educated labour force.

Weakness
• The emerging trend in the Kerala labour market during
the past couple of years is now indicative of the weakness of the labour force in
responding to the changing demand of a growing knowledge-driven or IT
propelled economy.
• The educated youths are found by employers generally
lacking the necessary soft skills, aptitude, communication skill, personality,
confidence, etc., needed for jobs in newly emerging sectors, particularly in IT and
IT-enabled industries.
• Kerala is becoming an IT-hub very fast and the
employment opportunities in IT and IT-enabled sector in Kerala are soaring up.
At the same time the educated unemployed youths in thousands are not able to
reap these opportunities.

Opportunity
• Many new Generation Finishing Schools started coming up in the recent years in
Kerala as in other states of India.
• In fact, Kerala is a more fertile state than any other in India for a fast and healthy
growth of Finishing Schools.

Threats
 • The state being the most literate, educated and populated, with the highest rate of
educated unemployment in the country, faces the greatest mismatch between the
demands for and supply of educated work force.
• This, being largely because of the non-employability of available
educated work force for the new generation jobs that demand much more than
traditional basic education, whether it is technical or otherwise.
Thus, there is an immediate need and scope for many good Finishing Schools in Kerala
that would nourish the potentialities of individuals.
The employability of the labour force and the role of Finishing Schools in Kerala
contributing to the employability is not only relevant and significant, but also deserve
serious in-depth research.