With students queuing up outside arts and science colleges this admissions season, the trend from the previous years indicates that traditional courses such as B.Com and computer-related courses continue to be in demand.
However, colleges say a majority of students who sit for campus placements land up in IT and ITeS companies.
“Though banks, financial institutions and other companies come for recruitment, a bulk of the students goes to IT companies. To equip our students better, we tie up with outside agencies to teach them soft skills,” said Ramesh Lamba, general secretary, Punjab Association, which runs the Anna Adarsh College for Women.
In many cases, students find jobs related to their courses. For instance, S. Shenbhagam, a visual communications student who got a job as an imaging associate with a technology company this year through campus placement, said that though she works in an IT company, she is able to put her knowledge of design to use.
Noting that the placements had been quite satisfactory in arts and science colleges in the city, vice-chancellor of Madras University R. Thandavan said most companies preferred arts and science students to those in engineering. They are employable, have good communication skills, and work for relatively lower salaries when compared to most students from professional courses, he said.
Jothi Kumaravel, principal, Ethiraj College for Women, said, on an average, about 50 per cent of their students register with the college’s placement cell, of which 60 per cent get placed. “IT companies also recruit students from B.Sc Physics and Mathematics,” she said.
Demand for commerce courses risesPrincipals of city colleges say that though courses like sociology, psychology, electronic media, journalism and visual communication are certainly popular, the demand for commerce has been quite steady over the years.
This year, just into admissions, there has been a lot of queries about the various B.Com courses, Lalitha Balakrishnan, principal of M.O.P Vaishnav College for Women, said. “Particularly, the B.Com (Accounting & Finance) degree has had more demand in our college because our curriculum has been designed in tune with the Chartered Accountancy syllabus, and helps when this course is pursued as well,” she said.
Mr. Lamba noted that compared to their other courses, the demand for the B.Com and computer-related courses was high.
