Market forces have invaded the education sector quite literally in the capital as the most popular courses now seem to be the B.Com (Honours) and Economics (Honours) courses offered by Delhi University, with its colleges attracting students from all over the country.
The Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), made news last year for declaring 100 per cent cut-offs for its B Com (Honours) course, which this year, along with its other popular course, Economics (Honours) has received around 48,000 applications and still counting.
“Chennai is the top scorer in the Central Board of Secondary Education, therefore SRCC usually has a lot of students from this region,” said Atul Khanna, an SRCC aspirant. The Hindu College is the other popular B.Com (Honours) and Economics (Honours) destination for students lucky enough to meet its sky-high cut-offs. The recently concluded Combined Aptitude Test for English, with 21 participating colleges had about 14,000 aspirants trying their luck which shows that this course is still in demand but has been far superseded by the demand for the commerce courses.
St. Stephens College whose English (Honours) has been the most coveted course for several years, has set the highest benchmark this year — 98 per cent for its English (Honours).
Science courses are the least popular in under-graduate colleges, with many students leaving the course mid-way, for a professional college.
“Campus placements could be driving this trend, most students know they can get a good job if they pursue a commerce course in a good college ,” added Dr. Pradyum Kumar.
