Admissions in many engineering colleges are likely to be affected this year with many students favouring courses such as CA, Law, Pharmacy, Agriculture and conventional degree courses such as B.A., B.Com. and B.Sc. Many students feel that engineering courses may not ensure jobs as thousands of engineering graduates have remained unemployed for the last few years. According to experts, many engineering colleges were established at the time of software boom and rapid industrialisation.
As many as 15 engineering colleges were established in a span of 10 years in Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts. Fee reimbursement scheme helped those colleges initially as many students joined the engineering courses though they lacked aptitude. Admissions have not crossed even 50 per cent in 2015 and further drop is expected in the 2016 academic year.
As many as 55,000 students, who passed out of engineering colleges from these two districts, have been eagerly waiting for jobs. They are also not able to get jobs in banks, railway and other institutions.
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University-Srikakulam Registrar Gunta Tulasi Rao told The Hindu that the admissions in government and private degree colleges were going up every year. “It is always easy to prepare for competitive exams if the students study conventional degree courses as the syllabus is covered in the classrooms. They can get jobs easily as they are good at basics,” he added.
Parents who can afford are encouraging children to become chartered accountants, cost accountants and company secretaries. New Central Commerce Academy Director-Srikakulam P.V.R.M. Patnaik said the job opportunities were plenty with the launch of Make in India programme. “The companies with above Rs.5 crore investments need company secretaries, cost accountants and chartered accountants,” he added.
Vizianagaram Bar Association representative Kantubhukta Srinivasa Rao and senior advocate of Srikakulam Bar Association Jallu Tirupati Rao said that law students would be able to get jobs easily
as several companies needed law officers. “With the changed rules, law graduates can become judges straightaway without practising as advocates. The opportunities will be plenty in future as the Government wanted to recruit more number of judges to clear huge number of pending cases,” they added.
Representatives of engineering colleges feel that more jobs will be available for their students once construction of Amaravati begins in the State. They also feel that students would get jobs easily if more software companies are established in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada.
“The engineering students who excel in studies will always get jobs through campus recruitment drives. We are also helping them to enhance their skills by appointing talented professors,” said a representative of an engineering college.
