Students seeking admissions to undergraduate degree courses this year have a plethora of options to choose from, as private colleges across the city have started offering many integrated courses as well as unique subjects which have more applicability in the current job arena.
From Cloud Engineering to Forensic Sciences, Decision Making to Sports Science, colleges report an increase in the number of enquiries they are getting about a diverse curriculum.
Some colleges have recognised an “interesting trend” of more students willing to study Physiotherapy and Forensic Sciences. “As we continue to grow as a vigilant country, there are more jobs being created in field of security – both in private and government sectors - which can be availed by students who study Forensic Sciences. As their training is versatile, they are also being hired in other Science streams,” said Christo V. Joseph, Director, Garden City University.
Speaking about the Physiotherapy (PT) courses, he added that people are now slowly beginning to understand that PT does not mean just rehabilitation, but more about fitness.
Even at REVA University, Sports Science has been newly introduced into the PT curriculum. Officials from both universities noted that those who graduate with a PT degree have higher chances of being hired by a sports team/company, hospitals and even high-tech gyms, as fitness consultants.
“When patients were admitted to ICUs due to COVID-19, PT was essential for them to recover. This is why hospitals also started hiring more PT graduates,” Mr. Christo added.
For those who wish to gain professional training along with their academics, universities also have integrated programmes. While students spend the first half of their day studying their curriculum, they spend the second half on certification or professional training programmes. Especially at Commerce colleges, the demand for such programmes is greater.
“To make students more skill oriented, we offer certification programmes by tying up with national or international organisations. For instance, for Commerce students we offer Chartered Accountancy (CA) training and for those who choose Political Science, we offer Indian Administrative Service (IAS) coaching programmes,” said Augustine George, Principal, Kristu Jayanti College, Autonomous.
Anil Joseph Pinto, Registrar, Christ University, said they had added a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Decision Making this year in collaboration with an international data analytics company in which Computer Science will be blended with Management.
“Students come to college for three days and go to the company the other three days. At the end of the course, they will all receive placement letters from the company,” he explained.
With the implementation of the National Education policy, universities have included several subjects like NCC as credit papers now, which was not the case before.
“At our university, we have seen a lot of demand for subjects like Industrial Relations, Food Science and Technology, Public Policy and International Relations. We have also introduced a paper on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Disaster Management and Gender and Sexuality,” said Kiran Jeevan, Public Relations and Placement Officer, St Joseph’s College (Autonomous).
At Engineering colleges, along with the usual Computer Science, Mechanical and Electrical courses, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics have been in demand for the last three years at least.
Another subject, which is being discovered by students, is Cloud Engineering. “Every company wants some kind of a backup for their data. While some store it with external agencies or depositories, most (especially financial companies) prefer having their own clouds so that it is more secure and nobody can hack it. Cloud engineers will be hired by such companies easily”, said Ramesh N, Registrar, REVA University.
However, while new subjects are being introduced into the curriculum, many colleges and universities believe that studying traditional subjects at the undergraduate level is vital.
Mr. Pinto said “There is more demand for traditional courses than new, unique subjects. We still see huge demand for Psychology (honours), Chemistry, Mathematics, Economics and such subjects. Even students with a high percentage also prefer such courses. Technically, one of the functions of universities is to ensure fundamental knowledge production continues which can be done only through such subjects.”
