With employment opportunities galore for commerce and management graduates, this year too, those seeking admissions for undergraduate degree courses are preferring Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) and Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) the most. Though humanities courses continue to receive limited admissions, science combinations which include data science, computer application and cyber security, have been in great demand this admission season.
Along with regular B.Com courses, students are now asking for an integrated curriculum which also trains them to take up Chartered Accountant (CA) examinations. “We have seen a lot of demand for B.Com in general and B.Com Integrated courses. Our journalism course has garnered a lot of enquiries,” said a faculty member of Jyoti Nivas College.
Puttaraj P., principal, BMS College for Women, added that apart from regular demand for B.Com, this year, Bachelor of Computer Application (BCA) admissions have also increased.
Why the demand?
Education experts say students today do not want to depend on their parents for too long and are looking for job opportunities as soon as they graduate. They say that even with basic knowledge of accounting, it is easy to find a job in a city like Bengaluru.
“Today, most students are not knowledge-seeking, but job seeking. Many of our students actually work part time and study. Those who study B.Com and BBA, learn subjects like accounting, taxation, statistics and computer science, which are essential to land jobs at MNCs. At our college, if we get thousand admissions for commerce, we only get 200 for humanities,” said H. Prakash, Principal, Maharani College.
Explaining the demand for data science and other related courses, Thimme Gowda, Vice President, Karnataka State Higher Education Council, said, “For every course, job opportunity is the criteria. Data science, artificial intelligence and other technological fields are the need of the hour. When NEP is implemented in full swing and more integrated courses are introduced, the demand for commerce might decrease. Educational institutions should now start supplying human resources for locally relevant courses,” he added.
Increase in admissions
Most colleges have reported an increase in the number of students getting admitted to degree courses this year. At RV University, there has been a drastic increase in admissions, according to Titto Anthony Adam, Assistant Director, Admissions and Outreach. “We have seen a four-fold increase in our admissions as we started the process very early. Most people are inclined towards B.Tech, BBA and other related programmes. In humanities, there is more demand for psychology courses,” he mentioned.
