Arts, Science graduates get immediate placements with better pay: Experts

Until about a decade ago, engineering and medicine was the dream destinations for many in Tamil Nadu. It is quite evident that the trend has changed now since last year almost one lakh engineering seat felt vacant in the state. After the introduction of NEET, many students’ focus has also changed.

According to experts, this trend is likely to continue this year too. Now, Arts, Commerce and Science are the preferred choices of the students. They claim that these streams could help the students to get immediate jobs soon after completion of the course.

Chennai city has a good number of Arts and Science colleges catering to thousands of students each year. At present, there are about 1,500 Arts and Science colleges, that includes government and aided institutions besides private colleges, function across Tamil Nadu.

Every year about three lakh under graduate students take admission into these Arts and Science colleges. Sources from the Directorate of Collegiate Education said that this year more than 3.4 lakh students have applied for various courses that include BA, BCom and BS. in these colleges.

Academicians also pointed out that many industries prefer diploma holders to engineering graduates as their salary scale could be lower and they have a better practical experience.

The admission figure is expected to be high since the admission process extends till May last week.

All the Arts colleges provide more than 20 BA courses and up to 10B Com programmes besides providing BBA Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA). Similarly, the students also have the option to study more than 40 BSc programme in various Science colleges in the city.

The Vice-Chancellor of University of Madras, P Duraisamy, said that the institution has a flexible curriculum under choice based credit system with a large number of electives and core courses to strengthen student’s skills and make them employable. “At present, there are 23 autonomous colleges affiliated to the University,” he said.

Most of the students favour BCom in general, accounting and finance, and in bank management. Now, students, who want to take up BCom courses, believe that they have immediate job prospects in banking, financing and accounting in various companies in and around Chennai.

D Nisar Ahmed, the director of Measi Institute of Management said that banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector is a significant contributor in his campus recruitment. “The average salary package our students were offered was Rs 3.5 lakh per annum and the highest was Rs 8.5 lakh per annum, both figures are higher compared to the previous years,” he added.

The most attractive BA courses are those in defence and strategic studies, business economics and corporate economics. K Aparna, the HR head of a recruitment company in Chennai said that five years ago there was a shortage of candidates who study BA courses that are relevant to corporate-related studies.

A student, who completed either business economics or corporate economics, will get anywhere around Rs 4 lakh per annum as salary. “In addition, the defence and strategic studies will help the students to get immediate employment in defence related technologies, that are run by the government”, she said adding “these people could get a salary between Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh after completing an entrance test”.

The BSc courses that are popular among youngsters are BSc in computer science, home science-clinical nutrition and dietetics.

“At present IT companies in Chennai and other cities have begun to recruit only BSc Computer Science students instead of candidates, who complete their BE in Information Technology or computer engineering,” S Malavika, HR representative of a leading MNC in Tidal Park, said.

Stating that the students, who pursue BE IT, have to spend four years to complete their degrees, she said adding that companies prefer BSc Computer Science students who complete their course in three years—whose syllabus is almost the same as that of BE—instead of four. “Such candidates can get a salary of at least Rs 4 lakh per annum,” Malavika said.

She also said as health awareness has increased among people, prospects are good for those who prefer BSc in home science and nutrition.

“Now-a-days many students choose BSc in Botany and Zoology, which has good prospects in current research and development activities,” said N Settu, general secretary of the Association of University Teachers.

A few BA degree courses offered by various universities and colleges, such as Linguistics, Philosophy, Saiva Siddhantha, Vaishnavism, Social Work, Performing Arts Muttamiz-Iyal, Isai and Natakam are not focused on training graduates for jobs in the industry.

“Only students who have a passion for the subject take up these courses. Hence, they only find a handful of takers,” said B Lakshmanan, a former professor of Anna University. He added that these courses cannot be scrapped since there are people, including those from foreign countries, who want to pursue them for research work.