One step, many career paths

Updated on: Monday, June 14, 2010

Engineering courses seemed to be the standard road to success, with IT industries promising a lucrative pay package to engineering students, irrespective of their specialisation. But now the professional road for arts and science students has widened too.

“The demand for arts and science courses has increased manifold over the past three years as these students have wider options and can diversify into a number of areas,” says Sr. Jasintha Quadras, principal of Stella Maris College, Chennai.

Graduates of basic sciences with a passion for the subject can pursue higher studies and undertake research. Stella Maris College vice-principal Geetha Swaminathan says science graduates can explore the research option from the first year of their undergraduate studies. Many students undertake summer internship from premier institutes such as the Tata Institute of Social Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and the Indian Institute of Sciences. The internships provide them hands-on experience in the field of research, she says.

S. Vincent, Member Secretary of Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology, says that with the introduction of the ‘Star College Scheme', students are exposed to cutting edge technologies and are encouraged to take up sciences as a career. The scheme was introduced by the Department of Biotechnology to improve the infrastructure and provide a practical exposure to science students at the undergraduate level. Mr. Vincent adds that with IT industries foraying into life science sectors, the opportunities for students from science background are on the rise.

Students from pure sciences can specialise in emerging areas such as Environmental Sciences, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Pharmaceutical sciences and numerous other disciplines, during their postgraduate studies.

Teaching option

Arts and sciences serve a good background for a career in teaching as well. “The revision of payscales by the University Grants Commission has encouraged more and more students to take up arts and science courses and pursue a profession in teaching,” says V. Shanti, Council Secretary of Ethiraj College for Women.

Besides these options, science graduates are sought by the IT industry, says Dr. S. Narasimhan, principal, DG Vaishnav college. “Students find this a cost-effective option, as the course fee in arts and science colleges is lower than that in engineering colleges, and within a short span of three years they are placed. Corporates too prefer our students, as they are loyal towards the organisation. Since the cut-off for admissions in engineering colleges this year has come down, industry might find the quality of engineering graduates deteriorating,” he says. But K. Pandia Rajan, managing director of Ma Foi Randstad says science students are recruited by BPOs rather than IT companies.

Course curriculum

Most colleges are shaping their course curriculum to accommodate the industrial and social demand. B.A Economics in some colleges is being offered with commerce and management papers as allied subjects, so that students have the option of diversifying into accountancy and management. Similarly to suit the current demand, Fine Arts has been designed and offered to students as a professional degree in some colleges. A special emphasis is laid on designing in this course. Such an innovative course curriculum can cater to the booming advertisement, web design and textile design industries. Arts and science colleges also encourage their students to set up micro-enterprises in their specialised field. Arts and science graduates can also appear for the various competitive examinations like the UPSC and Defence Services Examinations.

One step, many career paths

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