“ONE day, she walked up to me and said she was miserable, wanted to quit studies!” says Chaitali Vaishnav, an English professor, sharing the plight of a first year BCom student. Her parents were unhappy about her desire to take up Performing Arts, despite having a talent for singing. Marriage was first priority, and hence she was coerced into the Commerce stream.

So Vaishnav, Professor at MK Amin Arts Science & Commerce College, a constituent college of The MS University, Baroda, suggested that her student pursue subjects she liked, which would also satisfy her parents. The young girl, a diligent and disciplined student, took her advice, switched to Arts and despite losing a year finished her programme, a happier student. What then? She took up a job as a music teacher in a school which helped her keep her passion alive and earn a living too.
 

• Must-read: 50 'focused' graduate degrees

Dear student, what career path will make you happy? This is not an easy question to answer, for the lakhs of students who will complete Class 12, and won’t make the cut for professional fields like Medicine and Engineering or even established areas like Hotel Management, Fine Arts or Physiotherapy. Well, Vaishnav suggests a good starting place – ask yourself what kind of work you would like to do in the real world? Typically, a student’s foresight ends with the stream they will enter or college name they would like to have on their résumé. Perhaps, it is time to reverse that trend of thought, work backwards. Think of the job and plan your education path accordingly.

Take note of your passion
Nimisha Jaiswal, a science alumnus from Welham Girls School, Dehradun got a whiff of what she might want to do whilst editing her school magazine – this experience piqued her interest in journalism. The corresponding course was a BA (Honours) in Journalism, she shares. That took her to Delhi University where she gave entrance exams in three colleges which offered the programme. “Lady Shri Ram College’s entrance was tough – a photo essay, a sizable GK section, applied GK, an essay on a contemporary issue. No interview,” she recalls. Nimisha was selected and is currently a third year student of BA (Honours) Journalism at SLR. Which leads us to another question – why did she not explore the option of a Bachelor of Mass Media? Her focus is amazing! “I am not too keen on electronic media and wanted to focus on print journalism. Hence gave BMM a miss,” she shares.

BMM is one of the many “industry-oriented” graduate degrees, introduced so as to help make graduates more employable. Other programmes include Business Studies, Visual Communication, Computer Application, Social Work, Biotechnology, Pharmacy, Retail Management and Tourism Studies. A case in point is the four-year integrated Bachelor of Elementary  Education, which  was established in Delhi with the aim of developing  elementary school teachers.  The programme is offered by several Delhi colleges such a Gargi College, which even places students.

The real world perspective
Since students pursue these studies to hike up their prospects in the real world, it is only logical that we look at how employers view graduates with these specialised degrees. Do they have an edge over those with a general BA, BSc or BCom degree?

“For an entry-level position, we tend to favour a student with a job-oriented course over those with a generic degree,” shares Aditya Narayan Mishra, CMO & VP – Staffing, Ma Foi Randstad, citing examples. A business studies programme such as a BBM, BBA, BBE or BMS is a straight fit for a role in admin, secretarial, coordination, sales and recruitment-related job. Courses in retail are a straight fit for a retail company or an FMCG. BMM works for media and entertainment companies, event management, market research, etc.

According to Amitabh Das, CEO, Vati Consulting, an HR services provider for the IT and ITeS sector, IT companies are favouring BCA and even BSc (Computer Science/ Maths/ Physics/ Chemistry) graduates over engineers due to business imperatives like cost, level of aptitude required, bottomlines and price pressures.

“They start at entry-level jobs in coding and testing post boot-camp trainings, and then graduate to higher levels based on their performance. In most of the cases, they get into technical jobs. We have also seen non-engineering graduates joining organisations as business analysts, implementation engineers and also for customer-facing jobs. Their aptitude and attitude towards learning is the differentiator,” he adds.

But that not mean any industry-oriented course will give you the edge. It is not just the degree but the curriculum and method of course delivery that matters. “We have seen a significant difference in the quality of pass-outs from different colleges offering the same programme,” Aditya observes. Industry interface and practical training are two top differentiators, which can be incorporated in several ways. The other is quality of students, which is dependent on how competitive the admission process is.

“It is not just the degree but also the curriculum and method of course delivery that matters. We have seen a significant amount of difference in the quality of pass-outs of different colleges offering the same programme,” observes Mishra.
 
The industry interface
To get an idea, listen to what Vikram Khanna and Juhi Malik have to say. Both are third-year students of the coveted Bachelor of Finance & Investment Analysis programme at Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (CBS), Delhi. “We have two compulsory internships. Also, guest lectures from industry experts, industrial visits to factory plants and short-term live projects,” shares Khanna, who was recently absorbed as a Junior Research Analyst by Mckinsey Knowledge Centre through campus placements. Students can take extra courses like Actuarial Science, Chartered Financial Planner training or NSE’s certificate for financial markets, which are  not compulsory but designed to give exposure. Malik, who was absorbed by I3 Consulting says, “The atmosphere in college is so competitive that even though there are two compulsory summer internships, many people do a winter internships as well.”

This competitiveness kicks off before even students enter class; around 15,000 students write the entrance test for admission to the Bachelor of Business Studies, BA (Honours) Business Economics and BFAI (unique to CBS) programmes. Their score makes them eligible for admission to 13 colleges in Delhi of which CBS gets the best students. This is  followed by a GD and PI. Maths and English in Class 12 is a must to qualify for the entrance and 30% weightage is given to the Class 12 score.

The industry finds other ways into programmes. For instance, Mangalyatan University (MU), a private institution in  Aligarh offers a BEd (Innovation) that gets its “innovative” edge from a compulsory six-month internship at a school. According to Mohan Lakhamraju, Vice Chairman, MU, the institution has signed MoUs with educational societies such as DAV and DPS, to facilitate hands-on training. “There’s an explosion of schools in India, all needing qualified teachers; this is targeted at that. We also have a tie-up with Educomp, to help familiarise students with their educational technologies and content used in classrooms across schools,” he shares.

Look before you leap
Though government colleges and private institutes offer industry-oriented programmes, the latter tend to charge a much higher fee, some costing up to Rs 4 lakhs for a three-year programme. Mishra’s advice to students and parents is to ask the admissions in-charge. probing questions on industry collaborations. “The intention of the institute may be to invite industry people to deliver lectures or make students participate in real-time projects. But has the action happened? I know of institutes where a student has to spend a minimum number of hours or days in a week at a company doing real work,” he shares.

The other element that must be investigated is placements. According to many students of CBS, placements are a major draw. For the batch of 2007-2010, the average placement figure stands at 5.6 lakhs per annum for jobs in consulting, stock markets and research, and Ernst & Young made 13 placement offers, according to the website. Yet, by virtue of CBS being a government institute the fee is low - approximately Rs 5000 for the CBS and Rs 10, 000 for the BFSI programme. Now that’s not a bad deal for a mere graduate, right?

However, not all industry-oriented courses offer such a value proposition. “The way the educational institutes are busy advertising with attractive marketing materials to attract students, they may be mislead,” adds Mishra. Hence, talking to alumni and current students about job profiles and companies that come to campus is a must. Abhiram Kotha, a 2009 BBA graduate from a private institute in Kolkata, rejected the insurance sales job that came his way through campus placements. Instead, he worked as a research analyst for a position he scouted for on his own.

His course cost him approx. Rs 1.4 lakhs, and according to the institute website, this figure has been hiked to Rs 2.7 lakhs for the courses. “The BBA programme lacks depth but familiarises you with business jargon, hierarchy of organisations etc. It is a passport to an entry-level job involving one process. But for scalability you need to do an MBA,” he says.

Both government and private universities and institutes offer a range of industry-oriented programmes, but the seats are fewer in number as opposed to BA, BCom and BSc seats. Hence, most students will end up taking the latter.

General courses – get started
Choose subjects you enjoy, are passionate about and some that are new, unexplored, suggests Nimisha. Further more, combination of diverse subjects can help widen your horizons. For instance, besides media-related subjects, Nimisha’s programme has traditional subjects like Psychology, Economics and Political Science. “An area like International Relations paved the way for freer, energetic, interactive discussions,” she shares. On completion of the programme, Nimisha aspires to pursue a Master’s in International Relations, and use her domain understanding to be a better journalist in this area.

Know your options
Before choosing a course, exposure to the various options in terms of range and subject, is important. A good starting place is your own high school. Kartikeye, Divya and Chavi, three first year students from CBS got information from the career counselling divisions of theirs and in fact, heard about the concept of “industry-oriented” programmes through coaching institutes that conducted seminars in their high school. Two, understand the range of subjects across streams. 

View our basic listing for the full range  in BSc and BA programmes. Most university websites also list colleges and courses offered. Three, it is important to understand the essence of subjects before taking them up.

In earlier issues, Careers360 reviewed the BCom stream in depth as well as subjects like Agriculture, Pharma studies, Geology, Food & Nutrition (Home Science), Computer Science, Psychology and Economics. We also explained in brief several disciplines like Horticulture, Performing Arts, Physical Education and Forestry. Visit our careers/ courses section to read these.

Choosing college and course
A common dilemma faced by students is whether to go for a college with a brand name or a course they enjoy. It is a subjective decision. But according to Mishra, a recruiter looks at two factors besides a brand name - academic performance and projects/ internships done during college. “An average performance from a reputed college versus from an unknown college would benefit the former. 

But, ultimately one’s performance during the interview and written test will make the difference,” he shares. Scrutinise curriculum delivery and faculty. If you are doing a BA in Spanish or German, the faculty must be fluent in written and oral communication and know the  nuances of the cultures of the home countries. “We have labs with language softwares. We watch films, use audio-visual aides and visit to cultural centres,” shares Jaspal Munjal, Head, Amity School of Foreign Languages.

Beyond academics
Dr. Hema Raghvan, former Principal of Gargi College, Delhi, cannot emphasise enough, the  importance of looking at the extra courses offered by the college, which may not be a part of the curriculum but give exposure to career avenues.

For instance,  St Joseph’s College in Bangalore offers courses such as Space Science, Econometrwics, Principles of Genetic Engineering., Journalism and Media, Analytical Chemistry and Medical Transcription.
 
It is also a good idea to find out more about the activities on campus. First-year students of CBS are welcomed with the adage, “At CBC, it’s what you make of it”, referring to the umpteen extra-curricular opportunities, that have all been conceptualised to offer some sort of learning curve.

At the end of the day, both merit and luck, play a role in securing the best education for you. Yet, for many of those who don’t get admission to a college of repute, take heart in a sentiment expressed by Infosys Chairman NR Narayana Murthy in Career360’s November 2010 issue, “In life, more than what degree you get from what college, what’s important is whether you have discipline, commitment, hard work, focus and, of course, a little bit of smartness. So, I’d suggest to students not to worry about which college they go to as long as they get the best out of whatever education they are being given.”