B.A (Bachelor of Arts) Course, Eligibility, Admission, Syllabus, Scope & Career Growth

Edited By Sakshi.Garg | Updated on May 20, 2021 - 6:33 p.m. IST

What is Bachelor of Arts (BA)?

Bachelor of Arts also known as BA is a three years undergraduate programme. Aspirants who have passed 10+2 in any stream can take admission in this course. There are various BA specializations such as English, History, Hindi, Sociology, Political Science, Urdu, Economics, Tamil, Odia, etc., and many more. At present, there are more than 9 million students who are pursuing B.A programmes in India. After completion of 10+2, B.A (Bachelor of Arts) is the first and foremost degree course that everyone has to do and is mandatory. Bachelor of Arts (BA) is a three years programme which can be pursued through full time, part-time or distance learning. B.A. helps develop a variety of skills like general research, comprehensive analysis, and communication depending upon the respective subject in which graduation is done. Read this complete article by Careers360 to know in detail about the Bachelor of Arts degree.

B.A (Bachelor of Arts) Course, Eligibility, Admission, Syllabus, Scope & Career Growth

What is full form of BA?

The full form of BA is bachelor of Arts and BA is extremely popular among the students who want to pursue humanities. All the candidates who want to pursue BA, they must ensure that they have interest in that particular subject.

BA - An Overview

Degree	Bachelor
Full-Form	Bachelor of Arts
Duration	3 years
Examination Type	Semester based
Eligibility	10+2 with any stream from a recognized board
Mode of Admission	Entrance and Merit-based
Course Fee	Around INR 10,000 - 50,000 annually
Average Package	INR 2.5 to 3 lakh per annum
Similar Options of Study	BA, BVA, BVC, BA LLB, BA+MA

Advantages of B.A.

Learning Career Skills

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Anyone who graduates with a bachelor's degree learns important job skills. No matter what the size of a college, the purpose of getting a bachelor of arts degree is to give the student a good background, which can prepare the student for many activities. These skills include effective writing, public speaking and critical thinking.

Learning Life Skills

College time is a time of transformation. During this time, the student learns the art of managing money, managing time, balancing work and health and having a commitment to himself in a negative environment like the real world. For example, a student who does not submit his / her paper at a time simply suffers from poor grade results. An employee who does not submit an important report may lose his or her job.

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Communication Opportunities

During the college years, a student may come in contact with people from many different walks of life and with many different backgrounds ahead of them. This can lead to greater opportunities for communication.
BA Eligibility

Students who have successfully passed their higher secondary examinations (10+2) from a recognized education board with science, arts, or commerce stream can opt for a B.A course. Some of the colleges and universities conduct entrance exams for students to be eligible for the course. While other colleges require students to have scored a minimum of 50% in their 12th exams.

Bachelor of Arts Admissions

Students can pursue diploma or degree courses of BA after completion of Class 12th from recognized board and institution. Students will have to appear for an aptitude test which is conducted by various universities. Admission takes place through one of the following:

Entrance Exams: Admission also takes place through entrance exams like DUET, BHU UET, IPU CET, JSAT, TISS NET, etc. Scores in these entrance exams and/or Class XII percentages are considered during the B.A admission.

Merit: Some colleges and universities generate their own cut off list, and if candidates have fulfilled that criteria then eligible to take admission in that programme. Cut off List in best colleges like Hindu College, Miranda House, Gargi College, etc. goes up to 98% for BA courses.

Top BA Exams

Some of the top entrance exams which are employed by several colleges to gauge the merit of an aspirant to grant admission into several courses under the broad conduit of the B.A course are listed below:

Name of the Exam	Conducting body/university
TISS BAT	Tata Institute of Social Sciences
IPU CET	Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University
BHU UET	Banaras Hindu University
CUCET	The Central University of Rajasthan

BA Specializations

BA course comprises five subjects with combination depending on the specialization opted by a student. There are various specializations that one can opt for under the Bachelor of Arts domain. To give you a brief about some prominent and most sought after specializations, we have listed down some courses along with their brief specialization options available to the aspirants of the BA course are listed below:

Specialization of BA Programme

BA Courses

BA English	BA in Political Science	BA History
BA Malayalam	BA Assamese	BA Psychology
BA Kannada	BA Telugu	BA Marathi
BA Tamil	BA Bengali	BA Hindi
BA Economics	BA Archaeology	BA Sociology
BA Geography	BA Anthropology	BA Linguistics
BA Rural Studies	BA Philosophy	BA Social Work
BA in Political Science	BA History	BA Psychology
BA Philosophy	BA Social Work	BA Economics
BA Archaeology	BA Sociology	BA Geography
BA Hindi	BA Anthropology	BA Linguistics
BA Rural Studies	BA Photography	BA Japanese
BA Chinese	BA Russian	BA Spanish
BA Hebrew	BA Italian	BA French
BA German	BA Psychology	BA Journalism
BA Odia	BA Bihari	BA Assamese
BA Malayalam	BA Bengali	BA Tamil
BA Marathi	BA Telugu	BA Kannada
BA Education	BA Punjabi	BA Gujarati
BA Drawing and Painting	BA Agro Sciences	BA Corporate Secretaryship
BA Criminology	BA Culinary Art	BA Defence and Strategic Studies
BA Cinematography	BA Korean	BA Comparative Religion
BA Ancient History	BA Arabic	BA Ancient Indian Culture
BA Airlines, Hospitality and Customer Care

Among the wide variety of subject combinations available to aspirants pursuing B.A course, the following are the most noteworthy:

BA Courses

S.No.	Courses
1.	Archaeology
2.	Anthropology
3.	Economics
4.	English
5.	Education
6.	French
7.	Geography
8.	German
9.	Hindi
10.	History
11.	Library Science
12.	Literature
13.	Mathematics
14.	Philosophy
15.	Political Science
16.	Public Administration
17.	Psychology
18.	Sanskriti
19.	Sociology

BA Syllabus

The course syllabus included in the curriculum of some of the most important and popular B.A courses is tabulated below. The crux of the syllabus is maintained throughout most colleges across the nation although minor deviations may be observed for a few colleges.

Syllabus for BA Archeology and BA Anthropology

BA Archaeology	BA Anthropology
Making of Modern Kerala	Tribes and Peasants in India
Informatics	Anthropology of religion, politics & economy
Basics of Indian Numismatics	Biodiversity & Indigenous Knowledge / Cell Biology II
Introduction to Political Science	Anthropology of India / Molecular Biology-II
Understanding the Past	Human Ecology: Biological Dimensions
Early Societies in India	Biological Diversity in Human Populations
Development of Numismatics in India	Human Ecology: Social and Cultural Dimensions
Governmental Machinery and Processes	Genetics & Genomics-I
Growth of Indian Archaeology	Field work dissertation
Introduction to Archives and Records	Fundamental of Human Origins and Evolution
Environmental History	Genomic Diversity in Human Populations
Archaeological Sites and Monuments in India	Anthropology In Practice / Genetics & Genomics-II
Archival Conservation and Reprography	Introduction to Social Anthropology
Methodology and Perspectives of Social Science	Introduction to Biological Anthropology
History of Art and Architecture in India	Archaeological Anthropology-I
Basics of Archaeology	Technical Writing & Communication in English/ Computational Skills
Introduction to Sociology	Archaeological Anthropology-II
Cultural Transition in Pre-Modern Kerala	Anthropology of Kinship
Methods of Archaeology	Biostatistics and Data Analysis
History of Folklore	Theories of Culture and Society
Development of Sociological Theory	Human Genetics
	Primate Biology / Cell Biology-I
	Molecular Biology-I

Syllabus for BA Economics and BA English

BA Economics	BA English
Intermediate Macroeconomics-I	English Literature 4(i)
Statistical Methods for Economics	Twentieth Century Indian Writing(i)
Skill Enhancement Course - I	Concurrent – Qualifying Language
Generic Elective - III	English Literature 4(ii)
Intermediate Microeconomics-II	Twentieth Century Indian Writing(ii)
Introductory Econometrics	English Literature 1(i)
Skill Enhancement Course - II	Concurrent – Credit Language
Generic Elective - IV	English Literature 1(ii)
Indian Economy - I	English Literature 2(i)
Development Economics - I	Nineteenth Century European Realism(i)/ Classical Literature (i)/ Forms of Popular Fiction (i)
Discipline Specific Elective - I	Concurrent – Interdisciplinary
Discipline Specific Elective - II	English Literature 2(ii)
Indian Economy - II	English Literature 3(i)
Development Economics - II	Nineteenth Century European Realism(ii)/ Classical Literature (ii)/ Forms of Popular Fiction (ii)
Discipline Specific Elective - III	Concurrent – Discipline Centered I
Discipline Specific Elective - IV	English Literature 3(ii)
Introductory Microeconomics	English Literature 5(i)
Mathematical Methods for Economics-I	Contemporary Literature(i)
Ability Enhancement Compulsory Course - I	Anglo-American Writing from 1930(i)/ Literary Theory (i)/ Women’s Writing of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (i)/ Modern European Drama (i)
Generic Elective - I	English Literature 5(ii)
Introductory Macroeconomics	Contemporary Literature(ii)
Mathematical Methods for Economics-II	Anglo-American Writing from 1930(ii)/ Literary Theory (ii)/ Women’s Writing of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (ii)/ Modern European Drama (ii)
Ability Enhancement Compulsory Course - II	Concurrent – Discipline Centered II
Generic Elective - II
Intermediate Microeconomics-I

Syllabus for BA Political Science and BA History

BA Political Science	BA History
Language - MIL/ English Environmental Science	History of India-I
Understanding Political Theory	Social Formations and Cultural Patterns of the Ancient World
Constitutional Government and Democracy in India	History of India-II
Generic Elective - I	Social Formations and Cultural Patterns of the Medieval World
Environmental Science Language - MIL/ English	History of India-III (c. 750-1206)
Political Theory-Concepts and Debates	Rise of Modern West-I
Political Process in India	History of India IV (c.1206-1550)
Generic Elective - II	Rise of Modern West -11
Introduction to Comparative Government & Politics	History of India-V (c. 1550-1605)
Perspectives on Public Administration	History of India-VI (c. 1750-1857
Perspectives on International Relations	History of Modern Europe- I (c. 1780-1939)
Generic Elective - III	History of India-VII (c. 1605-1750)
Ability Enhancement Course - I	History of India-VIII (c. 1857-1950)
Pol. Process & Inst. in Comparative Perspective	History of Modern Europe- II (1780-1939)
Public Policy and Administration in India	History Of Southeast Asia-The 19TH Century
Global Politics	History Of Southeast Asia-The 20TH Century
Generic Elective - IV	History of Modern East Asia-I(c.1840-1919)
Ability Enhancement Course - II	History of Modern East Asia-1I (c. 1868-1945)
Classical Political Philosophy	Generic Elective (Interdisciplinary Any Four) Environmental Issues In India Research Methodology in History Making of Contemporary India Delhi: Ancient Delhi: Medieval Delhi: Modern Issues in Contemporary World Any Two: Understanding Heritage/ Art Appreciation: An Introduction to Indian Art/ Archives and museums/ Understanding Popular Culture
Modern Indian Political Thought - I	Discipline Specific Elective (Any Four) History Of United States Of America -1(C. 1776 -1945) History Of United States Of America -I1(C. 1776 - 1945) History Of The USSR-I (c. 1917- 1964) History Of The USSR-II (c. 1917- 1964) History Of Africa (c. 1500 - 1960s)
Discipline Specific Elective - I
Discipline Specific Elective - II
Modern Political Philosophy
Indian Political Thought - II
Discipline Specific Elective - III
Discipline Specific Elective - IV

Syllabus for BA Philosophy and BA Psychology

BA Philosophy	BA Psychology
Indian Philosophy	Introduction to Psychology
Logic	Statistical Methods for Psychological Research-I
Greek Philosophy	Environmental Science
Ethics	General Psychology
Western Philosophy: Descartes to Kant	Biopsychology
Social & Political Philosophy: Indian and Western	Psychology of Individual Differences
Text of Indian Philosophy	English Communication
Text of Western Philosophy	Youth, Gender and Identity
Truth Functional Logic	Development of Psychological
Analytic Philosophy	Psychological Research
Continental Philosophy	Social Psychology
Philosophy of Religion (Indian & Western)	Emotional Intelligence
Discipline Specific Elective-4 (DSE) Subject Centric (Any Four) Philosophy of mind Philosophy of science Philosophy of logic Knowledge and skepticism Aesthetics Indian theories of consciousness Philosophy of law Indian materialism	Psychology for Health and Well-being
	Understanding Psychological Disorders
	Statistical Methods for Psychological Research-II
	Applied Social Psychology
	Stress Management
	Psychology at Work
	Dealing with Psychological Disorders
	Developmental Psychology
	Positive Psychology
	Human Resource Management
	Organizational Behavior
	Counselling Psychology
	Health Psychology
	Community Psychology

Syllabus for BA Sociology and BA Geography

BA Sociology	BA Geography
Introduction to Sociology	Geomorphology
Sociology of India	Climatology
Sociological Theories	Cartographic Techniques
Methods of Sociological Enquiry	Geography of Population
Religion and Society	Concurrent – Qualifying Language
Marriage, Family and Kinship	Analytical Physical Geography
Social Stratification	Oceanography
Gender and Sexuality	Thematic Cartography (Practical)
Polity and Society in India	Geography of Settlements
Economy and Society	Concurrent – Credit Language
Techniques of Social Research	Economic Geography
Gender Sensitisation	Environmental Geography
Society through the Visual	Remote Sensing (Practical)
	Geography of Settlements
	Environmental Geography
	Concurrent – Interdisciplinary
	Geography of Natural Resources
	Spatial Dimensions of Development
	Statistical Methods in Geography
	Geography of India
	Concurrent – Discipline Centered I
	Evolution of Geographical Thought
	Social Geography
	Field Techniques
	Agricultural Geography* (Optional)
	Political Geography* (Optional)
	Disaster Management
	Regional Planning: Case Studies
	Geographical Information System
	Geography of Tourism* (Optional)
	Contemporary Environmental Issues* (Optional)
	Rural Development* (Optional)

Syllabus for BA Linguistics and BA Rural Studies

BA Linguistics	BA Rural Studies
Core Courses—Discipline Specific Course (DSC)-4 Introduction to Language Elementary Phonetics and Phonology Morphosyntactic Processes Language, Mind and Brain	Elements of Rural Development
Skill Enhancement Course (SEC) Understanding Human Language Understanding Hindi as a Foreign Language Understanding Concepts of Translation Understanding Concepts of Language Acquisition and Intervention.	Rural Development Policies and Programmes
	Indian Rural Economic Scene
	Indian Rural Social Scene

Bachelor of Arts Salary

The salary package after completing BA will vary depending upon the type of job. A fresher can begin a career from a salary package ranging between Rs. 2 to Rs. 3 lakhs per annum depending upon the company and the respective candidates' skill sets. Candidates having experience and required skill sets have an on advantage over their counterparts in terms of salary packages and opportunities. Below are the major job profiles after doing B.A programme with average salary package:

Job Profiles and Salary for BA Graduates

Job Profile	Average Salary
Content Creator	INR 2.5 lakhs to INR 3 lakhs per annum
Academic Writing and Editing	INR 2.5 lakhs to INR 3 lakhs per annum
Air Hostess/ Flight Attendant	INR 3 lakhs to INR 4 lakhs per annum
Political Consultant	INR 4 lakhs to INR 6 lakhs per annum
Author/ Writer	INR 3 lakhs to INR 4.5 lakhs per annum
Historian	INR 3 lakhs to INR 4 lakhs per annum
Psychologist	INR 3.5 lakhs to INR 4.5 lakhs per annum
Counselor	INR 2.5 lakhs to INR 3 lakhs per annum
Archaeologist	INR 3 lakhs to INR 4 lakhs per annum
Social Worker	INR 2.5 lakhs to INR 3 lakhs per annum
Foreign Language Expert	INR 3.5 lakhs to INR 4.5 lakhs per annum

Scope of BA

Primary School Teacher
Marketing Manager
Computer Operator
Customer Service Representative (CSR)
Executive Assistant
HR Manager
Content Writer
Operations Manager
Counselor
Social Worker
Foreign Language Expert
Psychologist
Archaeologist

Careers Opportunities after BA

On completing the BA degree there are various careers aspects or "choices" that one can pursue for. Some of the profiles are:

Primary School Teacher: A teacher (also known as an educator) is a person who helps candidates to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue. A teacher also guides its students about numeracy and literacy, craftsmanship or vocational training, the arts, religion, civics, history, community roles, or life skills.

Computer Operator: A computer operator is a role in IT which oversees the running of computer systems, ensuring that the machines, and computers are running properly.

Customer Service Representative (CSR): Customer service representatives interact with customers to handle complaints, process orders, and provide information about an organization’s products and services.

Counselor: A counselor is a trained professional who helps others by listening to them and giving them advice. They may be a psychologist or social worker. Counselors help people with things like career development, anger management, health, and lifestyle, etc.

Social Worker: Social work is work done for the welfare of society. A social worker is a trained individual who represents the social well-being of society. A social worker is a trained professional who helps others by listening to them and giving them advice.

Frequently Asked Question (FAQs) - B.A (Bachelor of Arts) Course, Eligibility, Admission, Syllabus, Scope & Career Growth

Question: What are the common BA subjects?

Answer:

It includes English, Hindi, History, Political Science, Philosophy, etc. apart from many elective courses like, Economics, Geography, Linguistics, Japanese etc.

Question: What course should I do after BA?

Answer:

You can pursue Master of Arts (MA), Master of Business Administration (MBA), Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) and many other professional diploma courses after doing a BA course.

Question: What is BA in English?

Answer:

Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English is a 3-year undergraduate academic course in the language English and English Literature. It is offered in various private and public universities/ colleges and includes subjects like English Literature, American Literature, etc.

Question: What are the common BA jobs?

Answer:

BA graduates find jobs in private, public and government sectors in a variety of domaim like Political Consultant and Analyst, Intelligence Specialist, Archivist, Historian, Museologist, Lobbyist, Restaurant Operations, Public Relations, Content Writing, and Editing, Academic Writer, Executive Assistant, Associate, Social Worker, etc.

Question: What is the average fee structure of a BA programme?

Answer:

The fee structure of a BA programme may differ depending upon various institutes. The average fee structure of the BA programme is Rs. 10,000 - 50,000 per annum.