Science displaces engineering at No. 2 spot in UG

MUMBAI: With engineering losing its sheen, science courses have re-emerged as the second most popular undergraduate stream in the country. Arts has always had the biggest draw and that trend persists.
While 97.3 lakh students joined BA across the country in 2016-17, 47.3 lakh chose BSc courses and 41.6 lakh took up engineering, data from the Union HRD ministry show.

Thanks to the growing diversification of BSc courses in branches such as computers, electronics and pharma, science is no more a plain-vanilla option.
And an engineering degree is valued only if the student has passed out of a reputed institution. “Getting into a bad college and the ramifications of that are obvious. We now often see an engineer competing for the same job as a BA or a BCom graduate,” said Prakash Gopalan, director, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology.
“Programmes are closing down and so are colleges. Piece all this and it speaks about the engineering education scenario. The word is quality. In times to come this trend may get pronounced if quality is not upped,” he added.
Choices exercised by undergrad applicants have changed dramatically in the past half-a-decade. Till about five years ago, commerce was a distant second to arts while science and engineering vied for third spot. In 2013, BA courses had 75.1 lakh students, followed by commerce, which saw an enrolment of 28.9 lakh students. B Tech had 17.9 lakh; BE 16.4 lakh candidates and BSc 25.4 lakh students, as per the HRD ministry data.
Then suddenly, commerce lost its appeal and was relegated to the fourth spot. In 2015, engineering was the second-most popular course as the IT sector continued to account for mass recruitments. The emergence and popularity of engineering saw this professional stream become a broad-based course like BA, BCom and BSc.
In fact, as an expert said, even those aspiring to do business or a course like an MBA started signing up for engineering given the design of entrance exams for B-schools.
But now the proliferation of second-rate colleges has acted as a spoiler. Data from 2015-16 and 2016-17 shows science admissions are picking up while placements in engineering are dipping.
The setting up of the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research was also a sign that the sciences were rising. Add to that vocationalisation of science: in many parts of the country, we see a surge of courses like BSc in computers, pharma, etc. But many also feel the rise of science has to do with the de facto fall of engineering.
ICT head G D Yadav said, “Look at the options for students. The negative news about engineering, low fees in science colleges, yet bagging good jobs as a science graduate has seen more students opt for science.”
In 2013, 83% of students enrolled in 15 programmes—courses that matched their aspirations, interest, expectations, scores, seats and placements. Now, 10 programmes have 84% students enrolled in higher education, with humanities topping the chart. “We have made humanities very relevant for businesses. It is not some imaginative discussion and philosophical concept any more. There’s an all-round development of the intellect and a better understanding of things as a person,” said Fr Agnelo Menezes, principal of St Xavier’s College.
“But I feel universities across India must make humanities more versatile and flexible, add a skill to and at least one or two papers must be applied component papers. That will add muscle to the syllabi which students can flex when they join the real world.”