Why no BU student wants to be a Sherlock Holmes

We all love Sherlock Holmes, the fictional detective immortalised by Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels. But no student at Bangalore University (BU) wants to be like him in real life.

Consider this. Not a single student has enrolled for a master’s in criminology, the scientific study of crimes and criminals. Criminology is one of the eight postgraduate courses introduced by the university this academic year. A master’s in criminology can give you such jobs as a criminologist, a forensic scientist or an investigator with the government as well as private agencies.

The university introduced master’s programmes in Solid Waste Management, Criminology, Media Studies, Public Relations and Advertising, Graphics and Animation, Film Making, Forensic Science and Natural Disaster Management. Each course has an intake of 20.

The admissions process ended on September 13. The last date for paying the fee and confirming the admission was September 16. To the university’s surprise, only Forensic Science and Natural Disaster Management received the full quota of admissions.

Film Making, another so-called lucrative course, has also drawn a blank. Public Relations and Advertising, Graphics and Animation, and Media Studies received only single-digit admissions.

A university official conceded that the poor response to courses such as Criminology was “unexpected”. On the reasons for the poor response, he said: “These are self-financing courses with fees varying between Rs 30,000 and Rs 40,000. This is the main reason for the low demand.”

He continued: “When we introduce new courses and charge a high fee, the response would be poor, which is not unusual. But these are job-oriented courses and will get popular gradually.”

Given the poor response, university authorities are in two minds whether or not to continue the programmes. Still, in order to attract the students, the university has extended the admissions deadline for these courses.