JOIN USFor Rajesh (name changed), getting a bachelor’s degree in commerce was a dream come true. However, Rajesh realised he wasn’t ‘corporate material’ at a job fair held in the city recently.
About 570 students had participated in the recruitment drive and only 19 made it by securing pay packages ranging between Rs 2.2 lakh and Rs 2.7 lakh. The companies were recruiting students of B Com, BBM and M Com from 30 colleges.
When Deccan Herald spoke to Selvakumar V, chief student mentor at BSBS Business Academy, Bangalore, he pointed out that there are no dearth of jobs for students graduating in commerce. In fact, if last year the average initial salary was around Rs 10,000 for a fresh graduate, this year it has increased to Rs 20,000.
The issues faced by students are due to lack of practical exposure and no knowledge about demand side requirements. Elaborating he said students concentrate on only reading textbooks and fail to consider or notice practical aspects.
For example, whenever a company plans to go public, they follow a set of practises. Students have little knowledge about such procedures.
They are rarely involved in live projects or in carrying out surveys and majority fail to take up internship in local industries. It is important for colleges to emphasise on making students understand about ‘demand side’.
Similary, the recent Karnataka-State Eligibility Test (K-SET) conducted by the University of
Mysore threw up interesting statistics. Off the 3,628 students who appeared for the test in commerce section, only 17 passed and are eligible to teach in degree colleges. The average pass in commerce was way less than the overall 4.49 per cent.
University of Mysore vice-chancellor Prof V G Talawar opined that K-SET was tough to clear for many as it would include questions ranging from basics learnt in I PUC until they complete their master’s degree. Many students don’t consider to learn the basics, thereby denying them an opportunity.