Some new courses to pursue

With college admissions only a few months away, many of the City colleges are introducing new courses across different streams.

While some of these are still in the proposal stage, many have already been approved for the 2014-2015
academic year.

“We have started a host of new courses which add value to the existing PUC, BCom and BBM courses. Certificate courses in practical accounting using advanced Excel and courses in income tax, service tax, VAT, customs and excise duties have been started with a view to bridge the gap between the academia and industry requirements. We have also tied up with Solitaire Diamond Institute for certificate courses in jewellery designing, diamond grading, gemology and gold appraisal,” informs Asha Ganesh, principal, CB Bhandari Jain College. She adds, “We also have courses in personality development, life skills and soft skills training. For the MBA and MCom students, we have courses in placement training, competency mapping and specialised courses in finance and human resource management to help them perform better in the corporate world.”

 A Nagarathna, principal, MS Ramaiah College of Arts, Science and Commerce, says that the college will offer MSc in Chemistry from this academic year. “There is a high demand for this course these days because of increased job opportunities in the pharmaceutical sector, which is really booming. We have also made the proposal to start an undergraduate course in journalism and political science. I feel that the combination of these two subjects can help students get a clear understanding of modern politics,” she says.

On the process of introducing new courses, she adds, “It takes time to introduce a new course. Other than planning the syllabus and faculty for each subject, permissions from affiliated agencies are also a must. Similarly, colleges should not discontinue any course in haste. Two years ago, people said that BA wasn’t in demand. But it’s been revived and the number of admissions has gone back to the usual.”

Engineering colleges like RV College of Engineering also plan to incorporate new subjects in existing courses. “We will be having a compulsory module called ‘Self Study’ in a few subjects like ‘Energy’ and ‘Hybrid Systems’. It will involve students working in groups, doing in-depth research on an assigned topic beyond the prescribed curriculum and giving a presentation of what they have learnt. It’s a good way of emphasising the application part of knowledge,” says vice principal KN Subramanya.

At management colleges like IFIM B-School, subjects like ‘Business Tactics’ are being introduced. “In any organisation, the strategy is developed once a year whereas tactical decision-making is the need of the hour. Keeping this in mind, the objective of this course is to offer a real-world situational role play for students in tackling day-to-day business problems that require a tactical response,” shares professor Anand Narasimha.