Bangalore University sees surging demand for pure science courses

Bengaluru: Pure science courses have edged out the much-in-demand commerce courses in the ongoing postgraduate admissions at Bangalore University (BU).

Among the courses in high demand are Physics, Zoology, Microbiology, even Mathematics and Biotechnology, as the varsity received more applications for pure science courses, apart from those popular in the job market.

Data available from the university shows courses like Food Science and Forensic Technology have captured students’ imagination this year.

"Job opportunities in the food industry are plenty across the world. This could be the main reason for majority students picking the subject. The scenario is the same in Forensic Science, too," said R Srinivas, Registrar (Evaluation) of the university, who added that demand for commerce courses have dropped since students fancy MBA courses more.

BU Vice-Chancellor Dr Jayakara SM said heightened interest in research is a major reason why students seek pure science subjects in more numbers.

But colleges offering more pure science courses are few. The Forensic Science programme, for instance, is available only at BU’s Jnanabharati campus and it has received 250 applications for the 30 available seats.

The growing demand for science programmes have taken the sheen from MCom and other commerce programmes that received only 900 applications for the 600 seats available. In previous years, the course would garner 4,000 applications.  

Some social sciences and language courses have maintained their demand. “They continued to be sought after,” Srinivas said.

Subject              Seats    Applications

Microbiology       160       342
Biotechnology     160       300
Food Technology  51      247
Forensic Science  30      250
Zoology               86      270
Physics                84       300
Mathematics        160      600