Demand for MBA & engineering courses declines, architecture sees 50% increase in enrollment

The state has witnessed a 10 to 20 percent decline in the demand for courses related to engineering, management and computer applications in the academic year 2015-16.

Typically, courses like BE (Bachelor of Engineering), MBA (Masters of Business Administration) and MCA (Masters in Computer Applications) are considered ‘lucrative’ because of the placement opportunities they present. But, contrary to popular belief, the demand for these courses had declined last year.

According to the data gathered from the Directorate of Technical Engineering (DTE), there has been a decline of around 10 to 20 percent in the number of students opting for these courses.

In case of engineering, for example, of the 1.44 lakh seats available across colleges in the state, 64,418 are still vacant. That’s roughly 45 percent of total seats. Moreover, only 79,435 have enrolled for admission this year compared to 89,242 last year.

Similarly, the number of students opting for MBA/MMS and MCA have also dropped. While 29,000 and 5,000 students opted for MBA/MMS and MCA courses last year, this year the number has come down to 26,000 and 4,000 respectively. That’s a 20 percent drop in MCA and 10 percent drop in MBA/MMS enrollments.

So, if students aren’t opting for these courses, which ones are they opting for?

According to one report, there has been an increase in the number of students enrolling for degree programmes in pharmacy and architecture. While the number of seats in these courses is lesser compared to the ones mentioned above, they have witnessed an increase ranging from 5 to 50 percent. Bachelors of Architecture course, for example, have witnessed a 50 percent increase in enrollment this year.

According to Nancy D’souza, an HR professional specialising in campus recruitments, the shift is primarily because placement opportunities. She says, “Students realize that postgraduate courses like MBA don’t always lead to better placements. Therefore, they are extremely selective about the college they opt for. If they don’t get a good college, they know they will end up getting the same job offer that they would get with a graduate degree. So a majority of them choose to apply for a better college next year, as opposed for settling for an average one this year.”

“Moreover, while MBA and engineering courses offer higher number of placements, the competition is cut-throat. In comparison, specialized courses like BArch offer less number of placements but there is a higher chance of actually getting placed,” she adds.

Having said that, when government backed initiatives like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Smart Cities Project’ start in full swing, the demand for MBAs, engineers etc is expected to increase owing to the newly created job opportunities. So the enrollment for these courses may witness a sharp increase in the subsequent years.