Commerce, still the most preferred course

CHENNAI: Commerce and related streams continue to be the most popular courses among college applicants. Speaking to Express, heads of different institutions say lesser students have applied for regional language courses and other streams that may have lesser job opportunities, this academic year.

The admissions into Arts and Science colleges are underway across the State. Admissions, which usually end by May or June each year, are still open owing to lockdown. While the prolonged admission period has increased the number of applications, it is only to streams that have steady job prospects say college administrators. S Gowri, the Vice-Chancellor of University of Madras told Express that similar to the previous years, commerce courses continue to be the most popular.

“Commerce, BBA, Economics and English are the most popular courses this year,” he said, adding that while most science courses are also filled, the number of applicants have reduced. “We received very good responses for science postgraduate courses, but not undergraduate ones,” added Gowri. He further said that language courses, barring English and literature, are becoming less popular. “Tamil, Hindi, Sanskrit and other niche courses like Vaishnavism do not have sufficient applicants.

This could be due to lesser career chances in these fields,” he said. Lalitha Balakrishnan, the principal of MOP Vaishnav College for Women, said that a similar trend was observed in her institution. Despite the pandemic, there were large number of applications, she said. “However, courses like Mathematics and Psychology, which were the most sought out last year, did not have as many applicants. I suspect that this is because engineering admissions are already over and students from science group have opted for that,” she said.

The increased applications to Arts and Science colleges can be compared to loss of interest in engineering, said DB Usha Rani, the vice principal of Ethiraj College. “Commerce, Corporate Economics and English are our most popular courses. This year, the demand for humanities based subjects like tourism, economics has shown an increasing trend,” she said.

The principal of another arts and science college in the city said that there is significant increase in number of postgraduate applications this year. “Many students have failed to find employment opportunities after undergraduation. In view of the pandemic, many students opted to continue higher studies instead of staying unemployed at home,” she said.