With campus placements turning weak, more students are opting for post graduate (PG) studies. Colleges have seen a 10% to 40% increase in applications for post graduate courses this year.
With the economic slowdown taking a toll globally and sentiment falling domestically, companies are going slow on campus recruitments. Consequently, students who are graduating want to use this time to equip themselves with more qualifications.
"The trend started in 2009 because of the weak job market then. Year-on-year, we are seeing a 5%-10% increase in the number of applications. All the programmes are full. That was not the case earlier," said S Vaidhyasubramaniam, dean - planning & development of SASTRA University in Thanjavur. "The demand has increased for PhD programmes, especially in life sciences. We received more than 800 applications for 15 PhD seats."
At Manipal University, there has been a 15%-20% increase over the last year for PG admissions, said Chetana Bekal, management executive, Manipal University. "The increase is significant in MTech and more surprisingly in MSc. Many MSc students are looking to get into teaching," she said. At SRM University in Chennai, the number of applications has increased by around 10% said S Ganapathy, dean of placement. He said that the situation was the same in other universities too.
There is also considerable increase in the number of people applying for competitive examinations like Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), which are the qualifying examinations for PG studies. "I clear GATE applications and I have seen an increase of almost 40% in the number of applications," said M A Maluk Mohamed, principal at M A M College of Engineering, Trichy. "Many public sector firms like BHEL accept GATE scores for recruitment. So, it helps students in that regard too." "Such trends are seen during economic slowdown. It's not only students. Even executives will look to add to their skills in this period," said E Balaji, CEO of Randstad India, an HR consultancy firm.
This influx has both positive and negative aspects, says experts. While it is for genuine addition of skills in many cases, it is only to decorate the resume in others. "Increasing enrolment for PG is not unusual in times of recession. However, the challenge lies in attracting brighter students to PG studies. If quality increases, it would do a lot of good to the academic system," said Vaidhyasubramaniam.
With campus placements turning weak, more students are opting for post graduate (PG) studies. Colleges have seen a 10% to 40% increase in applications for post graduate courses this year.
With the economic slowdown taking a toll globally and sentiment falling domestically, companies are going slow on campus recruitments. Consequently, students who are graduating want to use this time to equip themselves with more qualifications.
"The trend started in 2009 because of the weak job market then. Year-on-year, we are seeing a 5%-10% increase in the number of applications. All the programmes are full. That was not the case earlier," said S Vaidhyasubramaniam, dean - planning & development of SASTRA University in Thanjavur. "The demand has increased for PhD programmes, especially in life sciences. We received more than 800 applications for 15 PhD seats."
At Manipal University, there has been a 15%-20% increase over the last year for PG admissions, said Chetana Bekal, management executive, Manipal University. "The increase is significant in MTech and more surprisingly in MSc. Many MSc students are looking to get into teaching," she said. At SRM University in Chennai, the number of applications has increased by around 10% said S Ganapathy, dean of placement. He said that the situation was the same in other universities too.
There is also considerable increase in the number of people applying for competitive examinations like Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), which are the qualifying examinations for PG studies. "I clear GATE applications and I have seen an increase of almost 40% in the number of applications," said M A Maluk Mohamed, principal at M A M College of Engineering, Trichy. "Many public sector firms like BHEL accept GATE scores for recruitment. So, it helps students in that regard too." "Such trends are seen during economic slowdown. It's not only students. Even executives will look to add to their skills in this period," said E Balaji, CEO of Randstad India, an HR consultancy firm.
This influx has both positive and negative aspects, says experts. While it is for genuine addition of skills in many cases, it is only to decorate the resume in others. "Increasing enrolment for PG is not unusual in times of recession. However, the challenge lies in attracting brighter students to PG studies. If quality increases, it would do a lot of good to the academic system," said Vaidhyasubramaniam.
With the economic slowdown taking a toll globally and sentiment falling domestically, companies are going slow on campus recruitments. Consequently, students who are graduating want to use this time to equip themselves with more qualifications.
"The trend started in 2009 because of the weak job market then. Year-on-year, we are seeing a 5%-10% increase in the number of applications. All the programmes are full. That was not the case earlier," said S Vaidhyasubramaniam, dean - planning & development of SASTRA University in Thanjavur. "The demand has increased for PhD programmes, especially in life sciences. We received more than 800 applications for 15 PhD seats."
At Manipal University, there has been a 15%-20% increase over the last year for PG admissions, said Chetana Bekal, management executive, Manipal University. "The increase is significant in MTech and more surprisingly in MSc. Many MSc students are looking to get into teaching," she said. At SRM University in Chennai, the number of applications has increased by around 10% said S Ganapathy, dean of placement. He said that the situation was the same in other universities too.
There is also considerable increase in the number of people applying for competitive examinations like Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), which are the qualifying examinations for PG studies. "I clear GATE applications and I have seen an increase of almost 40% in the number of applications," said M A Maluk Mohamed, principal at M A M College of Engineering, Trichy. "Many public sector firms like BHEL accept GATE scores for recruitment. So, it helps students in that regard too." "Such trends are seen during economic slowdown. It's not only students. Even executives will look to add to their skills in this period," said E Balaji, CEO of Randstad India, an HR consultancy firm.
This influx has both positive and negative aspects, says experts. While it is for genuine addition of skills in many cases, it is only to decorate the resume in others. "Increasing enrolment for PG is not unusual in times of recession. However, the challenge lies in attracting brighter students to PG studies. If quality increases, it would do a lot of good to the academic system," said Vaidhyasubramaniam.
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