Regular courses are back in focus

VIJAYAWADA: It appears that non-technical graduate students are enjoying a good time with many IT companies turning to them and giving them jobs through campus drives. Students with science/commerce degrees landing jobs with various IT companies is particularly high this year.Besides being fresh, with the flexibility to adapt to different situations, it is observed that they are more happy with the jobs they get with national or international companies, compared to their engineering counterparts.Educationists observe that this trend, if sustained, will bring non-technical degree studies back into limelight. Owing to financial and other reasons, the number of students joining degree colleges after Intermediate is not more than 50 percent every year.Now that multi-national companies are eyeing nontechnical graduates, there is a better reason for many to enrol themselves for degree courses because there is hope of getting a job even before completing the course. Some companies are even providing them an opportunity to pursue higher studies with company sponsorship. “To tell the truth, MNCs have decided to rope in non-IT graduates because they are more retainable and work for lesser pay compared to engineering graduates.Since inhouse training is necessary for both the categories, retention for a longer time is said to be better assured with regular graduates. Providing them the opportunity to pursue higher studies is also a part of the strategy,” said B Roopesh, director of the placement cell, Maris Stella College.Around 70 students from the college have been placed this year with companies like Wipro, WNS, Globe Arena, Tommy Hilfiger and Bajaj Alliance.“In order to train students for the requirements of international or national IT companies, we have special training classes for skills improvement, body language, writing impressive resumes etc,” he added. The recent recruitment drive in the city illustrates the trend amply. B Sitarami Reddy, placement director at Triveni College, said the drive had more than 400 students from the city registered. Wipro, Quantro Global Services, HCL Technologies and Mahindra Satyam participated. “As many as 40 students from our college and more than 80 students from various other colleges have been selected by the above companies,” he said. Nontechnical graduates do not risk leaving the job easily, whereas engineering students are more likely to change companies frequently, he said. Along with MNCs, there are several local BPOs that are offering full-time and part-time jobs to graduate students. Currently, the city is experiencing a boom in BPOs and technology firm