Fancy degree, but no jobs on offer
Our Correspondent
Dibrugarh: New courses are all right, but are they making guinea pigs of students?
This is the question students of the one-year post-graduate diploma course in bio-informatics would like to ask Dibrugarh University.
The lack of employment opportunities has left most students feeling that they are wasting their time, money and energy in pursuing a course that could give them a diploma and little else. “We took admission in the belief that getting a job would be reasonably easy, if not a direct leap. But our illusions have been shattered,” a student who completed the course this year said.
The university launched the diploma course under its Centre for Bio-informatics in January 2006 amid much fanfare.
The course was extensively publicised through newspaper advertisements and press releases. Two batches of 30 students each took admission in the first year.
“We paid Rs 35,000 as course fees. At the end of the year, the university administration asked us to deposit another Rs 5,000 . The reason cited was miscalculation of the expenses per student. Is this the way the university plans its courses?” another student asked.
Only three students turned up for admission this year, forcing the university to decide not to take in anyone.
The centre has only one teacher, appointed on contract. It hires the services of teachers from other departments to run the diploma course. It functions from the premises of the department of statistics.
An official of the university admitted that the course in bio-informatics was hastily planned. “All the promises made by the university through advertisements and press releases are hollow. The university should not start new courses in haste. We need to be practical about the job potential of a course before going ahead with it.”
Another source said the university was launching various short-term certificate and diploma courses with only revenue in mind. “Nobody seems to be bothered about confirming whether such courses will help students find employment after passing out.”
The deputy registrar (academic) of the university, Rajib Handique, denied the allegations made by the students and blamed them instead for their plight. He said the reluctance of students to go outside the state for jobs was responsible for their predicament.
“It will be untrue if someone says that the short-term courses offered by the university are only meant to generate revenue for the institution. The students who are making such allegations are themselves to be blamed for their problems in finding employment. There are jobs for students who want to move out of the state. But what can the university do if a student wants a job in the town where he stays?” Handique asked.
He said the university upgraded the one-year post-graduate diploma to a two-year masters course this year to enhance the employment potential of students who opt for bio-informatics.
“Students who already have diplomas will be eligible for direct admission to the second semester of the four-semester masters course,” Handique added.
July 12, 2007,Telegraph India |
