MCA has lost its charm in high-tech world

The world has seen the worst economic slowdown in last two years. Every nation of the world has gone through this recession and this phase has not left any industry untouched.

The impact of the slowdown has affected the corporate world in many ways. Most of the companies have started doing cost cutting in many areas and expenditure over. This cost cutting in IT has taken the edge from the MCA degree. The software programmers are also being taken a back seat by professionals with engineering degrees, as outsourcing work gets more complex. In last few years India has seen a great growth and increase in the number of engineering colleges in the country, which has given a wider choice to students to take B. Tech or a B.E. degree, which is given more preference over the MCA by most of the employers, according to one report published in Economic Times.

Presently, all big and small companies want to hire a candidate with a B.E. or B. Tech degree because when it comes to technical know-how, then a BE and B. Tech graduate holds a upper hand as compared to MCA candidate. So the employers always give preference to B. E. or B. Tech candidates as compared to other MCA counterparts. In such kind of environment and competition, now fewer students are applying for the MCA entrance test, and the number of MCA graduates is decreasing day-by-day. The universities have claimed that the number of enrollment has come down by about 5-10 percent in MCA courses.

The interest of the students is also decreasing in the course, now students want to go more for a BE or B.Tech rather than just being an MCA. MCA course from JNU is considered among the best courses in India, but it is also loosing its charm among the youth. Last year there were only 29 candidate for the 39 seats in the course, it shows there ratio and the decreasing interest of the students in this field. At the National Institutes of Technology or NITs, 6,504 students appeared for the combined entrance exam in 2009, compared to 8,223 in 2008. Of the 20 NITs spread across the country, 11 offer the MCA programme, with 766 seats in all.

People have different opinions over its declining popularity, some feels that the duration of the course is big hindrance which is keeping students ways from it, because when a student can get a degree of B. Tech in four years and can get a better job than why one will go for an extra three years programme. The industry considers an MCA degree equivalent to a B Tech one, whereas one takes longer to finish the MCA, so due to this also the students are more going for B. Tech or a B.E. programme.

However, the colleges offering MCA degree are considering to increase the number of seats. For instance JNU will be offering 46 seats in this year. Number of seats in Maharashtra could be risen by up to 20 percent this year. Seats in various NITs are also on the rise. But the question is this, is it really worth to increase the number of the seats when the available number are still vacant.

Source: Manisha Verma (Team Shiksha)

Date: 19th Feb., 2010

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