11.07.2019
Why bother with a master's degree? Across India, the post-graduate
course has earned a slightly odd reputation. It's the scholar's stepping
stone to a doctorate. It's lucrative in a handful of streams like
business and development studies. But for much else it's seen as dated
and out of touch with the job market.
Now, niche, post-graduate courses are fighting back. They offer
interdisciplinary studies and specialisations in new domains that might
help you get hired or get ahead. Industry professionals are included as
faculty, and the curriculum is geared to provide hands-on experience.
These are making a master's in law, arts, data analytics, data science
and information technology (IT) especially productive.
The Sciences get a Boost
Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) recently launched its
first masters programme with a specialisation in disease biology. The
institute's director M Radhakrishna Pillai says most pharma, bio-pharma
and biotech industries are typically unwilling to hire masters' level
students. "The companies have to invest at least two years to get them
job-ready," he says.
At the institute, most master's students "come from colleges and
institutes that teach in an old fashioned way, with no access to modern
technology," he says. They're not prepared for the research-oriented
programme and the chance to work with India's top scientists.
So at RGCB, students actually work in the labs for their MSc
programme. There's a large diagnostics facility for infectious diseases
and a DNA fingerprinting facility. The institute's business-development
incubator, BioNest, in Kochi, has 26 start-up companies and students
intern with them. "There is high demand especially in the health
industry, for trained people to work in advanced clinical diagnostics
labs in the hospitals. And that is exactly what we are providing," he
says.
J Irene Infancy, a first year student specialising in molecular
diagnostics and DNA profiling says the facilities are a boon. "Not many
institutes in India offer specialisation courses in biotechnology. It's
one of the main reasons I chose to study here," she says. "The MSc
biotechnology course has increased my scientific temperament and
critical thinking."
Hindustan Times
