The BBA fad fades

Pursuing a business degree in private universities was all the rage in the twenties, but engineering and technical studies have risen to be the top choices among students over the last decade.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) data shows the proportion of bachelor’s in business administration (BBA) students decreased from 45.46 per cent in 2010 to 23.92 per cent in 2020 while that of engineering and technical pupils increased from 25.27 per cent to 42.08 per cent in this period.

This is mainly due to increased job opportunities in engineering and technology fields, experts said.

The UGC in its 2020 annual report said the number of science, medical, engineering and agriculture students in private universities rose in 2020 compared to the previous year while that in other fields declined.

UGC Member Professor Dr Sazzad Hossain told The Business Post everything in today’s society depends on technology in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

There are lots of job opportunities for engineering and technical students both in the local and international markets, he said.

Sazzad further said Japan is seeking skilled information technology (IT) and software engineers from Bangladesh while there are also many jobs in Canada, Europe, and the US for those skilled in IT and engineering.

The UGC data shows the number of engineering and technical students at North South University rose from 2,563 in 2010 to 7,560 in 2020. There were only 1,017 students studying such subjects at BRAC University in 2010, and the number jumped to 5,516 in 2020.

Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology had 7,480 students in 2020, and 6,202 of them were studying engineering and technical subjects. The rest were pursuing other degrees, including BBA.

Bdjobs.com Chief Executive Officer AKM Fahim Mashroor said around 70-80 per cent of private university students had studied BBA in the last 10 years but most of them did not get jobs after graduation.

Those who landed jobs were offered poor salaries, except for the banking sector, he said.

“Besides, there are more job opportunities for engineering and technical graduates in Bangladesh and abroad. That is why students now prefer studying such subjects,” he added.

Fahim also said engineering and technical students mostly have IT and software programming job opportunities while engineers can work in garment factories as well.

There is also a huge demand for electrical and mechanical engineers in the job market, he added.

Experts said higher education students are increasingly getting interested in engineering and technical subjects as they believe they will easily get jobs upon graduation.

Private universities are offering various engineering and technical programmes, including architecture, civil engineering, electrical and electronics engineering, computer science and engineering, textile engineering, interior architecture, and mechatronics engineering.

United International University Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Chowdhury Mofizur Rahman told The Business Post many BBA students failed to get their desired jobs after graduation when this programme was all the craze.

“This was perhaps due to a scarcity of such jobs. That is why private university students now prefer engineering subjects,” he explained.

Mofizur further said the demand for engineering and technical degrees is high as students are pursuing them considering the current job market trends as well as overseas employment opportunities. “There are also scopes for making money in the outsourcing market.”

Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh Vice-Chairman Lion Sharif Ali Khan said most of their employees, including engineers, architects, and electricians, studied engineering and technical subjects.

Sharif, also the chairman of Khan Builders & Development, said, “We are appointing engineering and technical graduates considering the nature of jobs in this sector while there are only a few posts for graduates of other subjects.”

The UGC data shows the proportion of arts and humanities students in private universities was 10.74 per cent in 2020, down from 11.42 per cent in 2010.

The share of law students fell to 6.18 per cent in 2020 from 8.6 per cent in 2010. Besides, the proportion of pharmacy students went up to 0.53 per cent in 2020 from 0.18 per cent in 2010 while that of social science pupils slightly grew to 2.95 per cent in 2020 from 2.84 per cent in 2010.

There was a jump in the proportion of students studying science-related subjects to 6.71 per cent in 2020 from 2.21 per cent in 2010 while that pursuing degrees in agriculture subjects grew to 0.53 per cent in 2020 from 0.18 per cent in 2010.

UGC Director (Private University Division) Md Omar Faruque told The Business Post students are becoming more interested in pursuing engineering and technical degrees considering job opportunities.

“Their parents also want them to study these subjects so that they can easily get jobs after graduation,” he added.

Bangladesh has seen tremendous growth in the number of private universities since the enactment of the Private Universities Act 1992. There are 108 private universities at present where 3,28,689 students study.