A plethora of educational opportunities are available for students in the commerce stream. One of the most obvious and common option is to pursue B.Com. degree. This is not a hi-fi degree. Its delivery in conventional system of education is riddled with criticism on quality, curriculum and placement orientation. Nevertheless, it is easily accessible and less expensive. It opens up new opportunities afterwards.

1. B.Com (Honors) / (Computers): New variants of B.Com. are introduced by Universities and educational institutes in the recent past. These are industry oriented and placement focused. B.Com (Honors) course, generally concentrating on business and economics and highly application oriented, is one such course. Similarly B.Com (Computers) with focus on application of computers in commerce is another such program. With the growth of financial sector in India, specialization courses have made their way into B.Com courses. These include Corporate Accounting, Advertisement, Sales Promotion, Office Management & Secretarial Practice, Tax Procedures & Practices, etc.

2. B.Com + CA: A new trend in the market place is to offer B.Com Program aligned to courses such as CA. In this program, the Institute would offer essential knowledge required for clearing CA, which a student has to pursue independently. However, the institute provides a B.Com degree on successful completion. This is promoted as a risk mitigating proposition because the qualifying percentage of students pursuing CA is very low and a guaranteed B.Com degree would provide them a much needed career path should they fail in their CA.

3. B.A. / B.Com Economics / Actuarial Science: There are other valuable courses such as BA in Economics, Bachelor in Mass Communication, Bachelor in Actuarial Science, Bachelor in Computer Applications, etc. These are placement oriented application courses. However, there are limitations on their availability and quality of delivery.

4. BBA- LLB / BA-LLB: Integrated programs such as BBA-LLB or BA-LLB are also attractive options for the commerce students. These programs are usually for duration of 5 years. The students earn two degrees in these programs. However there is no exit option to come out with one degree after three years. Selection for these courses is through entrance tests and number of seats is limited.

Rohini is a bright student from her childhood. She used to impress her teachers with her sharpness in learning and creativity in handling challenges. She has always been very independent in her thinking. Her father is an Engineer and mother a Doctor. Rohini is a lucky child not to have parental pressure in choosing career options. She has developed liking for commerce and passed Intermediate in Commerce courses with distinction. While her friends are generally swayed away by Engineering and Medical courses, she is firm in pursuing options in the field of Commerce. The challenge she is now facing is unlike Engineering and Medical courses, there is not much of information available to her on the career options in Commerce. She firmly believes that every road is paved with gold and she would like to tread the Commerce path.

The questions bothering her now are – What kind of courses she can pursue in future after a successful Intermediate in Commerce stream? How to get into an Institute if she likes one? How long does it take for her to complete certain programs? What is the position she can achieve if she pursues a particular program? How rewarding is the career if she chooses a particular path? She broached the matter with some of her teachers and friends. To her disappointment, none of them provided valuable inputs and insights. There is vacuum.

The case of Rohini is not an isolated one. There are many bright students who suffer from the ‘information poverty’ at critical career stages and make uninformed and often wrong choices. In fact a career in Commerce is as lucrative as Engineering or Medicine, if only one knows about it. In an economy which is growing 8-9 per cent per annum, in a country where MNCs prefer to set their shop, in a society which is booming with youngsters, in an environment where business growth is expected to be northwards for the next couple of decades – programs in commerce are bound to provide excellent career choices. Coupled to this the largest chunk of India’s GDP came from the financial services sector and its allied sectors in the recent past. In this economic and business environment, career options are blossoming for commerce graduates and post graduates.