After Plus Two

The commerce students have excellent career opportunities with professional qualifications such as CA, ICWA, CS and CFA. However, these are difficult educational programs and take time to qualify in them. These programs are not full time campus based courses and hence the student has to be highly responsible to complete these courses. The success rate in programs such as CA is as low as 2 per cent, while in ICWA it would be around 10 per cent. Completion of these professional courses is open ended and may take considerably long time for some students. The indicated success rates vary from University to University and from Institute to Institute. While these programs are high value by design, many a students drop out in the middle and find themselves at crossroads.

Diploma Courses: At the other end of the spectrum we have diploma courses which are accessible to students at a relatively low price, but with definiteness on getting employed. Such courses are available in the fields of Travel & Tourism, Hotel Management, Airlines, etc. These courses do not provide the path for pursuing higher degree courses and hence a student should be clear about his long term plans while selecting these courses. For those students who have some family responsibilities and who would like to be an earning member as soon as possible this is a good opportunity. However students should be careful about the credibility of the institute, placement support provided by them, past performance, etc. After the first degree students have multiple options at higher degree to create an attractive career for themselves. They can pursue post graduate programs, vocational courses, appear for competitive examinations. These opportunities are as follows:

Higher Degree Programs: Students who have pursued B.Com. can go for M.Com. However the opportunities for this course are not very lucrative. Instead, programs such as MBA, MCA, MA in Economics/Econometrics, Master of Investments and Financial Analysis (MIFA), and other Master’s programs in Financial Management, Financial Control, Financial Administration, etc. would offer better career choices.

For those who would like to go for research studies, the opportunities are very many and attractive too. There is acute shortage for doctorates in accounts and finance domains. A doctorate in these areas would help successful career in teaching profession. Teaching profession now a days is well paying, besides being a noble profession.

Certificate Courses: Certificate courses offered by NCFM would be an attractive proposition for seeking employment opportunities. Other certificate programs include financial analysis, foreign trade, banking, insurance, financial reporting, etc.

Competitive Examinations: Various competitive examinations such as UPSC, Banking Services, Combined Defense Services, State Public Service Commission, etc. are all within the reach of commerce graduates.

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.