Make a movie, learn to cook: Mumbai colleges offer specialised courses
Mumbai city news: courses like BA (Culinary Arts), BMS (Environmental Management and Economics) and BSc (Interdisciplinary) allow students to focus on their field of interest at undergraduate level
Interested in a career in interior designing, media production or culinary arts? You no longer need to enrol in an add-on course while pursuing graduation. Colleges in Mumbai are now offering specialised courses in these subjects, which, until now, weren’t available as degree programmes.
The University of Mumbai (MU) had started offering specialised undergraduate programmes in 2002, when it introduced Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM), Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) and BSc (Information Technology), in addition to the traditional BA, BCom and BSc courses.
These programmes came to be known as self-financed courses, as they are not subsidised by the state government. Colleges charge students the full fee for the course. With the demand for these courses increasing, the university added a host of other such courses, including BCom (Accounting and Finance), BCom (Banking and Insurance) and BSc (Hospitality Studies). All these courses continue to be popular among students.
Now, the field has become much more diversified, with recent additions such as BA (Culinary Arts), BMS (Environmental Management and Economics) and BSc (Interdisciplinary).
These courses cater to the demands in the job market, while allowing students to focus on their field of interest at the undergraduate level.
With around 60 colleges affiliated to MU getting approval for new courses last year, many of them have started offering the recently-introduced courses. For example, GM Momin Women’s College in Bhiwandi has added BSc (Interdisciplinary) among the list of courses available at the college.
According to Aslam Fakih, president of Kokan Muslim Education Society (KMES), the course will open up new employment avenues for the students. “Five years ago, we had started BSc (Biotechnology) after realising that biotechnology has more scope in the future. BSc (Interdisciplinary) will be complimentary to this course,” he said
Unlike the plain BSc, which offers in-depth study of one or two of the three major branches of science - Physics, Chemistry and Biology - the interdisciplinary course exposes them to all three. The course is said to be particularly helpful to those aspiring to be science teachers in schools, as they are required to be knowledgeable about various subjects.
Similarly, Maharashi Dayanand (MD) College in Parel has added BMS (Environmental Management and Economics). The course not only seeks to make the students technically sound, but also aims at their holistic development.
“We expect this course to have more scope in the future. Be it corporate or government institutions, they are all concerned about being eco-friendly. Besides, the study of economics, which is a universal subject, makes management grads more effective in their jobs,” said Thankam Ghule, principal of the college.
The students are being offered specialised courses in the field of humanities as well. A number of colleges, including KC College in Churchgate, have started courses like BA in Film, TV and New Media Production.
“These days, students are getting more focused when it comes to choosing a career. We decided to offer this course, as there was no problem available for media production,” said Hemlata Bagla, principal, KC College.
