Now, a 4-yr degree marries engineering with management

CHENNAI: Most engineers aspire for a management degree. How else do you explain that 64% of the candidates who applied for the Common Admission Test (CAT) in 2011 had an engineering background? Against this backdrop comes the announcement of a BTech degree that comes with two majors – one in engineering and another in management.
From the next academic year, VIT University in Vellore will offer two major subjects in its BTech programme.Students will have the option of pursuing regular engineering majors or study an engineering subject as the first major and a management subject as the second. “This is done in response to industry’s need for engineers with strong additional background in management subjects. Many engineers become project managers in 10 years. This course could reduce the time significantly while equipping them with skills to get on the job soon,” said university vice-chancellor V Raju.
To get a BTech degree with two majors, students will have to take 10 extra subjects in human resources, marketing, finance or general management. The students opting for two majors can still complete the degree programme in four years. However, they will have to devote two of the summer sessions — one at the end of the second year and the other at the end of the third year— to complete the requirements for the second major.
There have been precedents. Cognizant started a course of software development and management in VIT University in 2000. The aim was to bring in the elements of management within a course on software. “It wasn’t done to recruit a particular type of students. The reasoning was that such students may fare better when some of them hold managerial positions after a few years,” said a Cognizant official.
Students who complete the required credit hours can also complete a full-time two-year MBA in three partnering universities in the US in one year. Appropriate credits can also be transferred for the MS programme offered by the universities, said professor Raju.
Some industry sources are skeptical. “I don't see companies making their recruitment decisions based on the existence of the two kinds of credits, on this, giving preference to dual degree students. They will still look for graduates with a good grip on fundamental engineering skills. Yes, if a candidate is able to show a good understanding of business, he might stand to benefit, but it won't be due to the course tag,” said an official within a top three Indian IT firms.
There are few such courses in India or in the US. Naresee Monjee Institute of Management Studies introduced a similar course for integrating management and technology courses three years ago, but it hasn't been successful, said educational consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi. “Companies are always going to prefer management graduates with significant experience over fresh graduates with both technology and management majors. I don't think it gives the students of this new course any major advantage. This is especially true for universities like VIT, where 90% of the hiring is done by IT companies,” he added.