Students retain hope in IT industry

new delhi: the system may have ``crashed'''' after the downfall of the us economy. but students'' believe it would be folly to ``abort'''' from the information technology scene. many are giving the system time to ``reboot'''' itself. courses in web-designing and e-commerce have suffered a drubbing, but those in computer engineering, electronics and telecommunications are receiving a heavier response.``there is no doubt that the use of technology in these sectors is going to increase,'''' says b n jain, a professor and former head of iit''s computer science and engineering department. what of the future: the demand for infotech courses at the university level is showing no signs of declining. clearly, the demand is much more than the supply. however, it giants like tata infotech and aptech are expanding their computer education network. interestingly, many of the institutes are dangling the carrot of ``university certification'''', either foreign or indian, to rope in students. according to jain, it is a wide term which includes computer science, electronics and telecom. henna bhardwaj, a senior counsellor with niit, admitted there had been a decline in the number of students wanting to do it courses after school. niit offers a range of courses, from three months to four years. ``the decline has been more in the courses of web-designing and e-commerce,'''' she said. the questions which dominate the students'' mind start with whether the market will pick up and how long that will take, added bhardwaj. students are taking up short-term courses because of this shaky belief. ``problems in certain programmes arose because they were created and later scrapped without having a time-frame,'''' jain said. for instance, the impact of e-commerce, which was recently introduced, actually needed to be seen for a few years before launching a course. a final year student of the mba (e-commerce) course said: ``it was hard to convince companies to take us in, but all of us managed.'''' the two-year course is being offered by the guru gobind singh indraprastha university. something else worries students in the previous year. ``on one hand the market scenario is down. on the other hand, the faculty is not up to the mark,'''' a student said. but there are still many who plan to take up a computer course along with college studies. ``that''s because a person with a computer qualification stands a better chance of landing a job later,'''' says shweta kathuria, who is planning to do a two-year computer course. what it entails: there is a plethora of information science or technology courses being offered by universities and institutes. most courses being sought by the university system are much in demand. o p goyal, dean of academic affairs of the indraprastha university, says the number of applications for infotech courses has in fact gone up by 30 to 40 per cent. the varsity offers a wide vista including an integrated five-and-a-half year m tech in it and a bachelors in computer aided management. four btech programmes in it, computer science and application, electronics and mechanical and automation are being offered by six self-financing institutes. nearly 20 institutes offer bachelors in information sciences/technology. delhi university too offers bit/bis courses in nearly 30 colleges. but the status of these courses is on shaky ground after the university grants commission decided not to recognise them. what of opportunities: ``students who are going in for these courses in well-known universities or the iits see their future well defined,'''' says jain. the mood is upbeat in delhi university as well. ``the it growth has fallen from 60 to 45 per cent,'''' says a final-year student deepak kumar. ``it is still the best bet if you want a job,'''' he adds. probably, because 130 students out of 180 were placed with leading companies in the first week of placements itself. pramod khera, ceo of the training and education business division of aptech ltd, dismisses the general feeling that opportunities have become limited. ``the us might have crashed but this does not indicate the mood of the rest of the world. in fact this might create more opportunities here,'''' he said. a professor in du''s computer science department, on condition of anonymity, said: ``the crash of java dosen''t mean the crash of infotech.'''' in fact, aptech which trained three lakh students in the career segment last year is planning to train 4.5 lakh this year, added khera. the industry growth in the training sector is expected to rise as well, he said.