Most of the students  believes that science students has an edge over those pursuing humanities as far as career options are concerned. But they have now switched to a different school of thought – they have started taking humanities as their career option.A plethora of professional opportunities is available to students choosing this stream.

Courses like Political Science, Psychology, History, Sociology, and Philosophy are no longer poor cousins to science.
Social science is regaining its importance in establishing meaningful relationships among different aspects of the society, at DU, the study of subjects such as Political Science has been restructured till the master’s level to ensure holistic development.

Knowledge of human rights and developmental policies facilitates a student’s entry into organisations such as the United Nations.
 History, too, doesn’t lag behind as far as working towards a bright professional future is concerned. Apart from conventional choices like Civil Services and Journalism, students of History can now enter into new fields such as Art History, Art Restoration, Heritage Tourism and Psychology.

 Interestingly, a degree in Philosophy can pave a way into professions such as Law and Civil Services. Graduation in Psychology, on the other hand, opens doors to a career in clinical Psychology, organizational behavior and students also get snapped up as counselors with hospitals and multinational companies at attractive salaries.

In Philosophy, our idea is not to tell a person what to think, but teach them the logic of thinking. This helps them in making sound and informed opinions, which take you leaps and bounds in professions like Law and Civil Services.

Not only this, higher study in Human Relationship can open doors in new areas like philosophical counseling.
Such lucrative opportunities have obviously busted age-old myths for the young generation. So, Humanities, too, has acquired a serious tag.
I would prefer studying unconventional subjects as they would open up your horizon and give you an edge over others.

Cool factor

Students feel studying Humanities would widen their horizons and give them an edge over other students.
 The cliched expression that good students go for honours courses and not so good join pass course is not true anymore. Since BA pass course transformed into BA Programme from academic session 2008-09, there has been an upgradation in its status vis-à-vis other courses. Once euphemistically called royal course, as getting admission and passing out was easy, the BA programme has now become quite a sought after course, with cut off percentages rising every year.

The BA Programme is a meticulously designed package that offers the widest range of choices in its course structure and after completion bestows numerous opportunities for career planning. The distinction between honours and programme is like the distinction there is in bureaucracy between generalists and specialists. Doing an honours in any one of liberal arts or social sciences, say, history, political science or economics, one specialises in that discipline with the aim to have an incisive and holistic understanding of the subject because of sheer love for it.

Content

The restructured and revised syllabi of BA Programme starting from 2004-05 academic session onwards contains four categories of courses to be studied in three years — discipline courses, foundation courses, application courses and language courses. A student who joins the programme studies two classical disciplines, for instance political science and economics amongst various subjects offered under the rubric of discipline courses.

The idea is to build the essentials of the two major disciplines that would facilitate in grasping the subjects offered in foundation courses and application courses, for example, if one chooses political science as a discipline course, one studies the basics of political theory, Indian Constitution and politics and administration and public policy.

Career options

 After graduating in the programme course, one possesses sufficient knowledge and understanding to plan career by either pursuing further studies in some professional course or applying straight away for jobs in the interested field. It prepares one for IAS exam, as this exam requires basic understanding of two major disciplines.

With such a large array of options, one can choose journalism, film studies/making, law, management and its specialized sub-discipline areas, voluntary organizations and of course further studies for teaching and research.

RENU KASHYAP
Lecturer (Political Science)
R.P.V.V. Kishan Ganj
School ID 1208092