We all know what engineering colleges are made of — students who have no intention of becoming an engineer. And in today’s competitive world, where it’s not enough to just know math and science, BITS Pilani Hyderabad has introduced a “minor in Finance” programme. And it’s quite popular, going by the number of students who have registered for it.
Why’s it so popular?
These are the two major reasons, according to Ramana Sonti, Head, Department of Economics and Finance. One, it significantly increases employability. The skill of knowing how stock markets work or understanding what an investment portfolio is, would be invaluable to an engineer in a corporate environment.
“Two, the intention isn’t to teach Finance in great depth, as one would learn if she/he did an MS in Finance. For example, the course in Fundamental Finance and Accounting teaches students how to interpret balance sheets, and doesn’t deal with the process of bookkeeping from scratch. It is designed to prepare you for life. In terms of breadth, there is no difference between an IIM’s curriculum for Finance and BITS Pilani’s minor programme,” Sonti says.
Larger registrations
Seventeen students will graduate with the minor in Finance, supplementing their major degree later this month. As many as 97 students entering their final year, had enrolled for the programme and 132 students entering their third year have registered for the finance minor, according to Sonti. “This is a very high level of receptiveness, and has made the classroom size quite large for courses that previously used to have a headcount of 20-25 students,” he adds.
“BITS Pilani has a history of flexibility and non-traditional curriculum. Perhaps, no other Engineering-and-sciences college would have made it mandatory for students to opt for either Economics or Management as a compulsory subject back in the early 1980s. This, coupled with the fact that financial literacy is being considered a vital part of life in a corporate or entrepreneurial environment, means that a working knowledge of basic Finance is helpful to any student,” explains the head of Economics and Finance department.
The exodus
Even considering the popularity of Engineering as an undergraduate option, there is today a mass exodus from engineering colleges to B-schools for the coveted “MBA”, which is an expensive program. “Before jumping into MBA, you can get a little taste of what you’ll learn in the programme, through this minor,” says Sonti.
Eligibility
The minor is awarded to students who complete two compulsory courses — Fundamentals of Finance and Accounting, and Financial management, in addition to three other elective courses where the student can choose from among courses like Security Analysis and Portfolio Management, Business Analysis and Valuation, Econometric Methods, etc.
Any single-degree student with a cumulative grade point average of above 4.5 (on 10) is eligible for this course. This enables students who haven’t performed well in their major degree, to register for the programme.