Science grads outshine gen counterparts in job mkt

The Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) and Information Technology (IT) graduates now occupy major chunk of the country's job market thanks to fast expansion of digitization and ICT activities both at public and private levels, market insiders said.
Besides these graduates, they observed, other science graduates from Pharmacy, Statistics, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Applied Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Applied Physics, Electronics & Communication Engineering and Bio-medical Physics & Technology background also continue to hold their grip on the market.
But, they viewed, lucrative job market for the business graduates is now losing its charm to some extent as opportunities are not growing for them that much compared to the increase in number of graduates.
When asked, University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Professor Abdul Mannan said, "I see graduates having technical backgrounds, especially the CSE and IT graduates, are getting job within two-three months on completion of their study."
He, however, said it's true that a lot of business and arts graduates are facing intense competition in the job market but graduates from science, engineering and technical background can get their job rather easily.
"I think in this age of technology and globalization the demand for graduates having technical background will increase to a great extent even in the coming days. But the number of such talents is not marking a desired level of rise in our country as per demand," the UGC chief noted.
He said only two per cent of the students used to show their interest in obtaining technical and engineering degrees merely 5-6 years ago which has now increased to 14 per cent. But, he said, it is still insufficient to meet the growing needs of entities and different expanding and emerging sectors.
"The UGC is also relentlessly working to promote technical education in the country as it vows to unlock opportunities for the talented and industrious Bangladeshi graduates both at home and abroad," he added.
According to UGC official figure, around 12590 engineering graduates, 63500 arts graduates, 35625 business graduates and 16800 science graduates came out successfully from the country's public universities in 2015. It was also seen that there were comparatively limited seats and fewer students passed with engineering background in most of the private universities compared to the general students.
The number of students passed in 2015 from some of the country's private universities were 525 engineering and 1457 general students from North South University (NSU), 950 engineering and 270 general students from Ahsanullah University of Science & Technology (AUST), 418 engineering and 920 general students from East West University (EWU), 590 engineering and 910 general students from BRAC University, 450 engineering and 1078 general students from  Bangladesh University of Business and Technology (BUBT) and 1015 engineering with 820 general students passed from American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB).
Terming it an imbalance, the UGC head said it is one of the important reasons behind the country's unemployment problem.
"I do strongly believe that if we can increase the number of engineering and science graduates, it'll have a lasting impact on addressing the unemployment problem in the country while helping increase our inflow of foreign remittance significantly by means of exporting technically-skilled manpower," he added.
Daudul Islam, an HR professional working at electronics giant Walton, told the FE that they usually get 70 to 80 CVs for a general post whereas they don't get more than 10 CVs for an engineer's post.
"In our company the opportunity for technical graduates is significantly increasing day by day as we're gradually expanding our operation in the area but the expansion in general departments is not significant," he added.
Md. Shafiqul Islam Mamun, Managing Director of human resource (HR) management firm HR Bangladesh Limited said that there is a huge demand for skilled human resources both at home and abroad.
"We're getting a lot of requisitions from the national and international level entities for skilled human resources but sometimes we find it difficult to provide them with the skilled manpower as per their expectations," he added.
He, however, stressed that instead of general graduates the number of skilled technical graduates needs to be increased to get competitive advantage.
"We're an overpopulated country, but it can be our strength only when we can enhance the skills which the entities inside the country and beyond the border are all looking for," he added.
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