Pharmacy a silver lining as placements down at PU

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 11

Among the professional courses at Panjab University (PU), all have shown decline in percentage of placements and median salaries being offered in the last three years. Postgraduate course in pharmacy is the only brightest spot as here placements have risen from 73.1 per cent to 92.3 per cent in three years.

According to National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) report 2018, submitted by Panjab University (PU) before the HRD Ministry, in engineering at the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) there has been no rise in median salaries offered for the last two years as it is stagnant at Rs 5 lakh. The overall placements have also been on decline as it has fallen from close to 89 per cent to 65 per cent in three years.

In postgraduate course at the UIET, the placements have been quite low and in three years it has fallen from over 23 per cent to over one per cent; as just one student got placed out of 74 in 2016-17. However, 18 students went for higher studies in 2016-17.

At two-year MBA course in University Business School (UBS), the percentage of placements has increased gradually in the last three years, from 61.7 per cent to 64.6 per cent. However, there is a dip in median salary. But the UBS remains the bright spot if we compare the salary packages offered.

The five-year course at the University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS) has witnessed zero placements in 2014-15 and 2015-16 while in 2016-17, there has been close to three per cent placements with median salary Rs 3.36 lakh.

In five-year Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), the percentage of placements has come down from 31.7 per cent in 2014-15 to 26.3 per cent in 2015-16 but then little increased to 29.5 per cent in 2016-17. However, the median salary offered is same at Rs 3.6 lakh. Though a good chunk of students are going for higher studies.

In postgraduate courses, the placement percentage has risen from 14.6 per cent in 2014-15 to 18.6 per cent in 2015-16. It has further risen to 23.6 per cent in 2016-17.

In postgraduate two-year course, the median salary was Rs 4.78 lakh in 2016-17 while in 2015-16 it was Rs 3.55 lakh. However, in 2013-14 it was Rs 5.25 lakh.

In postgraduate three-year course, the median salary in 2016-17 was Rs 5.31 lakh while in 2013-14 it was much lesser at Rs 3.25 lakh. In 2012-13 it was Rs 5 lakh.

In undergraduate courses, the percentage of placements has fallen from 33.3 per cent in 2014-15 to 31.1 per cent in 2015-16. It has further fallen to 26.8 per cent in 2016-17.

In four-year undergraduate courses, the median salary has fallen from Rs 5 lakh in 2014-15 to Rs 4.50 lakh in 2015-16 to further Rs 4.39 lakh in 2016-17.

In three-year undergraduate courses, the median salary has however risen from Rs 1.85 lakh in 2014-15 to Rs 3.60 lakh in 2015-16. But in 2016-17 it has fallen to Rs 2.27 lakh.