Psychology Life, Indian Politics, Rural Development hot choices among electives

Do seminars, assignments and research work entice students more as they get promoted to higher courses? Well, more than their specialised subjects, their hearts lie where their roots are and this seems to be true of thousands of postgraduate students at Bangalore University (BU). The university's first-ever attempt to make PG students study subjects across faculties has revealed several interesting trends about the likes and dislikes of students undergoing higher education.
PG students at Jnanabharati campus of BU have a liking for subjects like rural development, social movement, human psychology, Indian politics, climate change and managing our natural resources. An increasing number of PG students have opted to study these subjects as their open elective after the university decided to introduce one compulsory subject outside their faculty as part of the PG curriculum.
According to details provided by Bangalore University, as many as 31 subjects were introduced as open electives in four different faculties. With the last date to choose subjects ending last week, the students' choices have come as a surprise to BU officials who were anticipating that they would go in for normal subjects. "Our objective was to make students familiar with other subjects outside of their curriculum which will come in handy in their day-today lives. In fact, we finalised on the subjects on this basis itself. Regardless of likes and dislikes, we will conduct classes in those subjects," Prof B Thimme Gowda, vice-chancellor, told Bangalore Mirror.
The subject Psychology and Life offered by the psychology department has got the highest number of 193 students opting for it, followed by Cooperative Management (Rural Development department) with 145 students, Indian Politics Today (Political Science department) with 139 students and Climate Change and Natural Resources Management (Environment Science department) with 101 students.
Commenting on the choices, Prof Thimme Gowda explained, "If students are opting for psychology, I can understand as it is relevant. But a subject like rural development looked really strange to me. Though it is very delicate, we cannot sideline it. Hence we have allowed students to study it as well".

Least popular
While subjects based on current events grabbed the attention of students, electives based on pure academic subjects failed to enthuse them. Subjects which had very few takers included Physics and Our World (15 students) followed by Economic Zoology (13 students), Pedagogy of Teaching and Management Perspectives with just 12 students in each.

* According to BU, 31subjects were introduced as open electives in four different faculties

* It is mandatory to obtain 4 credits in the electives