Pure sciences lure more graduates

The craze to pursue higher studies in science has increased this year as there is a 30 per cent increase in students taking the Joint Admission Test for MSc (JAM) in IITs and IISc. 

As many as 51,000 students have applied to take the computer based test in 63 centres across India this year on February 7 whereas in 2015 the number was 39,000. According to IIT-Madras, which organises the all India level test for the academic year 2016-17, the number of candidates who sit for the test from Tamil Nadu has witnessed over 35 per cent increase from 1,700 in 2015 to 2,300 this year. The test is conducted in five cities in Tamil Nadu — Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy and Tirunelveli. 

About the reasons for the increase in numbers this year, professor V Subramanian, professor of Physics at IIT-Madras and organising chairman, JAM 2016 said that the awareness level for the test and science courses had increased in the recent past, which reflects in the rise in applicants this year. 

“Research is based on basic sciences, which students have now started to realise and that has made more candidates to apply for JAM 2016. South India has more potential for sciences, so science faculty should increase awareness among students about the advantages of joining science stream,” he said. 

JAM 2016 is conducted for admission to integrated PhD degree programmes at IISc Bangalore and MSc (Two Years), Joint MSc-PhD, MScPhD dual degree, MSc-MTech degree programmes at IITs (Bhubaneswar, Bombay, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Patna, Roorkee and Ropar).