The talking point in the corridors of the University of Madras is the M.A. course in Vaishnavism, which has been a huge hit in the past few years. Those making a beeline for the course, according to a dean at the university, are retired bureaucrats, housewives, grandmothers, retired engineers or those whose children are settled abroad.

The university’s Department of Statistics has been offering an M.Sc. in actuarial sciences. “It is an innovative programme with good career prospects as it relates to insurance and finance,” a Dean said. Another course that provides career opportunities is the four-year B.Sc. in audiology, speech, language and pathology. “It is an excellent course,” said Dr. S. Asok Kumar, Head of the Department of Audiology, Speech, Language and Pathology, SRM Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre, Kattankulathur, on the outskirts of Chennai.

Asok Kumar, who has a Ph.D. in audiology from the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, says students who finished this course get employment abroad. There is such a flight abroad of these graduates that “we are unable to get faculty members for the course”, he added. It was a three-year programme but following stipulations by the United States that students should have done a four-year programme to work in the discipline in the U.S., it was converted into a four-year course in India.

A degree in siddha, unani, and yoga and naturopathy could lead to rewarding careers. A press release from the State Health and Family Welfare Department on July 1 invited applications for undergraduate courses starting in 2008-09. Applications are available up to July 18 at the Government Siddha Medical College, the Government Unani Medical College and the Government Yoga and Naturopathy Medical College, all in Chennai, and the Government Siddha Medical College, Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli, and the Government Homoeopathy Medical College, Tirumangalam, Madurai district. Details can be had at www.tnhealth.org.

T.S. Subramanian