Students collect admission forms at Magadh Mahila College in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Students have started to queue up to collect admission forms for the 16 popular postgraduate vocational courses at Patna University.

On Wednesday, the university issued the notification for admission for postgraduate courses. The sale and submission of admission forms for these courses have begun.

Teachers and students said the good job prospects and better career avenues are attracting students to vocational courses over the past few years.

Some of the vocational courses offered by Patna University, which are in high demand, are MA in women studies, MA in rural studies, MSc in biotechnology and MA in journalism.

Padmalata Thakur, the course coordinator of women studies, said: “After completing their degree in women studies, students are getting jobs in government as well as non-government organisation, which work for the welfare of women and children.”

Other students have also opted to go for research work and teaching jobs. From this year, Patna University is going to start a pre-registration test to take admission into PhD in women studies.

Echoing the views of Thakur, Manit Kishore, a former student of women studies currently working with Jhpiego, said: “The avenues in women studies are plenty. There are many jobs in the development and welfare sectors.”

Jhpiego is an international non-profit health organisation affiliated to Johns Hopkins University. Kishore is employed as a trainer for health workers.

Students of rural studies also have plenty of job prospects. Student have to take MAT, CAT or XAT followed by group discussion and interviews to get admission in the two-year postgraduate degree course.

Prabhakar Jha, the coordinator of rural studies, said: “Our former students are working in various government as well as non-government agencies in the development sector.”

Apart from these, the varsity last year introduced a two-year master degree in journalism. Students can also apply for a diploma. Both the courses are being run by the Hindi department.

Head of the department of Hindi, Amar Kumar Singh, said: “Students of journalism can now apply for a PhD or take the National Eligibility Test. Besides a postgraduate degree is always better than a diploma for getting jobs.”