Decline in interest for Australian Masters in IT amongst Indian student applicants has a reason.

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Australian universities are observing a decline in demand for their Master degrees, particularly among Indian applicants.

The majority of Master’s degrees in Australia are focused on IT careers and many Indian applicants have studied engineering in computer science or commerce with the intention of incorporating IT into their profiles. There is a significant issue that unfortunately many Indian students are studying computer science with the expectation of securing jobs that are unlikely to exist. While engineering degrees will remain in demand, computer science graduates have limited options to transition to civil engineering, mechanical engineering or robotics. They can only add artificial intelligence to their current degrees as an afterthought.

While India and Indian parents should consider Antropic’s recent report on the jobs impacted by AI, most jobs that require human connection, empathy, touch or are physical in nature, whether in hospitality, healthcare or law, are unaffected. Similarly, traditional engineering areas that are not IT-focused will continue to be in demand.

Australian universities can remain relevant by offering two options:

  1. Indian Bachelor degrees now have a fourth-year option, which argues for availability of a one-year Master degree option Universities. This would make the programme more affordable and enable it to compete with one-year Master degrees from other countries such as the UK, New Zealand and Europe. Those who are applying for a Master degree after 3 year Bachelors or from unrelated areas of study may undertake a pre-Masters or a graduate diploma with the missing subjects. Australia will then need to offer a post study work option even with the one year degrees.
  2. More conversion-type Master degrees in engineering should be offered to students who have studied a Computer Science Engineering Bachelor’s degree. This would allow them to transition into other in-demand engineering disciplines. This should be a straightforward process and there will be a demand for such programmes.

Students and career counsellors should consider reading the Antropic report (https://www.anthropic.com/research/labor-market-impacts ) and watching the accompanying video.https://youtu.be/XvPezpsc1dE?si=dJfWcrbW5-x9nMB5

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Published by Ravi Lochan Singh

Ravi Lochan Singh is the Managing Director of Global Reach, a company that has been representing leading Universities from around the world for 32+ years. An alumnus of India's The Doon School, Delhi's SRCC and thereafter having completed an MBA from Bond University, Australia; he founded the company in 1991. Ravi has been working with various international bodies across countries in the development of the self-regulatory structures for the industry. His role with AAERI (the one of its kind agent body promoted by the Australian Government Departments) has earned him recognition as a major stakeholder in the education export industry. His blogs on education topics has significant following and his comments on matters of importance pertaining to his sector can ruffle settled notions. The blog is his personal expression and mayn't be read as official statements of organisations that he is associated with.

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