KOCHI: If you want to take up something different from the regular degree courses while ensuring good career prospects, you can opt for courses in geology. Geology not only involves study of the Earth, environment and the composition of minerals, but also deals with a plethora of related disciplines like mineralogy, planetology, geomorphology and geological engineering.“Many people are still not aware of the course and its career prospects. Courses in geology are professional degrees and skilled professionals are on high demand,” says Dr Ravishankar, Reader and Head of Marine Geology and Geophysics department, CUSAT. The work areas cover finding and exploring mineral wealth, monitoring environmental changes that can cause disasters, finding underwater resources, oil and natural gas.Geologists play an important role in finalising areas of construction that include bridges, railway lines, roads and other buildings based on various tests. Geology professionals can work under various capacities like geologists, meteorologists, geographers and oceanographers. They have openings in petrology, palaeontology, geophysics, mining, environmental education, research and field study. Various universities of the country and abroad are offerring a range of graduate and post-graduate courses in geology. There are earth science and geology departments at most of universities and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) offers MSc-level courses in Applied Geology and Applied Geophysics. IIT Kharagpur admits students through JEE to a five-year integrated programme in Exploration Geophysics. Other universities that offer the course include Anna University, Chennai; University of Delhi, Banaras Hindu University, Andhra University, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram; Cochin University of Science and Technology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar; Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad; Goa University, Nagpur University, Nagpur, Pondicherry University, University of Mysore, University of Pune and University of Roorkee. “About 95 percent of passed-out students from here are well-placed and the rest are into research work at various institutes,” Ravishankar says. The Union Public Service Commission conducts tests for geologists in Central Government agencies like Central Ground Water Board, Geological Survey of India, Coal India, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Mineral Exploration Authority and Hindustan Zinc. “There are many oil exploration and production companies generally know an P&G companies, and other MNCs also. At the entry level, you will get a remuneration between ` 20,000 and 50,000 depending on the company you join. There are a lot of international avenues too,” Ravishankar says.
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