IIT-B Students Score Low on Happiness: Survey

Bangalore: In the midst of competition and tensions we must sometimes slowdown and think, are we really happy? The survey conducted by IIT-B gives an example to the least amount of attention given to the mental health of future engineers. The survey was conducted in IIT-B over 200 respondents with the help of Oxford Happiness Questionnaire developed by psychologists Michael Argyle and Peter Hills at Oxford University. Happiness Questionnaire has been considered as an accurate means of measuring psychological well-being in a compact scale.

The survey conducted in IIT-B reveals some bitter facts of student’s mental conditions. The results show that IIT-B students are not much happy comparing to the average individual’s happiness score of 4.3. The average happiness score found on the IIT-B analysis stands at 3.43. Female students scored 3.44, better than the male students who could get only 3.34.

In the student’s survey Aerospace (3.76), Civil (3.67), Energy (3.64) and EP (3.55) departments have  got better average than the Chemistry (3.40), Chemical (3.34),Electronics (3.29) and Computer Science (3.27) departments  in the happiness survey . Metallurgical (3.49) and Mechanical (3.45) departments take the middle positions. The survey also shows that students are much happier in their third year than fourth and fifth year and least happy in their second year of engineering.

Akhil Srivatsan writes in IIT-B student newsletter, Insight “A true assessment of the quality of education received by students in our campus is incomplete without an analysis of the general psychological well-being of the student community”. Though the primary focus of the survey was to look at the general well being of the students in the campus, survey shows light to the mental stress that students face due to multiple choices in academic and extra curriculum areas. These surveys really provide an insight for us to contemplate on our student’s future.