Management schools record 23% dip in placements amid Covid: Data
India’s management schools saw a 23% drop in placements in the academic year 2020-21 as compared to 2019-20, according to data compiled by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the country’s professional education regulator. The sharp decline — the placement figures plummeted to a nine-year low in 2020 — is being attributed to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on education and the economy.
Official statistics reviewed by Hindustan Times revealed that only 92,322 students in management
NEW DELHI:
courses graduated with jobs in hand from Aicte-approved management colleges in 2020-21 as compared to 119,546.
AICTE chairperson Anil Dattatraya Sahasrabudhe attributed the decline to classes, even internships, shifting out of physical locations to the online mode due to the pandemic.
“The pandemic forced all education institutions, including those offering professional courses, to switch to online education for the entire academic year 2020-21. Many companies, as a part of their recruitment policies, observe the candidate during internships and then hire them. This could not happen in the last academic year since even internships were held online.”
Officials at several institutes attributed the drop in placements to the pandemic, which resulted in uncertainties including inadequate training during the online internships, virtual recruitment process and adverse market conditions.
The data shows that placements dropped even in states known for their strong service sectors such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, and Maharashtra, amid the pandemic.
In Andhra Pradesh’s 330 institutes, the placements dropped by 35% to 6,982 while in Delhi, only 2,569 students in 40 institutes received a job offer in 2020-21, a 37% decline over 2019-20’s 4,053 students.
B-schools in other states also saw placements plunging, with Maharashtra (20%), Karnataka (15%), Tamil Nadu (26%), Madhya Pradesh (22%) and Uttar Pradesh (28%).
A second AICTE official who has analysed the data from the country’s 3,100 management institutes, said the biggest impact was reported in new or less sought-after colleges (also known as tier-2 or tier-3 colleges). These figures exclude the premier Indian Institute of Management (IIMS) since they are autonomous and do not fall under the purview of AICTE.
C Poovendran, placement officer at Coimbatore Institute of Management and Technology, said: “The pandemic had completely changed the way we used to conduct placement drives... we could not get as many recruiters as we do in normal times...”
However, some institutes insisted that the number of placements did not drop, while acknowledging difficulties in getting recruiters. “Ed tech, insurance and health care saw a proliferation in the business due to online classes,” said Ashwani Varshney, Dean (student welfare), Jaipuria Institute in UP.