IITs see a 5% decline in campus placements, hit three-year low

Campus placement at IITs across the country has taken a hit, with a 5% drop in total placements as compared to 2015-16.

In some of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), including IIT Kanpur and IIT Kharagpur, there has been a sharp drop of almost 8-10% in the academic year 2016-17. Some other IITs such as Delhi and Madras have reported a 3-5% drop in campus placements.

According to officials, campus placement took place at 17 IITs of the total 23. The remaining six were newly established in 2014-15 and 2015-16. Hence, their data for campus placement is not available. There are 75,000 students studying in the 23 IITs.

The human resource and development (HRD) ministry attributed the low placement rate to prevailing market condition, preference for higher studies, renewed interest of students towards start-ups and entrepreneurship. HT had first reported about shrinking job offers for IITians on July 19.

A senior HRD official said they had taken cognizance of the issue and had asked IITs to draw up an action plan. “A number of measures are already in place and IITs have been told to ensure that the placement cell puts in more effort to reach out to companies,” he said.

Sources said some of the IITs

NEWDELHI:

Students who got jobs Students available for placement (72.82%) 2014-15 (75.79%) 2015-16 (70.85%) 2016-17 (Figures for 17 IITs)

had developed career development centres that provided support to students in choosing career opportunities. “Companies that come nowadays are also looking for soft skills in candidates, apart from their command over the subject. A number of IITs have started investing 2014-15 Delhi Ropar Roorkee 2015-16 2016-17

BHU

in such activities, which will provide an edge to their students. Some IITs have performed better in the pre-placement session this year,” the official said.

IIT sources said while the number of companies visiting the institutes had increased in many cases, job offers had dropped. “There are several reasons. One of the major reasons is the global slowdown. The number of offers companies have made has come down but more companies have come for placements. We are hopeful the situation will be better this year,” said an IIT director.