Grads ditching master’s for PSU jobs worries IITs
NEW DELHI: The country’s top technical institutes, the IITs, have asked public sector undertakings (PSUs) to complete recruitment of engineering graduates before the admission process for MTech courses is completed, a move aimed at stopping students leaving their studies midway.
The request was made at a meeting of IIT directors and human resource development (HRD) ministry officials with representatives of the PSUs in Mumbai earlier this month, sources said on Friday.
If the request is heeded, it will help more engineering graduates get admission in the MTech programmes at the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs).
About 25% MTech seats in the IITs usually fall vacant as students leave the programme midway, mainly to join PSUs, IIT officials said.
Admission to the MTech courses is generally completed by July 15.
The PSUs have assured to take up the matter with the government. The state-run undertakings recruit 1,500 students every year from the IITs, usually by October.
“This is a good step and it will help in addressing the issue of vacancies arising after students quit the course after getting jobs. A number of seats go vacant and we are unable to offer it to other students. If PSUs are able to restrict their recruitment process by mid-July it will be good,” said V Ramgopal Rao, director, IIT Delhi.
In the last academic session, out of 8,000-odd students who enrolled for MTech at the IITs, 2,000 left after getting jobs. 1,500 of them got jobs in PSUs such as ONGC, GAIL and SAIL, among others. The remaining 500 opted for private sector companies that usually complete their campus placement in the fourth year of BTech.
The country’s 23 IITs have an estimated 72,000 students. Around 14,000 MTech students are enrolled in the institutes annually.
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