Academics or placements?

I graduated in BTech (electronics and communication) in 2012. I successfully cleared GATE with a score of 650 and AIR of 2780. Following my MTech, I would like to take up a career in teaching, but I would also like to keep open the option of getting a good placement. I have got an offer from IIIT Bangalore for MTech (IT). I cannot decide whether I should take up the opportunity at IIIT Bangalore or if I should wait instead for the NIT counselling. Kindly advise.

-Bhanu IIIT Bangalore is an excellent institution both for academics and placements. It also boasts of a competent faculty, and being located in the IT city of Bangalore, it pro- vides good internship offers. Several of the NITs such as Trichy and Warangal also offer excellent academics and placement offers so it is difficult to compare.

Much depends on your own efforts and academic commitment to make the best of your two years of MTech. I do not think it will make a major difference to your future irrespective of whether you take up teaching or work with an IT company, as your choices are among the top institutes for IT. I have graduated with BSc (H) in mathematics and want to pursue higher studies. I have got an offer to a master’s course from EISTI, France ( L’école internationale des sciences du traitement d’information). I would like to know if I should go for it.

- Shalini Singh You have neither explained why you have selected this French university, nor which area of mathematics you intend taking up after the master’s degree. The Ecole Internationale des sciences du traitement d’information (EISTI) is a private technical well-renowned institute but not counted among the top institutes for the study of mathematics.

So while an MSc in mathematics from EISTI can be a personal choice, you can also consider similar courses elsewhere in the world as also in India. Much also depends on the specialisation and the career you wish to pursue after your postgraduate degree. Top institutes and universi- ties such as the IITs, the IISc, ISI and others. The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) at Madras, Bombay, Kanpur, Kharagpur and Delhi conduct MSc mathematics programmes. IIT Roorkee conducts MSc applied mathematics and MSc industrial mathematics and informatics programmes. The National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM), Department of Atomic Energy, Mumbai provides scholarships for pursuing postgraduate studies (MA or MSc) in mathematics. The Indian Statistical Institute offers a master’s in mathematics at Kolkata and Bangalore for students with a bachelor’s degree or a BE/BTech degree. The Chennai Mathematical Institute offers MSc mathematics, and MSc in applications of mathematics.