Pre-placement offers increase at IIT Madras despite Covid-19 pandemic

Pre-Placement offers for Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras students are seeing a growth with the offers increasing yet again during 2020-21 compared with the preceding academic year, despite the impact of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

As many as 182 offers were made to IIT Madras students this academic year (as on November 28, 2020) as against 170 offers during the entire 2019-20 academic year. The first phase of campus placements is scheduled to commence on December 1, 2020.

A major reason behind this performance in PPOs is the strong internship programme of the institute. TheiInternship drive was conducted completely online this year, for the first time in the history of the institute, to overcome the logistical restrictions due to the Coronavirus pandemic, according to IIT Madras.

The internships allow students to intern in companies that are large recruiters. The internships are facilitated through an institute-coordinated process. The constant increase in PPOs is the result of excellent performance of students during the internships, officials added.
 

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Professor C S Shankar Ram, advisor (Training and Placement), IIT Madras, said, “The sustained increase in the number of pre-placement 0ffers this year is a clear reflection of the academic quality of IIT Madras and its students. I am optimistic that we would be able to carry forward this momentum and our students would obtain the best possible job offers in phase-1 placements.”

The first day (August 30, 2020) of the internship drive was a great success. As many as 17 companies participated virtually and made 140 Internship offers. In 2019, 147 internship offers were made on the first day.

Professoe N V Ravi Kumar, advisor (Internships), IIT Madras, said, “We have been observing a direct correlation between internships and pre-placement 0ffers ever since the internship office was created. Internships provide an excellent opportunity for students to understand the working culture and expectations of the companies that they work for and for the companies to realise the potential of our students during that short period. When interests and expectations of interns and companies match, it culminates in pre-placements offers.”