 "IIT Bombay")
Every year, students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) eagerly await the placement season, spanning from December to post-February, in pursuit of lucrative job opportunities. Yet, this year at IIT Bombay, a significant 36 per cent of the 2,000 students registered for the 2024 placements—712 hopefuls—are still on the lookout for job offers. With the placement season slated to wrap up by May, this development has raised eyebrows.
Rising placement concerns at IIT Bombay
This season has seen an uptick in students left without placements, hitting 35.8 per cent—an increase of 2.8 percentage points from the previous year, a report by Hindustan Times (HT) said.
The stark figures for 2023 revealed that out of 2,209 registered students at IIT Bombay, 1,485 managed to secure placements. This left 32.8 per cent of the students unplaced, underscoring the challenges in the campus placement rates, the report said.
The challenge of inviting companies
An official from IIT Bombay's placement cell told Hindustan Times (HT) that inviting companies to the campus was more challenging this year than last year, citing the global economic meltdown as a significant factor.
"Many companies were hesitant to accept the salary packages pre-decided by the institute, necessitating extensive negotiations," he said, adding, "Of the 380 companies that participated in the recruitment process, the majority were from the domestic market—a shift from the usual dominance of international firms."
"For the first time, not all registered students from the highly sought-after computer science and engineering branch achieved placement, a departure from the norm of 100 per cent placement success in this discipline," the official said.
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The pursuit of higher salaries
A professor from the institute shed light on the prevailing focus on securing hefty salary packages to maintain a high average salary mark. However, this focus often overlooks the earnings of an average student, leading to situations where offer letters are rejected in favour of other employment opportunities.
The placement cell's communication strategies have come under scrutiny for what the professor described as "placement propaganda." During the first phase of placements in December, it was initially announced that 85 candidates received offers exceeding Rs 1 crore, a figure that was later corrected to only 22 students.
"This incident, among others, has contributed to heightened stress levels among students, particularly in the post-Covid-19 job market landscape," said the professor, adding, "Many students have turned down campus offers, seeking better matches with the offers received by peers in private colleges."
