Placements, internal ‘brain drain’ and academic life of undergraduates at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB)

The professors of IIT Bombay recently conducted a study to examine the factors that affect a student’s choice when they decide between a core and a non-core job. How the ‘realisation’ that they are going to opt for a non-core job creates a disconnect with academics, especially core subjects. Their paper also addresses the glorification of high packages made by foreign companies, which are often seen in headlines every year when this is really just a misrepresentation of facts. For this study, they made use of the PT Cell data for 2014-18 and results of a survey that was floated among graduating batches of 2020-2023. Here are a few excerpts from their paper that shed light on the key insights that explain the preference for non-core jobs over core.

Factors like more flexibility and growth in non-core jobs coupled with several institute related factors like lack of core opportunities, internships and skill gap in curriculum affects placement preferences. Along with this the glorification of PoRs (Position of Responsibilities) and extracurricular activities encourages students to focus more on them relative to academics. This ends up affecting every batch of incoming students and creates a self-reinforcing cycle.

There is definitely a strong non-core preference among students but the analysis clearly highlights that Salary may not be the dominating factor affecting student choices as the median salaries for core and non-core jobs were similar for most branches (there are certain caveats regarding this statement which are listed in the paper)

• The PT Cell should attempt to collect more well-paying core profiles. They need to arrange more slots for well-paying core profiles in the initial days of placement.
• To generate technical engagement there is a need to add projects related to ‘real-life’ problems in the curriculum.
• An industry wide professional survey should be conducted to assess availability of job profiles and salaries and using this data the institute should re-design placement strategies and slotting algorithms
• IITs have evolved a ‘mixed’ curriculum that simultaneously tries to be (a) science-driven (research focus), practice-driven (for the industry) and (c) generic (with focus on basic stuff).The existing curriculum does none of these particularly well.

To read the entire paper titled, “Placements, internal ‘brain drain’ and academic life of undergraduates at the Indian Institute of Technology” you can visit : https://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/124/02/0155.pdf

We look forward to hearing your opinions with respect to the above study and its conclusions in the comments on Insight discussion forum: https://www.insti.app/view-post/2023-03-10-202132564482-f1a414e3