Many students who spend four rigorous academic years at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) opt for non-core jobs, which have very little to do with their field of study. Researchers at IIT Bombay aimed to ascertain the reason behind by excavating the records of placement cells.
Sticking to conventional departments is a losing proposition
The study questioned the relevance of courses offered at India's premier technical institutes in the face of the current situation in the job market. ‘Organizing science and engineering education by sticking to conventional departments is a losing proposition,’ stated the paper, going on to make a case for developing novel, multidisciplinary programmes and channelling a majority of students into them while maintaining realistic batch sizes in conventional branches at IITs.
The paper starts out by distinguishing between core jobs (those that need application of the technical knowledge students have mustered in their four years at IIT) and non-core jobs (those that have very little to do with their streams). They found that barring those studying Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), a majority of students tend to opt for non-core jobs.
Survey carried on students at IIT Bombay
The study surveyed students at IIT Bombay in their third, fourth, and fifth years, inquiring about their career choices and factors influencing this, such as the quality of training and education, social norms, and conditions at the job market, factored in their cumulative Performance Index (CPI), and studied data provided by IIT Bombay’s placement cell from 2014-2018.
Domestic placements that were more diverse in terms of sectors were dominated by non-core jobs in consulting, analytics, and IT/ Software (for non-CSE students), the research data shows. On the other hand, international offers which account for 10% of the total placements showed less diversity but preferred core job profiles from engineering, research, and IT.
Students from chemical, civil, and metallurgical engineering showed a strong pull toward jobs that were distanced from their field of study, while mechanical engineering students remained neutral toward these. Computer Science Engineers, however, tend to adhere to core jobs given the omnipresence of their field, according to the researchers, whose detailed responses to The FPJ are still awaited.
Shortage of opportunities within core course major reason
Remuneration, growth, and flexibility of the job (the triads of a non-core company’s pitch) precede academic pursuits and lead several students to go astray from their courses, say the researchers. The shortage of opportunities within their core courses paired with the lack of bearing of around them in the market also drives students to make that decision.
The study exposes the mishmash curriculum prevailing at IITs, which remains torn between its stance of being industrially relevant and academically relevant at the same time, questioning the quality of engineers these institutes tend to create. It urges the institute to carry out a formal survey, the results of which could prove crucial to determine the batch sizes, faculty recruitments, and placements at India's premier technical institutes.
