Student placements at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – Kanpur saw an overall 12 per cent dip in the 2023-24 academic session with a major drop in international offers, as compared to those of last year. Even though the number of Pre-Placement Offers (PPOs) received by students went up this year, the overall placements, including in some Masters courses, remained low, indicating that even though students were offered jobs upon internships, hiring declined towards year-end, data given in a report by the institute showed.
IIT-Kanpur is one of the first generation IITs that were established during the 1950s-60s. Given the downward trend in students’ career placements this year in a combined effect of a global economic slowdown and large-scale automation, almost all IITs this year felt the heat. Most IITs had an extended placement season this year that went on till mid-July, which otherwise ends by May-June, the last phase.
According to the statistics in the report (till May 31), while the overall placement rate this year was 76 per cent, the same stood at 87.9 per cent in the 2022-23 academic session. The institute has a ‘One student One Job’ policy, which means a student can accept only a single job offer. The institute’s final placement report is yet to be released. The new academic session begins from August every year.
Department/Branch-Wise Placements at IIT-Kanpur
“Out of 1448 registered students, 1096 were placed through the Students’ Placement Office of IIT-K during the academic year 2023-24, encompassing both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. This year, more than 66 companies extended 220 Pre-Placement Offers (PPOs), marking an approximate 6 per cent increase compared to the last year. Also, students received 22 international offers,” the report stated.
The placement rate dropped as compared to 2022-23 when overall 1,215 out of the 1,382 total registered students were placed across programmes. However, the number of PPOs received then was slightly lower at 208, offered by 60 companies.
IIT-K data shows that the biggest dip this year was seen in the number of international offers received by students when compared to the previous session which saw 81 international offers coming the students’ way, out of which 73 were accepted.
The campus placement drive for the academic year 2023-24 was conducted in hybrid mode across two phases. While phase-1 officially began on December 1, 2023 and continued till December 15; phase-II started mid-January, 2024.
In undergraduate (UG) programs, 687 out of 849 registered students, approximately 81 per cent secured placements while postgraduate (PG) programs saw 409 out of 599 registered students, around 68 per cent being placed, as per the report.
“A significant number of graduating students chose to pursue higher studies or entrepreneurship over placements,” it stated.
When looked at branch wise, data shows that Computer Science Engineering (CSE) remained on top across programmes with 87 per cent students bagging job offers. However, it was still lower than last year when 95 per cent of CSE students got placed. This year none of the departments could have 100 per cent placements, which was not the case last year when at least three departments saw cent percent placements.
The Aerospace Engineering (AE) department too saw a major drop in placements at 61 per cent this year, which saw 85 per cent students being placed in 2022-23. Similar in case of Biological Sciences and Bio-Engineering department (BSBE) which had only 54 per cent students being placed, as compared to 74 per cent last year, as per the report.
This year, the number of placements in some of the MTech courses has been dismally low (till May 31), as compared to last year when the some of these courses saw 100 per cent placements. This includes Materials Science Programme (MSP) that saw only 20 per cent of the registered students getting job offers in 2023-24, as compared to 100 per cent last year. Cognitive Science (CGS), a research programme placed just 50 per cent this year while it was 100 per cent placed in 2022-23. Photonics Science and Engineering (PSE) is another such department that got only 33 per cent students placed while this figure stood at 67 per cent in the previous academic session.
Some of the prominent recruiters who participated in the placement cycle this year include Google, Microsoft India, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche India, EXL, Futures First, Oracle India, Tata Projects, BPCL, Navi, Qualcomm, Jaguar Land Rover India, Reliance Industries, Prutor, and Texas Instruments, among others.
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