More IITians warm up to civil services

At IIT Roorkee, of a batch of 2,046 students, close to 400 have opted out of placements. At least 200 of the total 1,500 eligible students have not signed up for the placement drive at IIT Madras.

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Students told The Indian Express that those with start-up aspirations wanted to participate in the placement drive to gain industry experience before turning into entrepreneurs. (Express Photo)

The placement season at the country’s premier technology institutes is all set to begin in December and students are already gearing up to secure the best offer on campus. However, there are many who have decided to opt out of this race with many planning to take a crack at the civil services exams. At IIT Bombay, of the 1,800 students eligible for placements, 300 have not registered themselves for placements — the number is almost the same as last year’s. At IIT Roorkee, of a batch of 2,046 students, close to 400 have opted out of placements. At least 200 of the total 1,500 eligible students have not signed up for the placement drive at IIT Madras.

While many opt out to pursue higher studies, an increasing number is opting out to take a crack at the civil services exams. Professor Kaustubha Mohanty, the convener of the All IIT Placement Committee (AIPC) and placement in-charge of IIT Guwahati, said that the number of IIT students appearing for Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams has risen in the past five years.

“Most students don’t sit for campus placements because they have plans to pursue higher studies, but there has been a marginal yet steady rise in the number of students wanting to join the civil services. This was not the case five years ago,” said Mohanty. He said the trend had seen a downfall a decade ago but UPSC was regaining its popularity with IITians. Ajit Padwal, Director of Lakshya IAS Academy in Mumbai, said that the number of IITians enrolling for coaching has marginally increased in the last two years.

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“Even though not many are selected in the exams, the number of IITians appearing has increased. We now have at least five IITians in a batch of 100, a definite increase in a couple of years,” said Padwal.

i-Learn IAS Academy, a civil services coaching institute in Thiruvananthapuram, has also seen a surge in the number of IITians joining the preparatory course. “In the past two years the number of students from IIT Madras joining us has increased. Our last batch had around 15 IITians,” said T J Abraham, Director of iLearn.

Research was another reason for students to not sit for placements, said placement advisors of IITs. Apart from Mohanty, IIT-Roorkee’s placement manager Himanshu Bansal said a few students hadn’t registered because they had plans to pursue PhD. Students at IIT-B, too, were inclined on research work.

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“I am focussed on getting a PhD so I decided to give placements a miss,” said Rohit Jain, a fourth-year Materials Science Engineering student at IIT-B. Shardul Vaidya, a fourth-year Chemical Engineering student from IIT-B, said, “I recently realised that my interest lies in research so I decided to devote my time preparing my applications instead of sitting for placements.”

IIT Madras’ placement advisor Manu Santhanam said that a few of those not registered for placements also had start-up aspirations. Mohanty, too, echoed similar views but added that the slowdown in the start-up sector had discouraged many to become entrepreneurs. Students told The Indian Express that those with start-up aspirations wanted to participate in the placement drive to gain industry experience before turning into entrepreneurs.

“Some students who want to start their own enterprise sit for placements to ensure they have a safety net to fall back on in case their plan to set up a business fails,” said a student from IIT-B who didn’t want to be named.

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