IIT-B to groom personality of its students to give them cutting edge

“We felt that the presentation and communications skills of post-graduate students had to be improved. Their technical papers are accepted at international conferences, so they should be in a position to present and speak well. We are at present in conversation with institute authorities regarding the same,” said Shubham Badjate, general secretary of academic affairs (post-graduate students), IIT Bombay.

The exact nature of the programme and its contents are being at present being discussed, before a final proposal is submitted to institute authorities.

Earlier, IIT-Bombay’s Institute Student Mentor Programme (ISMP) for undergraduate students had taken up the initiative to conduct English classes for freshers, who found it hard to follow instructions being imparted in English during lectures.

“For some post-graduate students, it was felt necessary that English classes should be taken up similar to the ones conducted for undergraduate students,” said Prateek Garg, coordinator of Institute Students Companion Programme (ISCP), which is an initiative within the IIT-Bombay post-graduate students’ community.

This is one among a host of initiatives being undertaken at IIT-Bombay to make students industry-ready. When asked about how many freshers found it hard to follow instructions, senior student mentors of ISMP said an external institute review committee had stated that one-tenth of freshers faced the problem, as a result of which their academics was likely to take a turn for the worse at the institute.

Further, with most recruiters expecting students to have a certain set of skills and persona, the placement team for yet another year has been conducting placement assessments for all final-year students. These assessments are meant to evaluate students’ preparedness for placements and serve as a session where students are judged on various parameters, which companies are looking for. There are three external agencies that are assessing students prior to the campus placement season, which begins on December 1.