Most Ph.D students at IIT came right after bachelors

“While the job market wasn’t too promising,the kind of fellowships and stipends being offered to PhDs were attractive. Moreover,research and development had got quite a fillip over the years,” said Dey.

A post recession phenomenon,say experts,is one of the reasons behind this jump. “2008,the recession year,saw a considerable jump (55.8 per cent) in the number of B.tech/BE/Bsc.T) students taking up PhD at IIT Bombay — from 19 and 20 in the years 2006 and 2007,respectively. As placements across campuses were not very encouraging and several high-paying jobs and companies were missing,some students may have taken to academics as a safe and stable option,” said V S K Murthy Balijepalli,general secretary,academic affairs,post graduate programmes,IIT Bombay.

Many academicians said the facilities being offered,the increased focus on research and diverse and interesting projects are responsible for this trend. “Students can get very good jobs after doing Ph.D. Since it is a big investment in time,the primary reason to do good research has to be their interest,” explained Devang Khakhar,director of IIT Bombay.

“I wanted to focus on research and felt a bachelor’s degree alone may not be viable in the long term,” agreed Sandeep Anand,who joined the Ph.D programme at IIT Bombay in January 2009.

“Research and development are now the buzzwords at IIT Bombay and many other IITs. It is being viewed as the driver of economy in the long run. I opted for Ph.D at IIT Bombay after my B.Tech as I considered it a better option than going for the service industry. Also,I had interned at IIT Bombay while doing my BTech and the exposure I got in research triggered my interest in PhD,” said Balijepalli.

Meanwhile,the number of applications received for Ph.D has also seen a considerable rise at IIT Bombay over the years.

From 1,136 in 2007,the numbers saw a steady rise with 3,723 applicants in 2008 to 9,413 in 2009 and 11,821 last year. The number of Ph.D students enrolled have also gone up in five years from 178 in 2006 to 416 in 2010.