About two lakh engineering graduates have registered with the State Employment Exchange. Surprisingly two lakh more engineers, all post-graduates and looking for jobs, have also enrolled with the exchange.
While lakhs of B.E and B.Tech students get placed in the annual campus recruitment drives across the State, post-graduate engineering graduates are regularly edged out of such placement drives even if they are better qualified and possess specialised skills.
The trend is not just in State-run and affiliated engineering colleges but also in the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology.
“Postgraduate students are disappointed that the industry ignores their expertise and research capabilities,” says Kishore Kumar, pursuing M.E in Manufacturing Engineering in the College of Engineering, Anna University.
One of the four who recently won an award for a path-breaking solution at a national engineering design contest in Pune, he gave up M.S in IIT Delhi for M.E from Anna University as he felt the prospects would be better. Still, his future is uncertain.
Educational consultant Moorthy Selvakumaran, who had obtained information through an RTI petition on placement in IIT-Delhi last year, says the lack of quality parameters for colleges and courses was one of the primary reasons for this dismal scenario.
“Usually 50 to 60 per cent students go into teaching after post-graduation. Students from reputed institutions do well and may become lecturers in government colleges. Trouble is when private colleges start PG courses without the required infrastructure in the misguided belief that they would bring revenue,” says a professor from a government engineering college.
While professors in IIT and Anna University contend that post-graduates usually are absorbed in research and development (R&D) wings of companies, they also admit quality of education imparted in the institutions could affect their job prospects.
According to former chairman of All India Council for Technical Education S.S. Mantha, the industry optimises return on investment. “As an industrialist, it makes sense to employ a graduate at a certain salary, and train him rather than employ a PG, pay more and also train.”
Enhanced employment markets at R&D level, investment in research by Indian companies and creation of new job markets would help, he says. “Start a manufacturing supply chain by driving productisation as a way of life, increase potential of indigenous markets by incentivising import substitutions will be the way forward,” Prof. Mantha emphasises.