Tech schools: IITs top the list

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur was ranked as the top technology school in India in 2007, according to a study conducted by Dataquest and IDC.

For the first time, a second-rung school broke into the Top 10 list, with National Institute of Technology (formerly, REC) Warangal, at eighth place, up four notches from last year.

These are the findings of the third survey of technology schools in India by Dataquest-IDC, which tracks the growth and analyses the present scenario of IT training and development in India.

Dataquest-IDC conducted a nationwide survey of 117 technology and engineering colleges and the schools and ranked based on composite scores that are arrived on the basis of parameters like placements, infrastructure, academic environment, industry interface and HR perception.

IT companies lap up a third of engineers; Placements up to 87 p.c.

The survey found that IT companies recruited more than one-third of the engineering students from the top 100 engineering colleges in 2007. The number of students employed on campus by all types of companies rose to 87 per cent this year from 72 per cent the previous year.

On the survey,. Prasanto K Roy, chief editor of Cybermedia publication Dataquest, said, "Three-fourths of the 117 IT recruiters contacted by Dataquest-IDC brought out the need for engineering students to develop soft skills to improve employability. About 53 per cent the employers pointed to the need for more industry relevant content."

Rise of the second-tier schools

Six NITs broke into the Top 20 list. Of these, NIT-Hamirpur showed the most remarkable jump moving up 14 places to rank twentieth. The survey attributes the rise of NIT-Hamirpur to a marked improvement in every parameter like increase in the number of IT companies visiting the campus for placements, and average number of research papers.

NIT-Calicut, NIT-Kurukshetra and IIIT-Hyderabad registered the highest growth in terms of companies visiting campuses for placement. Over 22 T-Schools have shown a shift of more than 10 positions.

Private institutes increased their placement performance to 75% from 60% last year. The survey found that private institutes lack in number of faculty members with a PhD, which is as low as 21% as compared to NITs (64%) and IITs (94%).

The IIITs (Triple I Ts) also moved up the chart with IIIT-Hyderabad at number nine (last year it was 10) and IIIT-Allahabad, number 13.

IT companies recruited from colleges like DA-IICT (Gandhinagar), PES Institute of Technology (Bangalore), SSN College of Engineering (Chennai), as these institutes cater specifically to the needs of the IT sector by having courses that are aligned with the needs of the industry.

Workforce and T-Schools

This survey provides benchmarks for various T-schools in India as also an interesting insight on how the technology education infrastructure is evolving in India.

Elaborating on the role of Dataquest-IDC T-Schools survey, chairman of CyberMedia and a distinguished alumnus of IIT-Delhi, Pradeep Gupta, said, "T-Schools will play a crucial role in fuelling the economy further and will be extremely vital in the not-so distant future. India 's competitive edge could take a beating if the issue of quantity and quality of technical manpower is not addressed."

Demands for well-trained, skilled and competent IT professionals will rise further, says the Dataquest-IDC report. Making available more resources for students and better quality of education will be critical, asserts the survey.

The number of IT-BPO professionals employed in India is estimated to have grown from less than two lakh in 1998 to over 16 lakh in 2007.

Average annual salary up 28 p.c. to Rs. 3.41 lakh, from Rs. 2.66 lakh

The average annual salary for an Engineer increased to Rs 3.41 lakh from Rs 2.66 lakh. Maximum salary offered by IT companies has increased from Rs 15 lakh per annum last year to Rs 18 lakh this year. However, the highest salary offered to an engineering student of IIT, Kharagpur was Rs 45 lakh per annum by Schlumberger Limited, up from Rs 36 lakh last year.

Interestingly, IT companies recruited 28 per cent students from IIT in 2007, down from 35 per cent in 2006. This could be due to rising average salaries demanded by students of these premier institutes and the IIT graduates are now looking at non-IT sector also as a career opportunity, the survey reveals.

IIT students received 2.13 times the average NIT engineer's salary and 2.68 times the salary of an engineer recruited from a private institute.

Growing intake

The intake of students in T schools has been on an increase in a number of institutes. Going by the final year student strength, Jadavpur University , Kolkata is the topper with 850 students; Manipal Institute of Technology, Udupi with 829 students came second, followed by BITS-Pilani with 785 students. The IITs have around 3,300 students in the final year, averaging 471 students per IIT. IIT-Kharagpur is the topper with 650 students, and IIT-Guwahati had the least students of all IITs, 209.

Out of the Top 100 colleges, which have been ranked, 78 colleges offer M. Tech programs, and 50 institutes offer PhD courses in engineering. On an average, 34 per cent of the faculty members hold Doctoral degrees in the Top 100 institutes and there is one faculty member employed for every 11 students.