IITs still the top tech school: DataQuest

DQC News Bureau

New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Technology, 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 findings are part of the third survey of technology schools in India by
Dataquest-IDC. A nationwide survey of 117 technology and engineering colleges
and the schools was conducted and ranking was based on composite scores arrived
on the basis of parameters like placements, infrastructure, academic
environment, industry interface and HR perception.

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

Commenting on the survey, Prasanto K Roy, Chief Editor-Dataquest said,
"Three-fourths of the 117 IT recruiters contacted by Dataquest-IDC,
stressed on the need for engineering students to develop soft skills to improve
employability. About 53 percent of 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 percent from
60 percent last year. The survey found that private institutes lack in number of
faculty members with a PhD, which is as low as 21 percent as compared to NITs
(64 percent) and IITs (94 percent).

The IIITs 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 provided 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, Pradeep Gupta,
Chairman of CyberMedia 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."

According to the report, the demands for well-trained, skilled and competent
IT professionals will rise further, so making available more resources for
students and better quality of education will be critical. Among other things,
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 by 28 percent

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 NSIT, Delhi was Rs 45 lakh per annum by
Schlumberger Limited, up from Rs 36 lakh last year.

Interestingly, IT companies recruited 28 percent students from IIT in 2007,
down from 35 percent 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 revealed. 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 percent of the faculty members hold Doctoral degrees in the Top 100
institutes and there is one faculty member employed for every 11 students.