AICTE: 42% of engineers got campus placements this year
According to AIl India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) data, in 2017-18, campus placements for engineering students crossed the 40% mark for the first time in five years. The 42% proportion of campus placements comes on the back of more hiring by companies, coupled with the closure of several engineering colleges and lower enrolments. Here are the details.
What AICTE data tells us about placements
While an alarming 58% of engineers didn't get placed, it's worth noting that the 42% mark is significantly higher than previous years' placements. Percentage-wise, only 28.7%, 31.95%, 32.65%, 37.32%, and 38.39% of engineers got placements in 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17. For the first time in all these years, however, in 2017-18, the total size of the graduating batch was lower than 900,000.
Enrolment has seen a significant decline since 2013-14
Meanwhile, undergraduate enrolment rates in 2017-18 declined to 750,000, from 944,000 in 2013-14. The number of institutes offering undergraduate engineering courses under the AICTE also declined from 3,400 in 2013-14 to 3,225 in 2017-18. The poor enrolment rate has prompted several states like Haryana, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan to ask the AICTE to ban the creation of new seats, and new technical institutes.
Similar trends seen in diploma, post-grad engineering courses
Both diploma and post-graduate engineering courses saw similar trends. In post-graduate programs, enrolment dropped from 100,000 in 2012-13 to 68,000 in 2017-18, while placements increased from 18% to 21%. Diploma student enrolment declined from 680,000 to 670,000, while placements increased from 18.6% to 24%.
AICTE believes internships also helped in placements
People familiar with the development say that campus placements saw an increase because of the government's move to make internships mandatory - internship experience increases a student's 'employability' and makes it easier for them to get jobs. Last year, over 3.8 lakh third-year engineering students secured summer internships, and the number is expected to be more this year, said a senior AICTE official.
Experts say smaller batch size makes placements look better
Experts, however, disagree. The percentage increase in placements, said IIT-Kanpur professor Dheeraj Sanghi, is resultant of a smaller size of the graduating batch, and isn't necessarily because of internships. Compared to 2016-17, about 3,000 more students got campus placements in 2017-18 but, owing to the size of the graduating batch (875,234 in 2017-18, compared to 944,391 in 2016-17), a significant percentage change was reflected.
