There is a cause for concern about the placements of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Over the years, the IITs were considered to be immune to a decline in placements, especially the older elite IITs. The deluge of jobs has stopped in recent years. Between 2021-22 and 2023-24, there has been a decline in job offers. The decline amounts to 10 percentage points. Among second generation IITs, only three–Jodhpur, Patna and Goa could achieve over 90 per cent placements. A similar trend was observed among the NITs too

The dipping percentage may not point to a deficit in skills. It is also true that IITs should not be treated as placements centers. There are other criteria to rank them — teaching, learning, resources, research, outreach and perception. However, the student community treat IITs as a passport to a lucrative career. Maybe, there are other reasons for the decline. Students may be opting for higher education or may be interested in setting up startups. However, these reasons do not account for the full explanation of the decline. A few students opt for higher studies, civil services and management programmers. However, the number of students signing for placements has also gone up in most of the IITs. There could be a rising number of students who get jobs independently.

Covid affected placements. Post-Covid, there is a rise in placements. The batch sizes became bigger. The world environment suffered a slowdown in technology and software sector. AI acted as a disruptor. Bill Gates is of the opinion that only three occupations would survive — coders, biologists and energy professionals. Indian IT sector has opted for automation.

The institutes should revive the curricula in alignment with the fast-changing industry trends. The government should encourage IITians for technical roles. Interesting core engineering jobs must be revived, and placement should not be restricted to just IT and technology jobs.