The first batch of students of IIT Mandi, graduating in June 2013, has reasons to cheer as companies have already recruited 43 students.
In the first and second round, 25 B.Tech.students of the Computer Science branch, 14 of Electrical Engineering and two of Mechanical Engineering have received placement offers. IT giant Microsoft has offered a package of Rs. 16.2 lakh each to Raj Kamal Singh, Samrat Gavale and Sumeet Singh Arora.
Two MS students, Sujeet Kumar and Srimanta Mandal, have bagged job offers from Samsung. The MS is a unique research-oriented Masters degree programme. Spending 2-3 years in an individually-designed programme, each graduate does a substantial thesis that advances the state-of-the-art. This enables them to take on challenging design assignments in industry. Some MS graduates continue for a PhD to prepare for a career in research and teaching. Dr.Arti Kashyap, the faculty advisor of the Career & Placement Cell of IIT, said that so far Microsoft, CISCO, Google, Samsung, Infosys, Cognizant, Finisar and Nucleus have visited the campus. More companies are coming in the next round that starts in the last week of February. The Institute expects that most students will have jobs offers in hand soon.
The Director of IIT Mandi, Prof. Timothy Gonsalves, said that good opportunities were coming for the first batch of students and companies were coming to Mandi inspite of the remote location. He hoped that at least a few students of the first batch will start their own companies. Rather than competing for jobs in established companies, such entrepreneurs will provide jobs for others.