Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has recorded a marked increase in pre-placement offers (PPOs) for its students during the 2021-22 academic year, thanks to a robust summer internship process which the institute conducted completely in online mode.
Till last week, as many as 227 PPOs have been made to IIT Madras students, compared to 186 offers during the entire 2020-21 academic year. The PPOs will continue till the commencement of Phase I of campus placements, which is scheduled for December 1.
For the 2021-22 academic year, the Core Engineering and R&D sectors accounted for most of the PPOs till date, amounting to 60% of the total PPOs offered. The Analytics, Consultancy and Finance sector bagged 23% of PPOs; 12% came from the IT sector and FMCG companies offered 5% of the total PPOs. The major recruiters are Qualcomm, Microsoft, Honeywell, Texas Instruments and Goldman Sachs.
A major factor behind this PPO performance is the strong internship programme of the institute. This process facilitates students to intern in companies and leads to PPOs. The constant increase in PPOs is the result of excellent performance of students during their internships.
IIT Madras advisor (Training and Placement) C S Shankar Ram said, “The internship process provides a good opportunity for companies to evaluate our students who intern with them over an extended period of time. It also helps our students learn more about the company, the roles that they may be offered and potential career prospects. PPOs are a natural outcome of this interaction that is a win-win for both companies and students. We are happy to note the continuing strong performance of our students in this regard and hope to extend this to Phase-I placements.”
The institute’s advisor (Internships) Sathyan Subbiah highlighted the importance of internships in the campus placement process, saying, “The internship process transforms the student from classroom ready to real-world placement ready. The internship office continues its intended role in this transformation by linking companies with students early on, giving them a chance to test each other, while also meeting curricular needs. Shaped by curricular and extra-curricular experiences at IIT Madras, our students are excelling in their internships. This has given enough confidence in the companies, leading to pre-placement offers.”
