The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : A level playing-field for students, employers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 14, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

A level playing-field for students, employers

By Akhila Seetharaman

CHENNAI, JAN. 13. Engineering students will be able to compete for the most coveted jobs in industry, irrespective of the college they come from, thanks to Anna University's new state-level placement centre.

The centre will kick off its activities on Monday when more than 700 students from 53 colleges in and around Chennai will be screened by the information technology company, Cognizant Technology Solutions, in the university. Another IT giant, Tata Consultancy Services, will screen about 1,200 students from 50 colleges on January 21 and 22 in Government College of Technology in Coimbatore. Madurai's Thiagaraja College of Engineering will be the venue on January 27 and 28 when Wipro will screen more than 800 students. After the first round, the three companies will swap locations.

Every year, the pressure to get into the best college is heightened by the fact that while admission to the `right' college could guarantee a good job four years down the line, admission to the `wrong' college could mean being left out of the recruitment net altogether. Most companies only visit top colleges during campus recruitment drives, hoping to get the best of the best.

Deciding factor

The new centralised system will reduce the bias against students from lesser-known colleges in remote areas, according to E. Balagurusamy, Vice-Chancellor.

The candidate's merit, not the college `brand', will be the deciding factor.

"The main aim is to ensure that bright students from not-so-great colleges have options," said Dr. Balagurusamy. "Companies will also benefit from this as it will give them access to good students, whom they could have missed."

The centre will cater for all engineering colleges in the state. In order to widen the net, recruitment drives will be held in other parts of the state, which has been divided into ten zones.

In the new system, not only the college but also the student's rank takes a backseat. Dr. Balagurusamy said ranks would not be disclosed to companies during interview.

Cut-off marks

However, only students with marks above a certain cut-off, which will vary depending on the branch, will be called. For the recruitment drive in Chennai, the university has called students with marks above 80 per cent. In other cities and towns, the cut-off is 75 per cent.

Initially, the focus will be on students from Information Technology, Computer Science, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Electrical and Electronics, Electronics and Instrumentation, and Instrumentation and Control Engineering.

The university plans to construct a hi-tech building for recruitment, which will include halls for interviews, tests and seminars.

"This is a revolution in placement," said Dr. Balagurusamy. "The new system will put pressure on colleges to do a better job. And instead of passing on the blame, students can concentrate on doing well," he said.

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