Perhaps the one question
that is lingering in the mind of thousands of students and parents
across the State is this: Do I wait for the single window admissions
for the government pool? Or do I write the common entrance test
for admissions to management quota seats?
Available seats
Of course, there is this one group which
is quite impatient, trying to `book' the available seats. This represents
parents and students who are desperate either for one particular
branch of study or a particular college or a set of colleges. And
nothing else. They would settle for no more, no less.
However, very many parents seem to be unaware of certain trends,
which insiders point to.
For example, compared to 2004-05, the academic year 2005-06 saw
a dramatic rise in the number of campus placements — placement
officers put the increase between 25 and 35 per cent depending upon
the branch of study and college.
In the present outgoing batch of students — not merely the
top-rated colleges, but even in Tier II and III colleges —
a large chunk of students have found high paying jobs.
Mohd. Tajudeen of Velammal Engineering College says there was a
30 per cent increase in the number of people landing up in jobs
through campus placements.
This is one important aspect, placement officers in some of the
colleges note, that parents need to look at seriously while looking
to admit their wards.
The officers point out that even students in the non-circuit or
IT-related branches have landed up in plum jobs.
Core sector attraction
"Core industry such as automobile
and manufacturing industry has become a proactive recruiter,"
says the chairperson of a Chennai college.
For example, automobile industry has started paying high salaries
nearly equal to the IT industry, a recent trend that is drawing
youngsters.
Companies such as Mahindra and Mahindra, Ashok Leyland and LG pay
over Rs.2 lakhs for deserving youngsters. They look for people from
the Mechanical and Automobile branches. The TVS group is another
active recruiter.
In Meenakshi Sunderarajan College of Engineering, almost the entire
batch of Civil engineering students have found placements, some
of them in the Middle East.
In fact, some students had more than two offers on hand. L and T,
and many developers of townships are also coming now to campus searching
for bright talent in core areas such as Civil and Mechanical.
Good pay packets
Keeping with the IT industry trends,
the core sector companies are offering not only good pay packets,
but even incentives after training. Some of them even promise loyalty
incentives for those who stick to the company for two or three years.
All these have led to a situation where almost all civil engineering
and mechanical engineering students have found placement.
"The Taj group of hotels has written to us seeking bright candidates
from Civil and Mechanical Engineering branches for the hotel chain.
The pay is not bad at Rs.12,500 for starters, besides incentives...
," notes another placement officer of a college, north west
of Chennai.
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