Colleges race against time for exams, placements

HYDERABAD: Racing against time to conduct examinations and make up for lost classes, engineering colleges across the city are also gearing up for placements for B.Tech graduates. While some of the Tier-I colleges have completed the process for recruiters from the IT industry following NASSCOM guidelines, most of the Tier-II colleges are still trying to woo potential employers.“Close to 80 per cent of our students have been placed and 593 jobs have been offered by the IT companies which came for placements in August-September, that is the first semester of fourth year. Core companies and Public Sector Units are scheduled to begin their recruitment only by the end of December,” said Shiv Kumar, placement office coordinator of the University College of Engineering, Osmania University.The scenario for affiliated colleges is slightly different as a majority of the placements are scheduled during the second semester of B.Tech final year, commencing in December. “The pre-placement talks have started  and the process of recruitment is going on, a large number of which will take place in the months of January and February,” said head of placement cell at the Deccan College of Engineering and Technology, Mohammed Muzzammil Khan. At the JNTU-affiliated colleges, the semester-end examinations will precede the placement drive. “Three companies have given job offers to a fraction of students but close to 400 are waiting for the next round which will happen in December when close to seven companies are likely to hire from the campus,” says R Siddharth, a final year student of Vignana Jyothi Institute of Technology (VJIT).Due to the recent spate of bandhs, colleges have been in a rush to complete the semester and the first round of placements was thrown out of gear. College managements have had to deal with postponed schedules and withdrawal from placement drive by some of the IT majors based outside Hyderabad due to the uncertainty. This year the pay packages have taken a minor cut due to the slowing economy. The top notch colleges are expecting an average of Rs 3.5 to Rs 4 lakh per annum for the B.Tech graduates this year, hired by the IT majors.