It all shows growing inclination towards research and jobs in PSUs
This is the test he took to get into IIT-Madras and this
is the test that will get P.Deepak, an M.Tech student at IIT- M closer to his dream
job in a public sector undertaking. The number of students who took the GATE (Graduate
Aptitude Test in Engineering), an entrance exam for M.Tech and research programmes
in IITs and IISc, on 12th Sunday, in IIT-Madras zone that comprises Tamil Nadu,
Kerala and Puducherry, went up by almost 80 per cent this year.
Experts say “the rise in aspirants not just shows a growing inclination on the part
of students towards research but also reflects a strong desire among students to
get into PSUs. BHEL and IOC are among the PSUs that recently declared that the short-listing
of the candidates for interview will be based on GATE-2012 scores.
When IIT-M director, Bhaskar Ramamurthi, says; the atmospherics for research are
really encouraging in the country and he has the numbers to support him. The Institute
has nearly 900 M.Tech students and 450 Ph.ds, the highest in the last many years.
“There has been an acceptance of the importance of research at the level of policy
making too and with the Kakodkar Committee setting a target of 10,000 Ph.ds per
year, there is a conscious effort being made to increase the number of doctorates”,
he says. The IITs also hiked the stipends last year for the research scholars and
the GATE too introduced general aptitude section recently to ensure the focus is
not on technical skills alone.
“A slump in the IT market had re-oriented the engineering students towards higher
studies but now many are showing interest in research oriented field’s right from
the time they get into engineering. A student with a B.Tech from a State engineering
college can look forward to doing M.Tech in a more reputable institute like an IIT
by taking GATE and thus increase his value in the job market," says R. Rajasekharan,
professor, Anna University. “The number of people taking the exam too has exponentially
increased over the last few years, especially after 2009,” he says, points out K.
Sethupathi, chairman, GATE (IIT-M zone). Organisations including NTPC, BEL, HAL,
TIFR, ISRO, SAIL, BARC, and DRDO give a lot of importance to GATE scores. “And several
branches in many IITs call candidates if they have over 90 percentile. Getting into
IIT's M.Tech programmes is much easier than getting into their B.Tech programmes,”
says S. Aravind, a mechanical engineering student.
The fact that many of these PSU don't really go to engineering colleges to recruit
also encourages students take the GATE exam. “Even when they come to IIT, they take
in very few students from specific branches. For instance, the ONGC was one of three
PSUs that came to IIT-M, but it recruited only students from petroleum engineering,”
says a student of IIT-M.
Students also point out that research opportunities abroad have become
difficult to pursue because of the changing technology and stringent admission standards.
“It is getting increasingly difficult to get funding from universities in the United
States if you are involved in some basic form of research. They want bio and Nano
technology-related thesis papers. So, many of us feel it is better to do an M.Tech
degree here, particularly in electronics and mechanical disciplines,” says S. Ramakrishnan,
a student of Anna University.
Courtesy: The Hindu
