Time and again parents and teachers have often pressurized Science students to aim for IITs. The reason they give is good placement packages, career safety and hence, a secure life. After all, IITs have given us trailblazers like Parag Agarwal, Sundar Pichai, and many more.
In a study done by Careers360, only 57% of BTech students (studying across 10 IITs in the country) in Civil Engineering were given campus placements in 2020-21.
An RTI was filed with all the 23 IITs in India to find out about their placement packages. Responses were received from 13 IITs. For the study, data from 10 IITs were chosen to understand how BTech Civil Engineering packages vary across the IITs, on parameters such as average placement rates and average salaries. As a core branch of engineering, the data reveals that civil engineering has one of the lowest placement records across IITs and even NITs.
Across 437 total students enrolled in Civil Engineering (across 10 IITs), 328 students had registered themselves for campus placements. Out of which, only 186, i.e. 57% of the students were placed successfully.
The study includes IIT ISM Dhanbad, IIT BHU Varanasi, IIT Delhi, IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Guwahati, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Indore, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, IIT Patna, IIT Roorkee, IIT Ropar.
The study revealed that while the average annual salary was the highest for IIT Kanpur at ₹20.2 lakhs, Civil Engineering students received a package of ₹17.3 lakhs- a variance of 15%. The highest variance was for IIT Patna at 50%. The average annual salary for a student in IIT Patna is ₹13.1 lakhs while at the same IIT, Civil Engineering students have a package of ₹6.6 lakhs.
Another finding that the data revealed was the difference in placement rates. The highest average placement rate was 89% for IIT Indore. While the same IIT had a placement rate of 54% for its Civil Engineering course. The highest civil engineering placement rate was seen in IIT Kanpur with 82% and the lowest in IIT Patna at 30%.
IIT Roorkee has the highest number of students enrolled in the Civil Engineering course. Of 133 students, 110 students enrolled for the placement process and only 71 (64.5%) were placed.
Even packages vary across institutions. The highest package for a civil engineering course can be ₹52.5 lakhs while the lowest can reach even ₹5 lakhs.
These finding struck a chord with the Internet.
The data does not include the number of students who opted for higher studies.