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Higher degree students are perceived to be technically proficient, yet their expertise fails
to reflect in their placements or the paychecks they are offered. This according to
Abinandh, is due to shortcomings in communication skills on the part of the students
and reluctance of recruiters to higher supposedly less-adaptive students at higher
specialized entry points in the company. Despite this PU has managed to get an all-time
high 50 per cent of M.E-ites placed (complete stats on FB.com/TheFinePrintOnline).
Bringing in the likes McKinsey, BCG, and Diamond Consulting along with renowned
names in core companies, this has been one of the best performing PUs till date. Also
commenting on the process of centralisation, Abinandh said that the extent to which it
is implemented at this stage is only sharing of information among the three campuses as
to the recruiters visiting them. It has helped the Goa and Hyderabad campuses in a way
but it has definitely not been at the cost of driving away companies from its mother
campus.
merely a 'Placement’ Unit to a 'Training in Placement’ Unit. Mr. Tabir Mishra , the
recently appointed Placement Manager also had a word of advice for BITSians gearing
up for placements in the not-so-distant future. “With recruiters having a large pool of
talented students from several top-notch institutions to choose from, we need to give
them a compelling reason to hire from BITS. Having put in two years into preparing for
BITSAT, a student cannot afford to rely on last minute preparation at this final stage."
He is of the opinion that students need to start preparing earlier for placements and shed
their lackadaisical approach towards recruitments. Recruitments certainly are a definitive
yardstick of not only what technical prowess this place has bestowed upon a student but
also the level of industry preparedness and market potential an individual holds. As
Mr.Mishra aptly said, “the BITS brand can give you opportunities in the best of
companies but the rest is entirely up to you.”
Below: a break-up of the sectors in which students CO—Consulting/Analytics
got placed. Note that percentages are proportional ET—Electrical/Electronics
to the number of students in these disciplines.
IF—Civil/Infrastructure
IT—Computer Science/Information
BF - Banking/Finance
Technology
BP—Bio/Pharma
MF—Mechanical/Manufacturing
CH—Chemical/Oil and Gas
There have been talks of a nexus between PSD and PU or more precisely of a lack of it
jeopardizing placement procedures of a few students. For instance this time Sprinkler
recruited 15 students and wanted them to intern with it during their PS but PSD was
reluctant to award such exclusivity to the said students outside the structure. Eventually
both found common ground and the issue got resolved. Abinandh conceded that often
problems arise as recruiters don’t appreciate the fact PSD and PU are two independently
functioning bodies and both strive to protect student interests keeping in mind the
overall composition of the student community. Given that the Practice School has been
the USP of our institute, it becomes difficult to alter its tried and tested modus operandi.
Improving communications between the two units are ushering in better scenarios
though, where issues are promptly dealt with.
Stressing that BITSians need to be more aware of the placement process from an early
stage, he also said that the PU would be making the question banks of various
companies accessible to the students along with taking further steps to move from being
If the events of this semester are reviewed, it is impossible to miss the Student’s Union Elections that
were held in August. Two of the consequences of that fortnight were the coronations of V Praneeth Sai
as the President and Ashutosh Mundhada as the General Secretary. The English Press Club reviews
the status of their manifesto points below, after a chat with them.
Freelancer’s Cell: A team has been set up and
assigned the responsibility of contacting small
companies while ensuring these will not be the same
as those contacted by the Placement Unit or the
Practice School Division. The team will work over the
winter and hopes to have a set of around 20-30
companies ready by the beginning of next semester.
Laundromat: Currently being used by 500 students, it
has mostly garnered favourable reviews and brought with it much needed comfort. The
expansion is restrained by infrastructural constraints but considering that it is a part of
project Parivartan and given enough time, Praneeth feels it will develop into a
comprehensive system. Another major concern was incorporating the existing
washermen, which according to Praneeth can only take place post-expansion, because
for 500 BITSians, a staff of only four is required.
Emergency Fund: The emergency fund has been publicised on multiple occasions via
root mails and has been availed on three occasions where money for air tickets was
provided and charged for at a later date.
Driving School: One of the most controversial points during the auditorium debate
was the driving school, which was expected to require a lot of ground work. Praneeth is
very open about the fact that nothing has been done yet and most of the work will have
to be done over the winter and in the next semester.
Vending Machine: Vending machines have been installed in Vy as and Vishwakarma
Bhavan and are being run on a trial basis. A few problems have surfaced owing to the
poor quality of the machines and viable solutions are being considered. A full-fledged
system is expected to be in place by the onset of next semester. Convenience Stores
have been set up in Shankar-Vyas mess and SR mess with a plan to expand to all the
messes.
Green Council: Already up and running, the council has organised a cleaning walk or
two. A plan to replace the current toilets with bio toilets in some places has been
proposed. When asked about the rancid smelling water used to water the beautiful
gardens of our campus, Praneeth explained that despite an increase in the number of
students, the Sewage Treatment Plant has remained the same. The Students’ Union has
approached the institute to appoint student advisors to the “Project Parivartan”
committee, hence giving the students a chance to voice their concern about such issues
amongst others. The plan to set up an “Engineers Without Borders” branch, here, in
Pilani was also mentioned in his manifesto but minimal work has been done in this
regard.
Purchasing Facility for Projects: For all projects undertaken on a personal level,
especially APOGEE projects, one can now procure required parts by filling a form and
submitting it to the Students’ Union. They will then forward this to the Central
Purchasing Unit, which will then procure the articles. The students will be charged for
these in their mess bills. In previous interviews of the teams which procure their
equipment from the CPU, we had come across the fact that the long time between
demand and procurement has become a huge cause for concern. When quizzed about
this, Praneeth said this is because the parts for teams like AcYut are often bought
overseas.
Passport and Pan Card drive: While a Pan Card drive can be instantly organised, the
implementation of a passport drive is a bit complicated. Rules dictate that no passport
fair can be organized within a 150 km radius of a passport office. Until last year, the
registrar spoke to the passport office and got it done. Praneeth tell us that talks are on
with the registrar and he hopes to be able to organise a passport drive by the end of
February.
Presidential Review System: A committee to review the President’s work every
semester was promised and there has been no action on this front so far.
The Fests: Everybody has been talking about how Oasis has been a huge success this
time. Praneeth feels that what led to a profit is the shift in norms, from charging a lot
of money on one big professional show to concentrating on multiple smaller, cheaper
yet culturally rich shows.
The publicity team, a new addition this Oasis, is something that Praneeth feels has a lot
of potential and is carrying forward to APOGEE. Praneeth feels that unlike most
department work, publicity cannot be a rigid concept and needs to be a confluence of
departments and clubs who can help generate interest about our fests, thus ensuring an
increase in sponsorship and participation.
While Praneeth has achieved a part of what he set out to do, sustainability of a lot of
these initiatives like the Laundromat is an issue.