India's Top T-Schools

While we increasingly know India as the new IT destination and have witnessed
significant growth in this sector, India is also becoming a global knowledge
hub. Talent, knowledge and spirit combine to make Indian students a preferred
choice both domestically and internationally. A plethora of higher education
universities and institutions in the country have been successfully producing
some of the finest minds in the field of communication and technology,
signifying that the large number of young graduates are not only qualified to do
the job, but also bring with them the skills and spirit, giving them the cut
above the rest. Despite whooping numbers of fresh graduates year after year,
quality has been impressed and addressed, as it becomes a key determinant in the
IT jobs arena.

Tracking the growth and analysis the present scenario of IT training and
development in India, is the third Dataquest-IDC Survey of the top T-Schools in
India.

The good omen here is the emergence of a second rung of T-Schools in the
survey-addressing the grave problem of a growing dip in the number of qualified
techies.

For the past two years Dataquest, in conjunction with IDC, has been
conducting a nationwide survey of the various tech schools and colleges in
India. All the institutions-technology and engineering colleges-are then ranked
based on composite scores that are arrived on the basis of quite a few
parameters including campus placements, infrastructure, academic environment,
industry interface.

Workforce and T-Schools

This survey that not only does it provides a way of benchmarking the various
T-schools in India but also an interesting insight on how the technology
education infrastructure is evolving in India. T-Schools play a very important
role in the current economy and will be extremely vital players in the not-so
distant future. Consider this: according to estimates published in the latest
Nasscom Strategic Review, India will be the largest contributor to the growth in
the worldwide working population over the next 5 years, adding approximately 71
mn workforce to the global total. And since services based on technology
revolution has landed on Indian shores, the number of IT-BPO professionals
employed domestically is estimated to have grown from less than 200,000 in 1998
to over 1.6 mn in 2007.

Yet, the picture is not all that rosy. At one time or another, industry
veterans, analysts, experts, all have warned of the paucity of educated
resources in India and, more importantly, the quality that is currently
available. Various companies have belabored the fact that India's competitive
edge could take a beating if these issues are not resolved. It is not an issue
of quantity alone but of quality as well.

According to data released by the Department of Secondary and Higher
Education, (Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India), there
are 347 institutes of higher education in India (including 18 central
universities, 205 state universities, 99 deemed universities, 18 recognized of
national importance and 7 private universities) and 16,885 colleges with a total
enrollment of over 9.9 mn, producing 495,000 technical graduates, nearly 2.3 mn
other graduates and over 300,000 post-graduates each year.

With 347 higher education institutions in the country, the need for
standardization in IT training cannot be undermined. Demands for well-trained,
skilled and competent IT professionals in on a rise and ensuring that we
continue to provide world-class IT professionals would mean giving due diligence
to resources available for students and improving the quality of education.

The Seven Samurais

For the third year in the row, the Seven Samurais of T-Schools in India, the
Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have retained the top slots in the
survey. The IITs continue to maintain their winning streak, though there have
been quite a few changes in how these institutes are placed amongst them.

According to the survey findings, IIT-Kharagpur's anointment as the first
among the equals can be attributed to the vast improvement in infrastructure and
industry interface. The batch strength of PG courses has also increased by a
large extent and the maximum salary has grown exponentially in the current
survey. IIT-Kharagpur was the first IIT to be established in 1951. It boasts of
a sprawling complex, having around 30 academic departments and over 15,000
inhabitants. Its central library is the largest technical library in the whole
of Asia.

Interestingly, IT companies have recruited 28% students from these colleges
in 2007, down from 35% in 2006. This could be due to rising average salaries
demanded by students of these premier institutes. Possibly, the IIT graduates
are now looking at non-IT sector also as a career opportunity.

Even then, IITs continue to be the flag-bearers, much like the late Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had said at the first convocation address of
IIT-Kharagpur in 1956.

"Here in the place of that Hijli Detention Camp stands the fine monument of
India, representing India's urges, India's future in the making. This picture
seems to me symbolical of the changes that are coming to India."

Second Rung Emerging

If one were to unearth the single biggest trend in the T-School survey, it
would be the rise of the National Institutes of Technology or the NITs. All NITs
except calient have improved their rankings.

The biggest rise has been of NIT-Warangal, which broke into the Top 10 club.

According to the survey findings, NIT-Warangal has shown improvement in
academic environment especially in the batch strength of the PhD course in
engineering. The HR score of this institute has also increased considerably as
compared to last year.

Not only that, there are six NITs in the Top 20 list. Of these, NIT-Hamirpur
has shown the most remarkable improvement in terms of ranking-moving up 14
places. The survey attributes the rise of NIT-Hamirpur to its marked improvement
in every parameter like placement, infrastructure, academic environment,
industry interface, and HR score. Major improvement areas were the number of IT
companies visiting the campus for placements, and average number of research
papers.

NITs have been envisaged as the second rung to IITs in India. Originally
called as Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs), in 2002, the Union Ministry of
Human Resource Development, Government of India, decided to upgrade, in phases,
all the original 17 RECs as NITs, on the lines of the prestigious IITs. There
are currently 20 NITs, the latest being NIT-Agartala. The government is quite
ambitious about the NITs, as the Cabinet has approved a proposal to introduce
the NIT Bill 2006 in the parliament to bring these institutes within the ambit
of the Act, and giving them a high-level of autonomy.

Meanwhile, the IIITs continue to remain in the top contention- IIIT-Hyderabad
is ranked #9 (last year it was #10) and IIIT-Allahabad, #13. The IIITs were
conceived to be forerunners in the IT education sector. The course curriculum at
these institutes is at par with similar offerings at most computer science
departments of other reputable universities. Overall, the second rung of
T-Schools is coming into the fore, and that is a good sign.