The Most Preferred Technology Schools

When Bangalore whizkid Sabeer Bhatia, who went on to become a Silicon Valley

posterboy, was asked about the most "valuable asset" that he got from

India, pat came the reply: Education!

The success of this young man, who played hardball with the world’s richest

man Bill Gates, clearly underscores the fact that Indian engineers can rival the

best in the world.

Education being primarily a state subject, has seen phenomenal growth in

Indian engineering colleges, and like in any other industrially advanced

country, India also has engineering institutions that can be calibrated in terms

of quality. Ask NR Narayan Murthy and you’ll hear him sing praises of IIT as

being not only the best in the world, but even "out of this world". He

still regrets that his son wasn’t able to make it through to at an IIT, though

he easily made the mark at Cornell. This image is strengthened by the

observation that a number of Indian computer scientists have made it big in the

US as entrepreneurs, by going up the corporate ladder or being successful in

academia.

Here’s a look at a virtual who’s who–FC Kohli, S Ramodorai, Arjun

Malhotra, Vinod Khosla, Vinod Dham, Vijay Bhatkar, Arun Netravali, RS Pawar,

Kanwal Rekhi and many others populate that esteemed list, which can rightly be

called the Titans of Tech. And it is not a matter of coincidence that these

titans got their academic grounding at one or the other top tech school of the

country (See box: The Most Preferred Technology Schools).

The Educational and Training Enterprise in India which operates at all

conceivable levels from pre-school to post-doctoral is of a monumental size.

Key Recruitment Parameters



Dataquest set up a panel in late March to ascertain the parameters that the

industry placed importance on before picking up a student from a tech school.

The panel was put together to ensure that every segment–from hardware,

software, services and the SMEs of the IT industry–was represented. An

enriching discussion ensued and went way beyond the allocated time slot. Hard

parameters like technical skills of the students and content of the course

featured among the important variables.

The Most Preferred Technology Schools BITS Pilani  DCE Delhi  IIT Bombay   IIT Delhi IIT Kanpur  IIT Kharagpur  IIT Madras  IIT Roorkee  IMT Ghaziabad  National Technology Institute Tiruchirappalli (In alphabetical order. Based on a survey of over 100 IT HR managers)

"A look at the structure of the syllabus helps us determine the level of

technical thinking versus innovative thinking that the student is likely to

have," said HV Krishnamurthy, consultant and former head, (HR practice),

PwC India.

Another factor that most of the participants pointed out was the faculty’s

relationships with the industry. This is a good proxy for assessing person’s

awareness of the latest in technologies and trends and how he will impart those

skills to an incumbent technocrat. The other aspect of this relationship is to

see how many live projects that the faculty and students work on. Guest and

visiting faculty from the industry also made a good proxy for assessing the

industry orientation of the institute, opined the group.

Softer variables like the candidate’s communication and presentation skills

along with his sensitivity to cross-cultural issues, ability to be a team

player, to be a self starter, level of confidence and, in some cases, even the

availability of the placement brochure in electronic format also formed a part

of the hygiene factors that increased the comfort factor for the recruiter.

Among the other skills that recruiters feel are important for a candidate

include "aptitude and attitude" for the job. Says Vivek Punekar,

general manager, (HR), HCL Infosystems, "It is critical to ensure that a

candidate is fit for the job. For instance, the aptitude for a coding job is

strikingly different from that needed for a technical support function."

And therefore a number of organizations run the applicants through an

occupational personality test too.

The ability to think laterally is another valued skill. A large number of

technology companies that recruit from these schools take the applicants through

a two-tier testing process. While the first assesses their technical skills, the

second assesses their ability to think standing on their feet. "To know how

candidates get to a solution is often very insightful about their ability to

think analytically," says Jacqueline Lynam, director (people sourcing

strategy), Sapient. Graduates from schools that encourage out-of-the-box

thinking are thus in demand. Reasoning and analytical skills also come in handy

as the career of these young graduates progresses.

The Toppers



Once the responses from the HR managers were in, a list of the top tech

schools was compiled. Dataquest then initiated contact with the institutes to

assess their health on a number of parameters. These mainly included their

admission procedure, the number and academic prowess of faculty, placement

record, industry interface and physical infrastructure, including library and

hostels. The two other parameters that formed a part of the discussion with the

heads of the institutions were exchange programs and student activity like fests

and events.

As we progressed through our interface with these top ten institutions a

number of common threads emerged. One, computing at the campus was being made

seamless. Whether or not the student was a computer science student, the need to

have access to a computer everywhere was immediate and institutions recognize

this and are working towards the same. Another aspect was whether the

institution was government funded or otherwise. Faculty and students alike felt

the need for adding facilities to the infrastructure and the process of addition

is continuous, this at no level implied that the existing infrastructure was

inadequate.

Narrowing Focus?



Another common aspect was that more and more students are opting for

technology specific certifications or courses like Cisco, Microsoft and Oracle

certifications. And in a number of cases the institutes encourage the students

to take up the same. They either arrange for such classes in the evening on

campus or co-ordinate with external centers for the same. "These definitely

enhance the employability of the candidates," feels Prof. Sanjeev Gupta,

chairman, MCA program, IMT, Ghaziabad.

The one common consensus among the dons in the faculty is that these courses

prepare the candidates for jobs by imparting skills that are readily useable.

Smart skills, as some would call them. IMT Ghaziabad has taken this philosophy

to launch specializations for its MCA program too. A mainstay in business

programs till now, specializations are all set to make a mark in the technical

programs as well.

"It helps the smaller companies as they dramatically cut down costs that

need to be incurred immediately after an employee joins," added Gupta. Have

we missed something till now that the Greek poet Archilochus knew ages ago when

he said, "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big

thing."

Mohit Chhabra in New Delhi with Rishi

Seth in New Delhi Rajneesh De in Mumbai and G Shrikanth in Chennai

Methodology

The objective of the survery was to find the top tech schools of the country.

In order to ascertain the parameters for assessing the same, Dataquest organized

a focus group discussion. Participants represented every sphere of the industry

from hardware to software to services and also the small and medium enterprises.

A comprehensive list of parameters was frozen at the end of the focus group

based on which most companies base their decisions to recruit from a technology

school or not. Dataquest then created a sample list of 150 top IT companies and

50 companies that spend the most on IT. A brief questionnaire, asking about the

choice of tech schools and the reasons thereof, was administered to the

recruitment decision maker of the target organization. Of these a number of

companies refused to comment on their recruitment policy and nearly 100

companies furnished a list of the tech schools that they had visited for

recruitment.

Based on these responses, a list of the top ten tech schools in the country

was determined and a DQ representative established contact with the heads of the

institutions to assess them on the parameters that were frozen during the focus

group.

Faculty Shortfall: The Other Story

Another common thread was an increasing chasm in the number of sanctioned

faculty and the number employed. For instance, IIT Delhi has 455 faculty members

as against the sanctioned number of 690, DCE has a sanctioned number of 169,

with just 120 on the rolls. The situation at any tech school is no better.

"The situation is getting worse as far as faculty is concerned,"

admits Prof. MP Jain of IIT Roorkee very candidly.

The tech-schools are doing a number of things to ensure that this divide

decreases. IITs, for instance, allow unlimited consulting projects to be

undertaken by their faculty. There is a rolling advertisement on the website of

most tech schools urging applicants to apply. Says Prof. RS Sirohi, principal,

IIT Delhi, "We have made the process simple and fast and setup an interview

panel the moment we have a few applicants." "We also take our new

faculty members through an intensive teaching workshop that familiarizes them

with the art of teaching," says Prof. LK Maheshwari, director, BITS Pilani.

This is supplemented by taking faculty through subject workshops.

"We have failed to market the IITs as a preferred destination to

work," Prof. Sirohi said in retrospection. The most often cited reason for

this is the huge disparity in the salaries of those joining the industry and the

academia. But this in a way is a misleading argument. On an average a teacher at

IIT costs the institute anywhere between Rs 8 to 10 lakh, suggests a study. And

add to that a degree of freedom like no other. "Freedom comes at a

cost," adds Prof. Sirohi. What then can the industry do to help the

academia bridge the divide because they are the biggest stakeholders in this

equation? The one plausible solution is to build a certain amount of flexibility

in the structure of education.

Feels Prof. Harsha Sinvhal of IIT Roorkee, "Institutions need to

collaborate more closely with commercial organizations for teaching as

well." Something that is not as prominent in the tech schools as it is in

the business schools. "A lot of practical expertise is generated in the

industry too," opines Sinvhal. Leveraging that information will bring

subject experts to help bridge the faculty divide.

"Learn what you want to learn and teach what you can," says Prof.

Sinvhal. And in saying so, he suggests that this will create a compelling reason

for the practicing engineers to come back to school, not only to teach, but also

to learn and plug the knowledge gaps. And these gaps will always be there, for

before you can plug them, rapidly changing technology creates new ones. An

ability to plug these gaps may lead to the erosion of quality of graduates and

brand equity in the near future.