Fewer overseas jobs for IITians as COVID casts its long shadow

The COVID pandemic has cast its long shadow over the international job market for top Indian technology institutes, the IITs. This year, less than 200 IITians across the country have landed an overseas job, said a media report.

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At IIT Bombay, international placements for this year’s graduating class stood at 58, down from 159 the previous year. The numbers at IIT Kanpur have halved and at IIT Delhi, they are down from the maximum of 45-plus in 2019 (they were around 30 on an average for three years, The Times of India quoted the institute’s spokesperson.

At IIT Roorkee, offers have reduced, IIT Gandhinagar has not had direct international posting since COVID began in 2020. But before that offers had poured in from Japan and Germany-based organizations. IIT Madras did not share information.

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“Covid blues made placements one of the most challenging tasks. Thogh cracking the number of placements has never been a matter of concern for IIT Roorkee, maintaining the quality, meeting students’ high expectations and hitting the high package bar set over the years, was the most ambitious and demanding task,” the institute’s spokesperson told the paper.

While the pandemic has led to a grim scenario of overseas job market, it also shows more IITians being available for domestic industry and startups. A 2019 finding showed that a fewer percentage of IIT students was choosing international job offers.