IIT Delhi placement drive for PhDs fetches jobs for less than 15%; students call for separate plan

NEW DELHI: Student volunteers at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi’s Office of Career Services are calling for a new approach to PhD placements.

A concerted effort by the placement cell since the last academic year saw just around 15% scholars of about 150 get placed in a “Special PhD Placement Drive” organised in June. In December, when the first phase of IIT Delhi placements were held for all batches, including BTech and MTech, research candidates struggled even more; less than 15% of around 150 candidates were placed.

While both June and December numbers represent an improvement over past record – in August, IIT Delhi director Rangan Banerjee had said that PhD students’ count had risen by 10% but only 1% were getting placed – they are disappointing and have left students who form the bulk of the workers behind the IIT-D placements demanding more support.

A ‘graduate exit survey’ for the batch that left IIT Delhi last year, revealed that 5% of graduates – from various programmes – were still looking for opportunities. According to sources, many of them were PhD scholars seeking post-doctoral research positions.

A statement from IIT Delhi on the survey said that 2023-24 saw the number of PhD scholars participating in placements rise six-fold.

Careers360 sought official responses from both IIT Delhi and its Office of Career Services. Both said they were unable to share or confirm numbers as the placements were still going on for the batch graduating in 2025. However, IIT Delhi announced statistics on BTech and MTech placements , the first phase of which was in December.

In a statement in November, IIT Delhi said: “Notwithstanding the success of the initial attempt at PhD placement, a large majority of these graduates are placed through off-campus placement which is to be expected as they are recruited to occupy niche roles.”

IIT Delhi Placements: The special drive

The placement process for PhDs was already different from what’s followed for other programmes. Registration opens in January and August each year and the drive itself lasts a whole year.

From August 2023 onwards, IIT Delhi’s placement coordinators have been trying harder for this group. For the two-day “Special PhD Placement Drive” in June – a first for IIT Delhi – placement cell members prominently displayed contact details on the website, reached out to alumni, and spread the word in professional networks. This fetched around 45 candidates jobs. Registration opened again in August – for new candidates and those who didn’t get offers in June – and this group sat for placements, with BTech and MTech students, in December.

The push to get PhDs hired involved rolling back a rule introduced in the 2022-23 session that banned participation in placements of research scholars who had not completed their synopsis and not made their pre-submission presentations.

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Even before, joining placements without crossing these key milestones in a research programme was frowned upon. However, as a researcher told Careers360, “scholars could submit a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from their supervisor, with a timeline of synopsis mentioned, to participate in placements”. Now they were banned altogether.

After protest from PhD students, last year, the new rule of mandatory submissions was overturned and the previous policy of NOCs restored. Soon after, a new email account was set up for PhD placements and a fresh outreach made to draw recruiters. The two-day placement drive helped in outreach for the scholars.

“Other steps included sending special invitations to companies for PhDs, displaying this email ID on our Office of Careers Services (OCS) website for more recruiters to contact the team, posting about PhD placements on Linkedin and reaching out to already-visiting companies for research openings,” said a student member of the placement team.

A student coordinator said, “Through the drive, recruiters are now aware that IIT Delhi does PhDs placements, which sent a good message. The drive helped the scholars and placement coordinators to build a connection with recruiters and now many recruiters are coming back for hiring.”

A student coordinator explained: “We approached universities and research and development (R&D) departments of all the companies. As PhD placements go on for the entire academic year, we accumulate these openings and whosoever is available at that point of time for the interview, they eventually sit for the interview.”

PhD jobs, a challenge

Phd scholars feel a lot more needs to be done. “Placing students is not the job of only coordinators but larger stakeholders of the institute,” said a coordinator. The drive could have been done better if the preparation and planning started earlier and involved more people; planning had started in May last year. “Only a few people organising the drive for hundreds of Phd scholars on-campus is too much. We are not taking advantage of resources, administrative staff or alumni. We need more skilled staff and expertise in placing PhDs.”

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Further, the actual process of finding jobs for new PhDs presented a challenge. Recruiters did have “job roles” – positions – for research but matching those with the niche specialisations of the scholars proved difficult. This was especially so in the December round, when all branches had their placement drives together.

The bulk of the available positions seemed to be in a single branch.

“There is a good demand for PhD students who are working in the areas of computer science, electrical, IT artificial intelligence and machine learning. But the issue is we don't have that many students who are working in that area,” said a placement cell member.

Then, the majority of recruiters joining the IIT Delhi placements come for BTech graduates. “Even if an opening is there for PhD, either it will be at a smaller package or some industry role which doesn't suit PhDs, as they look for roles in research and academia,” they said.

“This is a major difference between IITs and IISc-like research-focussed institutes where companies come only to hire researchers,” said a researcher. “However, at IITs companies hire some masters but the main focus is BTechs.”

Students also discovered that recruiters tend to avoid PhDs out of fear they will drop out of the job if they manage a post-doctoral position in another country or academic roles.

It’s the R&D companies that come specifically for PhDs but their number is vanishingly small – just one or two per season – and they have few positions. A student stated that he wanted to join a R&D role but the company had just one opening and it went to someone else.

IIT Delhi needs separate plan

Clearly, the campaign for PhDs needs more work. A student coordinator for PhD placements stated that having a “dedicated professor-in-charge for PhD placement” and more alumni connect like BTechs would help. “It will further encourage more PhD students to sit for placements,” he said.

The placements at IIT Delhi are largely student-driven and the cell needs more volunteers for their drive for PhDs. This, too, is often a challenge. “There is often a bureaucratic delay in the process. In placement meetings it was decided that quarterly drives will be organised for PhDs. It's not happening,” a member from the placement cell added.

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“We need someone who can take the responsibility and lead it because PhD students have a lot of work, including their thesis and fieldwork,” said the coordinator. Plus, PhDs rarely have the time to take responsibility for or lead campus activities that are not directly academic.

“We need more hand-holding from the institute. Currently, we just have a few people [who are also] doing PhDs which delays the tasks. We are trying to make a brochure for PhDs with their profiles for companies who are eligible for placement. But there has been some delay in preparing that. Many don't join fearing it would impact their research.” He added that a systematic cycle of student volunteers joining the placement for PhDs should be developed.

Another said that IIT Delhi must strategise separately for PhDs.

“One institute, one policy does not work every time. While one year for BTechs and MTechs might be sufficient, it is not for PhDs. The reason for this is: research opportunities are few in the market and student coordinators need more time to find specific opportunities for the PhD students, based on their research,” he explained. He believes the timeframe must be expanded to 1.5 years.

“While other students can come to the placement office often, it may not be possible for PhDs to visit every time, especially during the final year, because they have pressure to submit their thesis. More time, access and staff are required for PhD placements,” he stated. He also suggested introducing a system of internships for PhDs so that, before they enter the job market, they have some experience in the industry.