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Disappointed NID Ahmedabad students allege roles offered not upto the mark

DUAL REACTION: Students laud NID curriculum, calls it extremely relevant

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Taking a dig at the current placement process at India's premier design institute — the National Institute of Design, students allege that there is a mismatch of the roles being offered to them as against what they are capable of. The disappointment is not new, as the alumni say, adding that number of times the issue has been raised with the institute officers, to communicate to the recruiters about what NID is teaching.

"NID's curriculum is extremely relevant. There is no question of it being outdated. NID prepares us in the best possible way. However, I feel the same is not communicated with the recruiters. They offer us roles which are too basic", said a fourth-year student, requesting anonymity.

The placement process at NID Ahmedabad campus concluded on Wednesday whereas the same for Gandhinagar campus will conclude on Thursday. This year, more than 120 companies have participated in the placements.

When DNA contacted an alumnus, who graduated last year, the student who is working as a design consultant said, "The placement officer should know the design domain in and out to be able to better communicate the same to the companies. Companies have only one point of contact which is the placement office. Many students also feel exploited as a lot of times, companies give them the assignment to work but even after 6-7 rounds of interviews, the students are not recruited. They feel that the exercise is being conducted to create their knowledge/idea bank."

It is a very complex situation and I do not know how the institute will address the issue but it is very unethical of companies to do so", the alumni said.

Interestingly, the institute had made news last year, when for the first time, luxury car manufacturer Rolls Royce had come to NID to recruit students. However, this year, apparently it gave a miss. Being critical of the same, another student said, "It is not that overall placements are bad. But yes, there are issues. If Rolls Royce did not come this year, the placement officer should find out what went wrong and if the issue was with student performance, same should be communicated to the programme coordinator for improving the quality."

Top institutes in the country have an analysis of the placements and regular audits. While I believe in qualitative analysis, but the institute should maintain statistical data of mean and median salaries being offered, a student said. Adding, "For example, a student is offered a package of Rs 50 lakhs out of which 38 lakhs is variable pay. During placements, students do not have time to delve deep into the package hence looking at the overall package, they accept the same but later regret."

Students also feel that they are compelled to take up roles even if they are below their capability if the money is good. "Most of us take educational loans hence we take up any offer to repay the loans", a student who appeared for interviews said.

When DNA contacted Pradyumna Vyas, Director, NID, he said, "We make the students ready with a holistic design thinking approach. Of course, our students are more equipped and there would be 1-2 companies that would not offer the role as expected but overall the scenario is positive."

On exploiting the students, he said, "Top companies have a very professional approach and they would not indulge into such things. But we do have a feedback system after placements, in case if we find out some discrepancy, we may not invite the recruiter next year."

Ministry of Defence comes to NID for placements

In a first, a public-sector undertaking company has come to NID for placements. BEML of Ministry of Defence has conducted interviews and will be giving offer letters to the students in a few days.

The top recruiter this year was Tata Consultancy Services that recruited 51 students, followed by Deloitte Consultancy (Digital) recruiting 15 students and Samsung Design Delhi recruiting 12 students.

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