As many as 16 final-year students of Punjab Engineering College have been offered ₹46 lakh per annum package by Microsoft during the placement drive this year.
The students belong to the electronics and communication engineering (ECE) and computer science engineering (CSE) branches.
It is the highest package so far this year, and the amount has in fact gone up from that offered in the past years. In 2020, eight students were offered ₹42 lakh per annum by Microsoft. The US-based technology giant had offered the same package to five students in 2019.
The news brings a ray of hope amid a volatile job market due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The placement drive for the current session (2021-22) is currently underway, and around 450 students have received job offers so far. The placement drive will continue till March next year. According to the institute, there are around 650 students in the final year, and many skip the placement drive as they go for higher studies.
The placements have been mainly conducted online due to the pandemic, but PEC has requested some of the companies to conduct physical placement drives as well.
{{/usCountry}}The placements have been mainly conducted online due to the pandemic, but PEC has requested some of the companies to conduct physical placement drives as well.
{{/usCountry}}132 pre-placement offers
PEC director Baldev Setia said the internship programme saw a 13% rise in internship offers in 2020-21, which stands at 314. “These internships resulted in 132 pre-placement offers, which is a phenomenal rise of 32% as compared to the previous year. Many students from different departments are also accepted for research internships in foreign universities,” he said.
Among the students who have been offered the job by Microsoft is 22-year-old Akshit Garg. “It is a great achievement for me and I dedicate this to my parents. I worked consistently for it and it is a dream come true,” said Garg, who resides in Sector 15, Panchkula.
“The placement numbers at PEC drive their strength from the talent pool of its student, its highly motivated faculty and its outcome-based curriculum,” said Dr JD Sharma, head, career development and guidance centre, PEC. Throwing light on the trend in jobs, he said that the pandemic has led to more opportunities in consulting, analytics and finance profiles.