Campus placements became a worrying obsession
Hyderabad: As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes the future of work, campus placements across India are facing a defining moment. Long treated as the ultimate measure of success in engineering education, placements are now being questioned for their relevance in an AI-driven economy.
At IIT Hyderabad, Director Prof B S Murty is challenging the placement-centric mindset, arguing that skills, adaptability, and innovation - not salary packages - will ultimately determine career success.
Prof Murty believes that the widespread anxiety among students about placements, amidst reports of AI-induced job losses, mirrors a deeper malaise in the education system.
“Placements have become an obsession, and that worries me. An educational institution’s job is not to act as a recruitment agency. Our job is to build strong individuals—academically, technically and ethically. If students are strong, jobs will naturally come,” Prof Murty tells The Hans India in an interaction, decrying how many institutions these days deviate from their core purpose in the process. Universities are not meant to function as recruitment agencies. Professors should devote their time to teaching, research, and innovation, rather than spending months calling companies and negotiating compensation packages. If students are academically brilliant, technically skilled, and ethically grounded, meaningful opportunities will follow naturally, he explained.
On Artificial Intelligence, Prof. Murty offers a more nuanced and reassuring perspective. AI should not be viewed as a threat that will eliminate careers, but as a tool that amplifies human capability. While repetitive and low-skill roles may diminish, AI cannot replace creativity, judgment, empathy, or accountability. In the future, organisations will not retain job roles - they will retain people. Those who continuously upgrade their skills and learn to work alongside AI will remain valuable, regardless of how technology evolves.
This philosophy has deeply influenced IIT Hyderabad’s approach to careers and placements. Rather than pushing every student toward conventional campus recruitment, the institute encourages exploration, entrepreneurship, research, and long-term career readiness. Some of its students deliberately choose not to sit for placements, opting instead to build startups, pursue higher studies, or work on deep-tech innovations in which AI plays a central role. These paths, Prof. Murty believes, are just as valid - if not more impactful - than securing a high-paying first job.
Education must focus on raising capable individuals, not just employable graduates. When learning is driven by curiosity, skills are prioritised over packages, and fear is replaced with purpose, campus placements then become a by-product of excellence - rather than the sole definition of success, he added.