The recent bout of agitations by Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu) students is threatening to claim their careers.

Sources on the Shibpur campus said a number of companies, especially in the IT sector, were reluctant to recruit graduates from the university because of the unrest.

Most of these companies have been traditional recruiters of Besu students.

Though the current recession in the IT sector is also to be blamed for the recruiters’ lukewarn interest, the companies have “categorically informed” the authorities that the primary reason for their hesitation is the prolonged unrest in March.

Among the regular recruiters are IBM, Wipro, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant Technology Solutions and ITC Infotech India Limited.

Officials, however, refused to name the companies that are unwilling to enrol for the campus interviews. The IT firms that Metro contacted refused to comment.

The campus interviews usually start in July, but the companies start approaching the university from May. More than 90 per cent of the students land jobs through campus placement.

“Some companies are not too keen to recruit our students this year because of the recent trouble. The placement in the IT slot is dull,” said Manas Sanyal, the placement officer of the university.

“The campus was rocked by agitations in the past, too. But the recruiters are upset at the trend becoming more aggressive. We have conveyed the companies’ observation to the students,” Sanyal added.

The 152-year-old institution, poised to be upgraded to an Institute of National Importance, had witnessed a series of student clashes in March.

Precious academic hours were lost as the violence continued for weeks. A group of students went on an “indefinite hunger strike” in April, prompting Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, also the chancellor of the university, to intervene.

The situation was brought under control after the government announced the setting up of a commission, headed by former Besu vice-chancellor Sparshamani Chatterjee, to probe the cause of the unrest.

“As the unrest was widely reported, we had feared that it would create a negative image of the university among the recruiters. Our fear seems to have come true,” said a senior teacher.

His words were echoed by Sandip Mukherjee, of human resource company People Power, which “recruits extensively” from Besu.

“The recent unrest has affected the recruitment trend. Local companies realise that the agitation has not affected the academic standard of the institution, but those from outside the state, especially the big IT companies, have formed a negative opinion about the campus,” said Mukherjee.

A third-year student involved in the agitation admitted that the unrest had affected job prospects. “But we were forced to launch the movement because the authorities were not willing to understand our problems.”

The authorities have decided to hold a meeting in June, after the semester exams, to find a way out.