The office of the state technical education department in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, June 15: The state technical education department is planning a new placement cell at Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) with a dedicated placement officer. “We are planning this to ensure more job placement for those who successfully complete various technical and professional courses,” said a senior official of the technical education department.

This time, the varsity is also planning to avail the services of a professional human resource agency to handle placements in all colleges under it.

In November last year, the state government had opened two central placement cells for technical/professional degree and diploma holders. However in the absence of any permanent staff, both the cells have not been able to make much difference. The centres were supposed to create a database of students and employers to bridge the gap between them. While the department is planning to revamp these existing cells with new staff and infrastructure, the newly-planned placement cell will help solve the unemployment crisis among students of these technical institutes. The placement cell will solve one of the long-standing demands of the students by improving their job prospects. With many dubious companies increasingly surfacing on college campuses for recruitment drives, the students had been demanding a central placement cell for over three years now.

These companies had been handling fake offer letters to gullible students only to vanish with money the latter pays towards placement charges. The students accused that private colleges deliberately organised fake placement drives to boast about so-called 100 per cent recruitment record to subsequent batches for the benefit of their own business of education. “Had the placement cell been in place earlier, many student would have been benefited,” said Samapta Mohanty of the BSO.

“Moreover, many companies visit only renowned engineering colleges for placements. As a result, the lesser-known institutions are losing out. A centralised placement system will ensure that all students get an equal chance to participate in the recruitment process and get jobs,” said he. The department is also planning to create about 10 new senior positions at the Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) to help the varsity improve its functioning.