Cuttack, June 20: Ravenshaw University has broken all its previous placement records with 580 students getting job offers in various corporate houses, banks and BPOs this year.

While 446 students were recruited during the placement drive in 2010-11, the number plummeted to 429 in the last academic session.

However, the authorities are upbeat over this year’s placement record and have set a target of 600 jobs for students in the coming year. “The placement cell of the university has been successful in bringing to campus various leading corporate houses to select students,” said dean of the varsity’s students’ welfare department Parthasarathi Mishra.

This year, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen and Toubro, IBM, Tech Mahindra, Federal Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Asian Institute of Public Health, Genpact, MRF, and Jindal Steel took part in the campus placement drive.

Students from arts, sciences, commerce and business administration have been recruited in various companies as probationary officers, technical executives and human resource executives. The companies have offered pay packages ranging from Rs 1.8 lakh to as much as Rs 6.6 lakh per annum. Last year, the annual salary offers hovered around Rs 2 lakh to 3 lakh.

Varsity officials said that while ICICI Bank recruited 94 students, the State Bank of India selected 40 students from all academic streams for their summer internships.

These 40 students would be entitled to a salary of Rs 30,000 for the eight-week internship programme. Upon qualifying the programme, they would be appointed as probationary officers.Wipro has also offered jobs to 84 students for its technical wing. For the first time, a number of research institutes have selected students during the campus recruitment drive.

“The placement cell came up in 2010. It has now been successful in drawing the attention of top corporate houses who come here to select students on a regular basis,” said Mishra.