Calcutta, Jan. 19: The scam at Satyam and the World Bank’s ban on Wipro have prompted Jadavpur University and Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu) to bend their campus placement rules.

Jadavpur University has given students recruited by Satyam and Wipro another chance to sit for placement interviews, just in case they are uncomfortable about joining these companies. Besu is set to revert to its earlier system of holding campus interviews early — in the third year instead of fourth — to give students time to make informed choices.

“Neither company (Satyam and Wipro) has indicated that it would withdraw the jobs offered to our students. But we are allowing students recruited by these two companies to sit for the next round of placements,” said Siddhartha Bhattacharya, the placement officer of Jadavpur University.

Satyam had picked up over a dozen students from Jadavpur and Wipro had scooped up 25 during campus interviews starting mid2008. Most of these students are scheduled to join by the end of this year. Once a student accepts a job offer, he/she is usually not allowed to take the next round of campus interviews.

“Some students told us recently that they were unwilling to join Satyam. So, we gave them the chance to sit for the next rounds of interviews. Although the World Bank’s blacklisting of Wipro is a smaller problem, we are giving the same benefit to students recruited by this company as well,” a senior faculty member of Jadavpur University said.

But officials of the placement cell declined to reveal how many Satyam and Wipro recruits had so far availed themselves of the chance to sit for another round of interviews.

At Besu, officials were discussing ways to “insulate” students from the uncertainty about jobs. “Given what has happened in two IT majors, we cannot discount the possibility of a negative effect on job prospects in the IT sector. So, we want to hold the campus placements in the third year itself,” said Manas Sanyal of the Besu placement cell.

Wipro had recruited 45 students from Besu last year. Satyam wasn’t far behind, though the exact figure isn’t known.

But unlike Jadavpur University, Besu hasn’t said anything about giving the students recruited by these two companies another shot at campus placements.

Some private engineering colleges are, however, ready to do so. “Many of our students are supposed to join Satyam later this year. We are drawing up a plan to provide alternative placements to those who have received offers from Satyam if the company decides not to issue them appointment letters,” said Dipak Chatterjee, the principal of the Institute of Engineering and Management in Salt Lake.