A total of 306 students graduated during the eighth convocation of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Kancheepuram, held virtually on Saturday. It is an Institute of national importance under the Union Ministry of Education and located near Chennai.

For the current academic year of 2020-21, the institute launched three new M.Tech programs in Advance Robotics, Power Electronics System Design and Computer Science and Engineering, to empower the students. Information Technology (IT) drives both undergraduate and postgraduate education in the Institute with focus on Design and Manufacturing as two major verticals, according to the release from the institute.

The degrees were awarded virtually in the presence of K Kasturirangan, Chairman, National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 Committee, who was the Chief Guest; Arun Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, Intellect Design Arena; S Sadagopan Chairman, Board of Governors, IIITDM Kancheepuram and Banshidhar Majhi, Director, IIITDM Kancheepuram.

Kasturirangan in his speech said the vision of India’s new educational system has been crafted to ensure that it touches the life of each and every citizen consistent with their needs and necessities besides creating a just and equitable society. The approach is to realise a new system aligned with aspirational goals of 21st century education while remaining rooted to India’s value systems and ethos. The policy provides an integrated, yet flexible approach to education.

Placement and start-up incubator

The institute’s incubation cell ‘MaDeIT’ presently supports 17 start-ups which includes seven under incubation and ten under the accelerator. Another ten start-ups are in the pipeline. One of the incubate companies has been recognized among the top 10 Agri-tech start-ups in the country in a recent poll

Last year, 182 students were placed in reputed firms such as Microsoft, IBM, ZOHO, Saint-Gobain, Mathworks and TVS Motors.

The highest salary package offered was around ₹55 lakh by Google and Microsoft. The median salary offered during placements at IIITDM Kancheepuram last year was ₹9 lakh. The percentage of students who opted out of placement to pursue their higher studies in reputed institutions in India and abroad stands at 20 per cent, the release said.