VTU conducts exclusive placement drive for girls

Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) on Thursday organised a placement drive exclusively for women studying in the colleges affiliated to the varsity.

The three-day drive will see the participation of as many as 3,600 final-year female engineering students from 89 colleges across the State.

A VTU official said a number of reasons had led the university to organise this maiden drive. “Companies are waking up to the fact that there is a great disparity in the male-female ratio. We want to set things right. Empowerment of women in the work space is another issue.

There is also a general feeling among companies that women tend to work more than men and stay in one company for a longer period of time,” he said. The drive was organised to fill posts in the multinational consulting and technology company, IBM. “According to rough estimates, the drive is conducted to fill as many as 200 posts in the company,” the official said.

Beginning early at 9 am, three batches of students took an online aptitude test. The selected candidates will be called for a round of interview on Saturday. The day saw as many as 500 students in each batch.

While the drive on Thursday catered mostly to colleges within the City, the second day, Friday, will be devoted to students coming from outside. “Students from 49 colleges within the City took part in the drive on the first day. Twenty-eight colleges will take part on Friday,” the official said.

Tushara Reddy, a final year BE student from Vemana Institute of Technology, Koramangala, said she was grateful to the university for the “privilege”. “I think it’s a way to empower the womenfolk, which is much needed,” she said.

Despite placement drives at individual colleges, Gauri Deshpande, a final year ME student from Ambedkar Institute of Technology College, Nagarbhavi, feels that such a centralised placement drive gives more opportunities. “In my experience, I have noticed that companies usually hire very less ME students. The competition is getting very intense these days. So, any opportunity like this designed for women is a welcome move,” she said.

VTU Vice Chancellor H Maheshappa said more such drives were being planned.