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Campus placements have been turned money-spinning ventures by most engineering colleges across the State.  Even top institutions have collected thousands of rupees from students on the pretext of getting them placed in reputable companies.

The Karnataka government recently issued a circular directing engineering and medical colleges to refund the extra money, collected along with the prescribed fees at the time of admissions. But, the colleges seem to have begun using placements to make up for the loss.

Based on the reputation of the college and the city in which it is located, the amount collected ranges from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 to get the students interviews with prospective companies. This is in addition to all the extra fees collected at the beginning of the academic year. There is no provision under which the colleges are entitled to collect money for getting the students job interviews. However, since some of the companies that visit colleges for recruitments expect the managements to take care of their boarding and other hospitality needs, colleges collect the extra money.

“Collecting Rs 5,000 or Rs 10,000 is exorbitant for placements. It definitely does not cost that much,” says Comed-K executive director A S Srikanth. He says it could be Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per
student.

The State government has its hands tied on the issue as campus placements are beyond the purview of the directorate of technical education or the higher education department. “It is between the colleges and companies,” said Higher Education Secretary Siddaiah. So, do students have no choice, but to suffer the pinch?

“If we receive specific complaints from students on the issue, we will take action,” Siddaiah said.

Srikanth felt that instead of waiting for norms to be put in place, managements had to adopt self-regulatory mechanisms to safeguard the reputation of the colleges. Companies could also be stricter by not offering recruitment in colleges fleecing students, he said.

Students can register complaints with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) which is the regulatory body for engineering colleges. AICTE south western regional office director Srikrishna Kumar told Deccan Herald that the Council definitely had powers to take disciplinary actions against colleges fleecing students. He promised to take stock of the situation if students approached him. The office is located at the health centre building of the Bangalore University campus. More details can be had on www.aicte-india.org.