Private universities headed to IITs to hire faculty

A clutch of private universities has registered as recruiters for master’s and doctorate degree holders from IITs to teach mathematics, chemistry and physics to their students, placement executives and students told Mint. The median compensation offered is ₹12-15 lakh a year, on a par with the median pay offered by companies hiring from older IITs.

“The universities are usually looking at master’s and PhD students who will help the universities up their international rankings,” said Suchindra Kumar, partner and leader-education, PwC India. “IITs have one of the best research ecosystem in the country, which can help private universities in enhancing their research and peer perception,” he said, adding that a positive brand image of IITs helps them draw more students and faculty.

IITs are the country’s most-sought-after technology institutes. Lakhs of students every year attempt to be among the 17,760 candidates selected for courses at the 23 IITs. And companies line up to hire the best graduates passing out from these institutes. 

Also read | Raising funds for education in budget may solve employment issues

According to an IIT-Delhi student from the batch of 2025, some of the universities that have registered to recruit include the SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRM University); BML Munjal University, Dayananda Sagar University and Galgotias University.

“The universities are offering ₹10-12 lakh and while most of them are asking for PhD students, the designations offered are for assistant professors and professors,” said the IIT-Delhi student. The universities may recruit from the second phase of the placements.

The universities and IITs in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Guwahati did not respond to Mint‘s queries.

Of the 23 IITs, first-generation institutes including Madras, Bombay, Delhi, Kharagpur, Roorkee and Kanpur start the placement season in December. The second- and third-generation IITs, along with the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), begin in August-September to get a headstart. The first phase of placements is over and the second phase will start in the middle of January.

Also read | IITs bring in phone a friend to help students during placements

In the first phase this season, algo-trading companies, banks, consultants, product firms and public sector undertakings recruited for students for roles such as data scientists, quantitative strategists, quantitative developers, software developers in AI, and AI researchers and application engineers.

“Universities are also coming to IIT Kanpur and some have started their placement process and final round will be in phase 2,” said a student of 2025 batch. Unlike multiple rounds of interviews in corporates, universities ask students to explain a subject through a virtual demo and those shortlisted go through the final interview round.

“Certain large-format universities are expanding and are expect more student admissions. This requires an increase in hiring of teaching faculty,” said Narayanan Ramaswamy, partner and head education and skill development practice at consulting and audit firm KPMG in India. “The growing trend of augmenting with on-line content and courses gives flexibility to these institutions to have a less-experienced faculty to rise to the occasion.”

Also read | Masters, PhDs in focus at IITs as recruiters chase AI talent

The private universities will clash with coaching institutes who are looking for teachers as well. In the last five years, India’s edtech and coaching sector has hired at least 3,000 IIT graduates or IITians both from campuses and via lateral hiring

The edtech sector pays IIT grads a starting salary of ₹10-12 lakh per year, with a clear path to a ₹60 lakh-1 crore package in a few years. To be sure, only a handful of IIT graduates bag the headline-grabbing crore-plus salaries, while the median salary in many IITs is much less.

K-12 Techno Services, an edtech company, has earlier recruited from IITs including those in Kanpur, Varanasi (BHU), Dhanbad, Mumbai, and Bhuwaneshwar. Allen Career Institute, one of the largest coaching centres in India, heads to the IITs during campus placements. PhysicsWallah has hired about 99 IITians and Vedantu has around 50 over the past five years, according to the firms.

And read | AI, algo trading companies set to steal the show at IIT placements