MANIPAL: Not so long ago, a section of netizens took umbrage at a view that MIT refers only to Massachusetts Institute of Technology and that Manipal Institute of Technology has no right to use it as an acronym. The elevation of Satya Nadella to the top job in Microsoft should bury those insinuations.
Not that MIT ever lacked in recruiters. Barring Facebook and Google, many top recruiters have been regular visitors here during placement season. But the Nadella factor will weigh in more heavily now.
“The media blitz should get us more visibility and elicit a peep from companies which have not had a look at us till now,” says Giridhar Kini, associate director, industrial liaison and placements at MIT.”
MIT director Vinod V Thomas couldn’t agree more. “We have had a good number of ambassadors who have given us leverage. MIT attracts quality students and Nadella lends credence to this.”
Last year, MIT had visits from about 80 top-notch recruiters like IBM, ABB, Citrix, Cybage India, Oracle, Cisco, Mphasis, Microsoft, Philips and HCL. And there were 85% plus placements. Microsoft has been actively associated with MIT. Their recruitment of 18, 17 and 15 students each over the past three years is probably the highest from a single college, says Thomas.
A former alumnus believes the Nadella story should help in branding MIT, missing until now. “It all depends on how it can build itself around this Nadella aura,” he adds.