Trend reversal: Nearly 100% mechanical engg, EEE students placed in campus placements in top colleges this year

Chennai: After years of poor campus placements for core engineering branches, mechanical engineering and electrical and electronics engineering (EEE) witnessed a revival in demand in the 2025-26 academic year. Top colleges, including College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG), Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), Rajalakshmi Engineering College (REC) and RMK Engineering College, have placed nearly all their eligible students in these two branches this year.

Experts cite more hiring by core and IT companies and fewer students graduating from core branches as main reasons for higher placements in terms of percentage compared to CSE and IT branches this year.

“The manufacturing sector, including automotive, aerospace, electronics, is growing. It reflected in campus placements this year,” said K Shanmuga Sundaram, director, Centre for University-Industry Collaboration (CUIC), Anna University.

Placement officers say new investments in Andhra Pradesh could also be a reason for more hires from city colleges. At CEG, 91 out of 97 mechanical engineering graduates and 45 out of 46 in EEE got placed. The percentage is 94% and 98%, higher than 87% for computer science engineering (163 out of 188 students). Mechanical engineering in Tamil medium also placed 19 out of 20 students this year. Mining, printing and packing technology got 95% and 97% placements this year.

The average starting salary for mechanical engineering students is Rs6 lakh to Rs10 lakh a year. Ashok Leyland, Bosch, Caterpillar, Hitachi Energy, Emerson, JSW Group, Siemens India, Royal Enfield and Rane Group were the companies to hire students.

“In our college, nearly 50% of EEE students and 20% of mechanical engineering students received job offers from IT companies,” said Philip Praveen, director, training and placement, Rajalakshmi Engineering College.

City colleges adopted different strategies to increase campus placements. “We followed specialised skill-based training initiatives, including AI, cybersecurity, embedded systems and VLSI and foreign languages, to improve placements. As on date, we have placed 81% of students, which is 5% more compared to last year,” said K K Sivagnana Prabhu, dean, Career Development Centre, RMK Group of Engineering Colleges.

Overall, Anna University’s four campuses placed 70% of UG students so far, 10% higher compared to last year.

“We invited more companies, including small firms and startups, for campus placements this year. Many students who went for internships got job offers there. Further, placement training to all students helped,” said Anna University’s registrar (in charge) V Kumaresan.

The placement season picked up in January and could go on till June. Experts predict a dip in the forecast for 2026-27 campus hiring by IT companies. “IT service majors hired at near-historic volumes in 2025-26. But there is a dip in the forecast for 2026-27 offers. IT hiring for the new financial year, 2026-27, opened well below the previous year’s numbers,” said Ganesh Thirunavukkarasu M, founder of UniqShift Ventures and campus hiring and early careers strategist.Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Bakrid wishes, messages and eid 2026