IITBHF and IITBAA (http://www.iitbombay.org)

Excerpts from article - the full text is in copies of India Abroad on the newsstand.

There are 1,074 of them. Many are headed towards America's promising shores. A group of Indian youngsters with a bright future ahead of them. They are the class of 2001 at IIT Mumbai.

"I am leaving to join IBM tonight. What's up with you?" asks Upendra 'Uppi' Sharma, ducking the crowds of eager students milling around, to reach a pigtailed, serious looking girl.

The banter might sound like what students at an American university would exchange on graduation day.

Except, this exchange is as far as you can get from America. It is also the nearest you can get. Uppi and his friend are the creme de la creme of engineering students in India. They are students at the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai — a name that has come to signify educational excellence in boardrooms across the world.

It's a name that can open doors to the best American universities, bring the most lucrative job offers from the biggest brand names in any industry and offer a chance to make dreams come true.

An undergraduate from a local engineering college affiliated to Mumbai University, he was a good student who earned distinction in all his courses. Yet, when he graduated two years ago, a good job was hard to come by. His college did not cany the necessary pedigree to find him a place with the best companies in India.

"Despite graduating with excellent marks I found no one appreciated me just because I came from some college in Mumbai. So I decided to do my post-graduation at IIT," he says.

The move has obviously paid off. With a plum offer by IBM under his belt today, Uppi's dimpled smile just doesn't leave his face. For him, IIT has made his dreams come true.

Like Uppi, all 1,074 students gathered on the green lawns of the campus, on graduation day, have a story to tell. Each tale is unique. But all of them have the same theme. All of them are stories of how IIT has changed their lives and brought the world to their door. Poised on the brink of a future that is brimming with promise, the class of 2001 is raring to go.

Class of 2001 at Convocation

Every year, 120,000 students appear for the IIT entrance exam, from which 3,500 are chosen. Which means less than three per cent are admitted to India's six IITs.

The story of Vinod Cheriyan, winner of the President of India medal awarded to the most outstanding student of the year, is the perfect example of the fairytale that IIT Class spins.

The bespectacled 22-year-old from Kalamassery in Emakulam district in Kerala, traveled to Mumbai five years ago to join IIT. "I come from a small town in Kerala so I wanted to meet people from different cultures. I wanted to expand my horizons and there was no other place but IIT which could offer me that," he says.

Citibank CEO Victor Menezes honors Vinod Cheriyan, winner of this year's President of India medal

The centralized entrance examination — JEE, Joint Entrance Examination — students have to pass to qualify for a seat at IIT ensures an ethnic and economic diversity unparalleled at any other Indian university.

The son of a mechanical engineer, Vinod will head to America in December to join Deloitte Consulting as a systems analyst at a salary of $ 50,000 a year.

His decision is in contrast to the majority in his class who derided to pursue a master's degree. Each year about 60 per cent of graduating students from IIT Mumbai head to American universities for graduate studies.

Vinod is one of the few who will go straight to work after receiving his degree. He says he would rather check out the experience of working in a company and then decide if he wants to study further. "I want to see what the industry is like and then make an informed decision about whether I should go for a Ph D or not. I chose Deloitte as I wanted to get into a company that is into consulting," he explains.

Students on campus have the pick of international and Indian companies to choose from. This year, 121 companies vied to grab IITs latest crop. On the sprawling IIT Mumbai campus, multinationals offering dollar salaries had an edge over Indian firms. Even the best Indian IT companies did not have too much reach on this campus.

For instance, Infosys, probably the most respected of Indian IT companies, is the last preference for a job among IIT students. It's a desi company after all. "I had an offer from Infosys, but I decided not to take it. Deloitte is a better company. It is based in the US and I felt an exposure in the international market would help me a lot," says Vinod.

Echoes Uttam Kumbhat, topper in the chemical engineering class, "Infosys is a 'B' group company. I accepted an Offer from Infosys for job security. But now that I have got admission for a master's degree at MIT, I will not be joining the company obviously. MIT is a brand name."

Recession, slowdown, depression, economic slump, are all words that barely float through the IIT campus. For the brightest and the best students in India, there are companies aplenty courting them with salaries and the biggest prize of all: A posting in the US.

Capital One, an American firm, assured its candidates an annual income of $60,000. In contrast Veritas Software offered selected candidates a posting in Pune at an annual salary of Rs 700,000(approximately $ 15,000). ITC, HLL and McKinsey bid for the students at Rs. 500,000 (approximately $ 10,000) per annum.

This kind of money is offered because companies know the education their nominees have received at IIT lays a strong emphasis on hard work, independent thinking and strong analytical skills. Thus, IITians undergo a highly technical-oriented education and also learn broad-based skills that allow them to easily compete with young men and women in America who go to liberal arts schools and major in economics or history and hold similar jobs in investment banks and consulting firms.

Ranked third among the technology and science institutes in Asia by Asiaweek, IIT Mumbai is one of India's premier engineering institutes (South Korea's two premier schools rank ahead — Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology was first and Pohang University of Science and Technology ranked second). It has the unbeatable reputation of churning out some of the best names in any industry. Sample the roster: Victor Menezes, chairman and CEO, Citibank; Dr Arun Netravali, President, Bell Laboratories; Nandan Nilekani, managing director and CEO, Infosys; Kanwal Rekhi, co-founder of The Indus Entrepreneurs; Hemant Kanakia, founder, Torrent Networks are all IIT alumni.

The successful IITians abroad are a role model for the ones back home. Satrajit Anjankumar Chatterjee, frontrunner in his M Tech class of electrical engineering, proudly reels off the names of successful IIT Mumbai alumni and then whispers conspiratorially, "I hope to be there some day too."

Satrajit chose IIT because he felt only theInstitute could satisfy his fascination with computers and chip design. "I got my first computer when I was in class seven. It was a PC-XT that my dad gave me. Since then I have been programming and playing with computers. IIT, I felt, was the only choice for studying subjects like chip and interface design," he says.

He comes from an affluent background. His father is a director with ACC, one of India's largest cement companies. But at IIT, it is a level playing ground. "The students here are my kind of people. Actually, there is somebody for every kind of person you are looking for. There are the guys who love to sit in front of a computer all day and night and tinker with it. And there are others who are fun and really involved in sports and other extra curricular activities. IIT is a fun place to be in," he grins.

At the convocation, Satrajit sits impatiently, waiting for it to get over. It's already 6.30 pm and he has a flight to catch to America at 2 am. He is on his way to the University of California, Berkeley, for a doctorate in computer sciences. He has turned down lucrative job offers for a fellowship at Berkeley.

"I had an offer from Intel, AMD, Texas Instruments and Nvidia Corporation. Except for TI, all of them were for jobs in the US. But I wanted to do my PhD right away. A fellowship at Berkeley is what I wanted. So there was no question about accepting any of the offers," he says confidently.

As the ceremony wears on, he gets more fidgety. He can't wait to get out of the campus and on the flight that will take him to America and his dreams. Many of his friends are not present at the ceremony; they have already flown to the US in June after their final exam.

Every year nearly 60 per cent of IIT graduates go abroad to pursue studies; a small minority travel to work with American companies.

Explains Satrajit, "There are three reasons why I want to go to the US. The first is, of course, peer pressure. The second is America gives me a chance to do something different. There are not enough opportunities or choices here in India. And then, of course, there is the money factor. You can earn a lot more money in the US than you can in India."

It is a view that has remained unchanged over the years. Ten years ago, on the same campus, studying the same discipline, Ram Kelkar, an IIT Bombay alumnus and now managing director, Merrill Lynch, had similar ideas,

"My dream was to learn more about computers and chips, and to go to one of the best colleges of the US to pursue this dream. Like many other Indians and IITians, having grown up on Archie comics and US textbooks, there was naturally this burning desire to go to the land that gave us the Feynman series in physics, Xerox PARC and Bell Labs, as well as the land of Archie and Jughead!", recalls Kelkar, class of 1980.

The Indian exodus to the US, he says, was then yet to begin and no one was thinking in terms of settling down there. "We truly did not know what the future held for us after graduation. All we knew was that US universities offer the best post-graduate level education in the world, and as IITians, we had a chance of getting financial aid to get that experience and get exposed to it, he says.

Twenty-one years later, the class of 2001 feels the same. What about the country that spent so much on their education? For tuition of just Rs 17,280 (approximately $400) per semester, an undergraduate student at ITT gets the best available technical education in the country. The Government of India subsidizes a large part of the cost.

Students on the IIT campus are not perturbed when asked if they are being ungrateful to their country. "I think I can easily give back more to my/country if I am successful in America. India does not recognize and reward merit the way America does. If I do well, I will definitely give something back to my country," says Satrajit.

A few benches away from him, lost in a gaggle of computer science undergraduates lining up to receive their degrees from chief guest at the convocation, Citibank's Victor Menezes, is Gaurav Bhalotia. The unassuming 21 year old is the one to watch out for, whisper his professors. Gaurav topped his undergraduate computer engineering class - the hottest and the most coveted field in IIT.

The highest rankers at the Joint Entrance Exam can choose the discipline they want, which means that as a student ranks lower on the JEE he has to opt for a seat in whatever branch is available.

Computer science has naturally been the most desired option the last few years, though it was not always so. In the seventies and early eighties, electrical and electronics engineering were preferred.

"When I joined IIT in 1965, electrical engineering was hot. A few years later, I found my juniors preferred electronics. It is only in the late eighties that computer science became important," says Dr S P Mudur, Director. National Center for Software Technology, a Mumbai-based research and development center established by the Government of in l970.

Gaurav, who ranked 56 in the JEE, opted BT computer science. Today, like most of his class, he is set to fly to the University of California, Berkeley, to study for a graduate degree in Computer Science.

"I perceive the world to be moving towards a knowledge based economy. An MS [masters degree] is a step towards being part of that kind of economy. Once you start working and see the money, it becomes difficult to quit and go back to studying," he says wisely.

He carefully planned his route to excellence. "Being a topper is difficult at times because you have to sacrifice a few things. I had to be choosy about participating in extra-curricular activities. I had to attend all lectures, then I would study for around three hours every day after class. My class-mates were all so good that it was tough to keep up with them," he says.

IITs competitive ambience is baptism by fire for the students. It is also why such large numbers of IITans are so successful in their careers. The competition begins even before the students enter the campus. Consider these figures: Every year, 120,000 students appear for the JEE all over India, from which 3,500 are chosen. Which means that less than three per cent of those who appear for the qualifying exam are admitted to India's six IITs (at Mumbai, Delhi, Kharagpur, Karipur, Chennai and Guwahati).

Over the last five years, IIT has been increasing its intake of students. In 2000-2001, IIT took in 4,200 students, a growth of about 40 per cent since 1995.

The institute's professors say the pressure to get a seat at IIT is much more than what it was a few years ago. "This is something we have been noticing in the last three to four years. Students who have passed their school leaving exam start preparing for the JEE immediately, which they can only give two years later. Students will put in any amount of hard work necessary to get into IIT. They are not as laid back as the batches a few years ago," says Dr B B Appaji, head of student affairs, IIT Mumbai.

Once inside the campus, the students follow a grueling routine. A semester lasts about 16 weeks, of which 14 are earmarked for lectures and lab sessions. Lectures last four hours every day after which there are lab sessions three times a week. Every semester is punctuated by quizzes, tests, assignments, mid-semester and end-semester exams for undergraduate level courses. Students are graded openly on a 10-point grading system.

Durba Sengupta is the highest ranker in the biotechnology class in the M Sc program. Girls are a rare sight on the campus. In the postgraduate courses, titey constitute just three per cent of the class, while in undergraduate studies they form five per cent of the ratio. Disciplines like mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering are still an all-boys affair.

"Initially you feel funny about being one of the girls but then you forget all about it," she says.

Sitting with Smitha Raghuveer and Urmi Chakraborty — rank holders in applied statistics and mathematics and applied geology — the trio seem set to take on the world.

Durba has secured admission at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, where she is headed for a doctorate in neurobiology. With a degree from IIT, getting admission was easy.

"I already knew the work they [the university] were doing because I had come across it during research for my project. The papers of one of the professors at the university, Jeremy Smith, were among the prescribed reading material for our project. I contacted him for a clarification I wanted on my project and then we started talking about me applying to the university for further studies," she says.

Smitha and Unni have chosen to work with Geometric Software and Reliance Industries, Mumbai, respectively. They were happy with the offers from these two Indian companies. Coming from cities like Delhi, Kolkata and Baroda to Mumbai to be at the IIT, the three girl are a feminist’s dream. Gutsy, independent and knowing what they want.

"We came here because we k new there is no other place that could give us the kind of learning we want. The infrastructure and teaching are unparalleled, so the decision to study here was very clear to us from the beginning," they add in unison.

At the convocation hall, the fans whir noisily and flash bulbs pop occasionally as mothers dressed in silk saris watch their children proudly receive the degree that will change their lives forever.

At the end of the nearly three-hour ceremony, the students hug each other on the lawns, cheer the winners, pass a few good-natured jibes and exchange telephone numbers. It is a moment of camaraderie that will be frozen forever in time for them.

The Class of 2001 setting out into the world; a world they know is theirs to conquer.

Please review the Terms of Usage provided on the disclaimer page prior to accessing this website. ACCESSING THIS WEBSITE ("www.iitbombay.org") SIGNIFIES YOUR AGREEMENT TO THE TERMS OF USAGE.