IIT Kharagpur Issues Notice: Students Cannot Mention Departmental Ranks in CVs for Placements

To reduce stress and ensure fair placements, IIT Kharagpur has barred students from mentioning departmental rank in placement biodatas.

IIT Kharagpur Issues Notice

As the placement season began at IIT Kharagpur this month, students received an unexpected guideline from the institute: do not mention your departmental rank in biodata. The directive, issued just ahead of the latest round of campus recruitment, is aimed at preventing unhealthy competition and ensuring a level playing field for all candidates.

Traditionally, IIT students often mention their rank in their department—such as second out of 120 or tenth out of 80—to showcase their academic merit. However, this practice has been linked to anxiety during interviews, peer pressure, and even discrimination. Recruiters may intentionally or unintentionally give preference to higher-ranked students despite the same CGPA, leaving other students disadvantaged, reports the Times of India.

By asking students to retain their CGPA as the only academic indicator, IIT Kharagpur wants to shift the focus from inter-departmental rivalry to overall performance. "This decision has reduced the burden of constant comparison. We can now go to interviews knowing that we are being evaluated fairly," said a fourth-year student preparing for an interview at a tech company.

The move comes at a time when placements are under strict scrutiny across all IITs. At IIT Delhi, the first round of 2024-25 placements saw over 1,200 offers—including 50 international offers—while IIT Bombay reported that nearly 36% of its students did not get placed despite a 75% overall placement rate last year. A parliamentary panel recently pointed to an “abnormal drop” in placement percentages across major campuses between 2021-22 and 2023-24.

This policy of IIT Kharagpur could serve as a pilot project for others. By discouraging the culture of numerical comparisons, the institute is signalling that mental health and fairness are as important as academic rigour. Whether other IITs adopt a similar stance remains to be seen, but the directive is a small relief for students who are going through one of the most stressful phases of their academic lives.