The very first batch of students of the flagship program at N1 is ready to graduate. We have just received details about their future plans. About 80% of the students have chosen to pursue PhD in various disciplines. The remaining 20% are either starting jobs in the industry or are joining well known management institutes in the country. Among the PhD aspirants, there is approximately a 60:40 divide between those going abroad and those staying back in India. The abroad-bound are mostly headed to Europe (primarily England, Germany and Switzerland), with a small portion going to North America.
Since I joined only last year and was away for about 5 months, I have not had much interaction with this particular batch. But, I am very, very proud of them. Many students in this batch joined this basic sciences program at N1 despite stiff parental opposition and peer pressure in a culture which still places supreme importance to engineering and medicine. (Being involved in student affairs, I once met the mother of a student here who has been on anti depressants ever since her daughter joined N1 because her bright child will not become an engineer). Being the first batch, these students have also survived the initial infrastructural rough patch at the institute. On top of it all, they also did not have any precedent about future career choices. They had reasons enough to complain. Yet, not only have they performed well and carved their future paths, many of them have written to faculty members thanking them and saying that joining N1 has been a great experience for them!
Here's wishing them all the very best!
3 comments:
Hi newprof,
I think one of my brother's friends is also graduating this year from (what I think is) N1. I have a lot of respect for students like her who have braved parental opposition to study science subjects. I too would like to wish all these students the very best.
At the time of their inception, I would have been a bit apprehensive about how these institutes were going to turn out, but even if half the professors are like you, there's absolutely nothing to worry about. :-)
Hi Pramod,
Thank you for your very kind comments. When I joined N1, I was very inspired by the positive attitude of most of the students. Many of my colleagues also mention that these students gave them a lot of motivation and faith in the new institute. I am really glad that your friend has chosen to do what she loves and I wish her all the very best.
The parental opposition is all too real. There is just too much pressure on Indian middle class kids to get into the only two "legitimate" professions: engineering and medicine.
My parents dont use anti-depressants (that I know of) but they surely threw their fair share of tantrums when I made my decision after a "fateful" trip to IISc many years ago. I can only imagine how much worse it would be for kids who are joining a new institute.
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