First Data Science & AI batch graduates from IIT Guwahati with strong placements
According to IIT Guwahati’s official placement report, 91% of students in the first graduating batch secured offers.
Guwahati, Oct 9: The Mehta Family School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (MFSDS&AI) at IIT Guwahati has marked a milestone with the graduation of its first-ever B.Tech in Data Science and AI cohort (2021-2025).
Launched in 2021 in partnership with the Mehta Family Foundation (MFF), the school was one of the first in the IIT system to introduce a dedicated undergraduate programme in Data Science and AI well before the current global surge in artificial intelligence. Four years later, its graduates are entering an economy where AI skills are among the most sought-after worldwide.
According to IIT Guwahati’s official placement report, 91 per cent of students in the first graduating batch secured offers. Out of 22 students, 20 were placed with leading recruiters, while two chose not to continue in the recruitment process. Recruiters included Warner Bros Discovery, Google, Microsoft, and more. One student will also pursue higher studies at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.
“By introducing a B.Tech in Data Science and AI in 2021, we were ahead of the curve. The successful placement of our very first batch validates both the demand for these skills and the quality of the programme we have built. Our graduates are entering this dynamic landscape equipped to make contributions of global significance,” Prof Devendra Jalihal, Director of IIT Guwahati, said.
For Rahul Mehta, founder of the Mehta Family Foundation, the outcome demonstrates the vision behind establishing the School. “The success of the inaugural graduating class is a testament to the dedication of IIT Guwahati’s faculty and the talent of its students. Our partnership to establish the School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence was built on a shared vision to empower the next generation of leaders in this transformative field. Seeing that vision come alive is truly gratifying,” he said.
The students’ academic journey was built on a rigorous foundation in science and mathematics, enriched by interdisciplinary courses from computer science, engineering, and humanities, and further strengthened through specialised coursework in data science, AI, and their applications. They have gained practical exposure through summer internships, including one student taking an international assignment in Japan. The four-year curriculum included a one-year project component where students worked on cutting-edge problems such as deepfake detection, large language model automation, conversational AI, multimodal healthcare, federated learning, and robotics. Some of these works are either published or are in review for publication in peer-reviewed conferences and journals. Beyond placements, they have also excelled in Inter-IIT Tech Meets and national-level hackathons such as Kaggle Masters, JPMC Quant Challenge, Nobias Finance Investment Challenge, Amazon ML, Adobe Gensolve, and Citadel Terminal.
As Prof Ratnajit Bhattacharjee, Head of the School, explained, “Our pride lies in the diversity of outcomes. Some graduates are stepping into leadership-track roles in industry, while others are moving into advanced research. That flexibility shows the strength of the programme in preparing adaptable, world-class problem solvers.”
This achievement is supported by a dedicated faculty pool of over 25 members, along with international advisors from institutions such as MIT, Purdue, UCSD, and the University of Oklahoma. Faculty research spans diverse areas including healthcare AI, sustainable finance, neuro-inspired computing, and audio, vision, text, and multimodal AI, with funding from agencies such as DST, DRDO, ISRO, ANRF, and the Indo-Dutch Merian Fund.
Staff Reporter