Importance of internship in our education system and its benefits for a student

By Virender Kapoor

There is a lot of debate regarding making our education system a skill based one.  Yet there is little clarity regarding how this can be practically implemented. While colleges make efforts to integrate soft skills in the curriculum, the best and the most effective way to achieve this is to look at Internships with the industry very seriously.

Majority of our graduates and postgraduate students do not get any industry exposure. Internship with the Industry is something that is very essential for development of an individual. It is taken seriously, probably only by institutes teaching management at postgraduate level.

Every graduate and a post graduate ‘must’ undertake an industry project regardless of his subject of study and he or she should work with the industry for at least two months out of his entire course period which could be between two to four years. It should be like a mandated conscription by the college. No student should get his degree without having served the industry. It should be taken as seriously as military conscription in some countries. Thereafter a stiff evaluation of the work done by the student must be done.

Almost all graduates and more than 80 percent PG students have no work experience at all and have no clue as to what is expected from them once they go to the job market. Therefore the entire student fraternity needs industry exposure.

So what should you expect from an internship? Here are a few tips for getting the maximum bang for the buck:-

1. Duration- For course related to IT the duration could be from four to six months because a student must work on a software project related work which requires adequate time to execute.
2. Profile- Your internship project should be relevant to your study area or specialisation. For instance an HR student should not take a marketing profile because that would be useless.
3. Structured program like MT  (Management Trainee)- Internship programs with weekly schedule and a road map is essential- many good companies have a very organised internship programs.
4. Grilling schedule and rigor- Remember more number of hours you spend on your project the more you will learn. So make sure you have an attitude of ‘ Dil mangey more’ and look for a challenging assignment.
5. Proper mentoring- Go for a project which has a guide whom you need to report your progress. This is essential for learning.
6. Brand matters- Good companies especially MNCs and large business houses provide a productive and a conducive learning environment.
7. Don’t go to get a certificate- you are cheating yourself- Many students go for internship just to get a certificate. I have seen students going to small companies owned by their parents/relatives so that they can sit at home and relax and after the duration is over submit some flimsy report and take a certificate. You are wasting your critical time.
8. Stipend- Though every company does not pay stipend but many do. One advantage from the learning perspective is that when a company pays you stipend, you become an ‘accountable hired resource’ for the HR department and they need to take work from you to justify your hiring. Never be greedy and go for a project that offers a bigger stipend. Today from good colleges for a PG management program students can get a stipend of between Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 per month. This happens on campuses where proper internship programs are taken seriously with companies following a rigorous selection process.
9. Location- Don’t look for a project close to your home or college. This should never be the criterion for selecting internship. Be prepared to go to any other town if an opportunity comes your way.

 

Role of the college

Many colleges do not pay attention to this critical learning component and ask the students to look for internship on their own and fend for themselves. For students going for MBA programs selecting an institute basis its internship program caliber is a wise decision.

 

Challenge for the educational Institutes

Major problem that education institutes who want to send students for projects is that the industry does not come forward to absorb students for such projects. They find it as an additional burden and hence do not entertain interns. At the same time there are many companies who have a structured internship programs.

Government through organizations like CII and NASSCOM should make a certain number of interns to be taken by every industry or enterprise as a mandatory requirement. These need not be paid internships because that will be difficult to implement as a policy. Industry should look at this as an opportunity to get young manpower to do some meaningful work almost free of cost. The student should look at it as a meaningful training period, which is coming free to him. This is a win -win situation for all. This is the most important part of the skill development initiative.

Industry should also view this as a CSR activity. This entire initiative requires further discussion and should evolve as a policy so that colleges do not have to chase companies to allocate projects. What type of projects, in which industry, will suit what discipline, needs to be gone into detail. Broad list of projects for commerce, science, Engineering, Arts etc can be made and they should map into the type of Industry that would be able to handle it. If we make it a policy, it will get us good results in the long run. This would be the best form of industry academia interaction. Imagine how much will this add to the productivity of the nation- almost six to eight million strong work force added to the through put for a quarter of a year- year on year!

About the Author

Virender Kapoor is the Founder MILE Management Institute for Leadership and Excellence –Pune. He is the former director of Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management and has written various books on a wide range on subjects such as information systems and telecommunication, emotional intelligence, leadership and self help. He’s an alumnus of IIT Bombay.