THE STUDENT INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME

-CONCEPT AND ROLES

By
Dr. Premanand Shenoy
Professor of Civil Engineering
Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management
Adyar, Mangalore
1. Preamble
In order to improve the employability of the students by imparting
required skills and making them industry ready, it has been decided by AICTE to
introduce mandatory internship for students from the session 2017-18. To
facilitate internships to the students, AICTE has been identifying
organisations/institutes both in India & abroad and signing MoUs.

While pressed upon the regulatory need of internship, the students and
technical institutions are lost in finding effective ways of implementation of the
concept. This article is to understand the concept of internship and the role of the
concerned in effectively implementing the vision of the authorities.

2. Student Internship Program – The concept

Internships are carefully planned and monitored work experience with the
goal being to gain additional knowledge from on- the- job- exposure. Internships
allow students the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills in a
professional setting while still in the academic institutes. Participating interns
gain on-the-job training that integrates education, career development and public
service.
Internships may also be part of an educational program in which students can
earn academic credits from their college. Internships may be arranged
independently from the curriculum in which students would gain work
experience only.
3. Primary Objectives
The main objectives of the Student Internship programme are

a) To gain career related experience

b) To gain practical knowledge
c) To Know the risks involved in practising the profession
d) To explore related career avenues
e) To develop and increase self-confidence
f) To enhance conventional classroom learning methods
g) To know the ethical practice of the business related to the profession
h) To know the unwritten rules and thumb rules derived out of experience
i) To know the mistakes committed by others and learn from them
j) To understand the reality whether they really know the things what they
thought they knew- Self realization evaluation and external appraisal.
k) To know the subject area of interest which can help choose their elective/
post graduate level subjects in the subsequent years.
 l) To know the advanced practices in comparison to some basic but
outdated syllabus in the curriculum.
m) Promote and improve industry-institute interaction for the benefit of
both.

4. Secondary Objectives

These secondary objectives should never become the primary objectives of the
student. The purpose of the concept will be lost.

a) Valuable work experience for their resumes

b) Letter of recommendation from departments supervisor
c) Obtain references from co-workers during the internship
d) To satisfy the university regulations and to earn academic credits

5. Role of the Student

a) Students are the centre of attention in the entire concept of internship.

It is for the student and the -role -of –the self need to be understood by
every student. The objectives of the concept need to be understood.
Though many may not be able to identify clearly the area of special
interest at the first instant, the student is the one who chooses the place of
his internship.

b) While choosing an organisation for internship, a student needs to study

the nature of jobs in which it is involved, the mission and vision of the
organisation, the locale, the people, the reputation and their regulations
for interns. Many organisations have set working hours, dress codes and
other service rules. Students need to see whether they could abide by
them. They may have to search for the availability of accommodation
near the place of work too.

c) If you are a student, you need to obtain willingness of the organisation to

take you as an intern before you approach your institution for deputation.
Many reputed firms have formats for application for internship to be
filled up and submitted well in advance to your intended period of
internship.

d) Observe the regulations of the firm during the internship. Your conduct
can directly affect the reputation of the institution that you represent.
Standard organisations do not allow the use any pirated software in their
premises.

e) Do not attempt to access documents which are not given to you by them
willingly. Similarly, do not get involved in gossiping nor should you
intrude into the matters concerned with others.

f) Observe the work environment. many non-technical aspects can

contribute a lot to your future career.

g) The fellow interns you meet may also become great contacts in the
future.
h) Keep a diary of events on a daily basis. It would be a great help while
preparing a progress report or the final one at the end.

i) While you finish the internship, make it a point to thank all the involved
through a formal letter.

j) Many students think that the internship period is for learning value added
courses. There is no benefit of learning a value added course unless a
student knows the practice of the basic courses already learned in
classrooms.

6. Role of the Institution

a) Institution plays an important part in the internship programme. It is the

responsibility of the institution to see that the student undergoes
internship in an organisation relevant to his/ her field.
b) In the name of internship, students are likely to be at their place of
residence on vacation doing no fruitful work. Similarly, there are many
private organisations which woo the students in the name of paid
internship and use them for data entry / typing/ or call centre operations
irrelevant to their field. It is likely that the students get attracted to such
small time financial benefits in addition to getting an internship
certificate to satisfy university regulations.
c) There are many private intermediaries who offer free registrations for
paid internship too. Care should be taken to see that the students do not
fall victims to such free registrations which ultimately depute the
students to be used for irrelevant works. As far as possible, such private
intermediaries should be avoided and direct links need to be established
between the institution and industries.
d) Every institution should have a clear policy laid out student internships.
That could be accessed by the students. Provision should also be there to
revise the policy as the need arises.
e) There should be a pre internship talk given to the students proceeding to
internship. The objectives, requirements, submissions and the structure of
the final reports should be spelt out so that the students record and
maintain information.
f) The students should be continuously monitored for their attendance and
regularity at the place of internship. There should be periodical
evaluation of progress of work undertaken by the students and feedback
from the in charge at the place of internship.
g) Students should be encouraged to give presentations on their work when
they are back from the internship programme and submission of an
internship report need to be insisted upon.
h) The feedback from industry should also be viewed very seriously as it
can contribute to the modification of curriculum / syllabus or can reveal
many shortfalls of on the part of institution.
7. Role of the Industry
a) As the interns are basically students, they do not financially earn and it is
unethical make them pay for the internship provided to them. Giving
internship is a social responsibility. It is not a business. At the same time,
there are many organisations which pay the students during their
internship. But if the students want to study value added courses, they
may have to pay. It may be termed as ‘value addition ’. But it is
definitely not ‘Internship’.
b) The organisation , where internship is sought, should seek the purpose
and area of interest of the intern before they are admitted. If they do not
match what the organisation can offer, the organisation may suggest
alternate places of internship.
c) The knowledge that is transferred, or at least most of it, during internship
should be as mush practical as possible, which the students do not get in
academic environment. If they can connect theory to practice, the
purpose is served.
d) Many of the organisations propagate that ‘Practice is different from
Theory’ ,which is wrong and may make students lose confidence in
academics. It should be understood that ‘Practice is the Intelligent
Application of Theory’. It is not different. Theory is learned because it
has a practical application somewhere, probably the organisation does
not know. Theory is also required to analyse what went wrong or why
something worked. Knowledge of theory while practising can lead us to
perfection.
e) The organisation should be selfless in providing data and information, if
they are not confidential or intellectual property. The classified
information should be properly secured, as students , without the
knowledge of the consequences, may distribute such data as they are
exposed to an era when pirated software is profusely distributed.
f) Organisation should put effort to teach them professional ethics and
responsibility to the society. A good engineer is also a good human being.
g) The concerned co-ordinator in the organisation should pay attention to
the interns through periodic technical meetings and one to one talks. If
interns are left alone, the purpose of internship may be lost. On the
contrary, being students, they may interfere with the professional office
atmosphere or would take it leisurely being absent.
h) Organisation should involve them in live projects, under supervision.
Creative minds can contribute to the projects immensely. They should be
sent to project sites only after proper training on construction safety.
Organisation should not ‘use’ them without any benefit to them, even if
they are paid.
i) The organisation may guide them in the areas where they are confident
and have proven abilities. Preferably, the personnel need to have
academic qualifications in the area of practice.
j) An evaluation should be done the end of internship. It would give them,
and the organisation, how much both have been successful in knowledge
transfer.
k) A feedback should be obtained from the interns at the end of the
internship. Probably, the organisation can offer better internship next
time. There could also be invaluable suggestions to improve the
organisation’s performance. Young minds with latest knowledge on
gadgets and research can improve the organisation’s efficiency too!
8. Conclusion
AICTE has realized the need and importance of internship in
moulding a complete engineer. Though the modus operandi of the
requirement has not been spelt out, it has made internship compulsory for
the students. Without understanding the concept, objectives, roles and
responsibilities, the system may not be implemented to achieve its
intended goals and sincere involvement of all concerned is warranted.
The article is an attempt to frame a skeleton to the implementation of the
student internship programme.
About the Author
Dr. Premanand Shenoy has 20 years of
experience in
design and
construction
industry and 12
years of teaching
experience. He is
involved in many
Industry Institute
Interaction
Programmes
through strategic development of policies for
implementation of training programmes,
continuing education courses, placements , student
internship programs and skill development
courses. Currently he is a professor in the
department of Civil Engineering in Sahyadri
College of Engineering, Mangalore and is
involved actively in consultancy services.