Boosting Student Employability with Internship
Most
graduates are faced with a peculiar situation to be employed in their field of
study. In a traditional hiring system, they cannot get a break without
experience and this experience cannot be gained until any company hires the
candidate. Dipen Pradhan
of Elets News Network
explores employability opportunity for students through Internship.
The
trade and industry sector, for instance, conducts its own test while hiring and
is not happy with the result. They argue that most universities in India
produce graduates, post- graduates and diploma or certificate holders, who are
unemployable.
So
worrying is the situation that it has set off alarm bells as the number of
graduates in the nation continues to increase with no job, and mostly ending up
to opt jobs in other sectors – rather adding to the burgeoning unemployment in
the country, which is expected to reach 18 million in 2018.
The
University Grants Commission (UGC) report suggests the number of graduate
students doubled from 11,908,151 in 2008 to 24,593,321 in 2016. As of February
this year, 789 universities, 37,204 colleges and 11,443 stand-alone
institutions were functioning across India.
Meanwhile,
only 641,000 jobs were created from July 2014 to December 2016 in sectors
—manufacturing, trade, construction, education, health, information technology,
transport, and accommodation & restaurant, according to Economic Survey
report.
Although
the Government of India has implemented various new initiatives like Make in
India, Digital India, Skill India, Startup India, Smart Cities etc., however,
are yet to yield results.
Mandatory
Internship by AICTE
To
enable Engineering and Management students become employable and to bridge the
skill gap between the industry requirement and the academia, All India Council
for Technical Education (AICTE) and Engineering Council of India (ECI) in June
this year entered into an MoU for providing “Internship” – commence from
Session 2017-18 – across 10,000 approximate AICTE affiliated technical
institutions in the country.
Universities
like Rajasthan Technical University (RTU), Samrat Ashok Technological Institute
(SATI), Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya (RGPV), Sandip University
Nashik (SUN), Gujarat Technological University (GTU) have already agreed to
carry out this internship programme for the students to provide a hands-on
experience within a technical institution and industrial organisation working
environment.
The
programme has set two summer internships with the industry, for students before
obtaining their graduate degrees, of two months duration each. The proviso has
mandates to all the AICTE affiliated universities to make internship compulsory
and include it in their academic calendar, too.
Under
this joint initiative of AICTE-ECI MoU, the web portal (www.eciinternship.com)
has also been launched for students to obtain internship with technical
institutions and industrial organisations.
The
official website of Eciinternship, students can avail information about various
training programs and internship opportunities on engineering and management
programs offered by ECI Member Associations.
Furthermore,
ECI is in the process of identifying organisation or institutes, both in India
and abroad, and signing MoUs to facilitate the internship programme.
The
internship programme for graduating engineering students received a further
boost after the current Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani directed his
State’s industries to enroll interns – 10 per cent of its total employee
strength.
The
Gujarat Biodiversity Board has also signed an agreement with ECI in which the
State’s 457 pharmaceutical companies have agreed to take four students each as
interns.
With
a similar objective, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje recently directed
the State industries to start enrolling students as interns, ECI Member
Secretary Dr PR Swarup said in one of the programme held by AICTE in Jaipur
recently.
MHRD
to roll-out National Entrance Examination for Technical Institutions (NEETI)
Technical
education is the key enabler for the development of the country. It is the axis
around which the development of industry, infrastructure and economy of the
countries revolve. As the number of unemployed engineering graduates continues
to increase, the blame game often points towards ‘curricula’ for creating the
skill gap between the industry requirement and the academia.
Time-and-
again, a debate is raised to provide Industry-focused curricula and projects to
enhance the employability of the undergraduates.
The
Ministry of Human Resource Development is planning a major reshuffle in India’s
technical education through the implementation of the single National Entrance
Examination for Technical Institutions (NEETI) from January 2018, which
includes teacher training and annual revision of curriculum, among others.
Once
implemented, the institutions will have to make suitable changes in the
curriculum every year to meet the industry requirement.
Rising
trend of Internship providers
In
recent years, the country has witnessed a rising trend of private companies
providing internship and training to the students in verticals such as
engineering, applied arts, architecture, law, hotel management, website
development, marketing etc.
Source | http://digitallearning.eletsonline.com/2017/12/boosting-student-employability-with-internship/
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior Manager @
Knowledge Repository
Khaitan &
Co
Twitter Handle | @Pralhad161978
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