Internship
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 aims to reshape the education system to nurture well-rounded individuals capable of rational thought and action, equipped with compassion, empathy, resilience, scientific reasoning, and creative imagination, all grounded in strong ethical values. It strives to produce engaged, productive, and contributing citizens to build an equitable, inclusive, and plural society, as outlined in the Constitution of India. NEP 2020 emphasizes fostering quality research in higher education to ensure that institutions provide exceptional education. Research and innovation are essential components of this goal. To address the societal challenges of the nation, a robust, knowledge-driven, skills-focused, and research-oriented higher education ecosystem is needed to achieve sustainable development.
In accordance with NEP-2020 and UGC Guidelines, Parishkar College of Global Excellence (Autonomous) has developed a new student-centric “Curriculum and Credit Framework for Undergraduate Programmes” (CCFUP), featuring a flexible choice-based credit system, multiple entry and exit options, a multidisciplinary approach, and integrating internships as a core aspect of students’ induction into the workforce.
An internship is gaining first-hand experience by an individual besides comprehending the way of working in an organization, leading to improve the skill aptitude for a specific job or job role and building research capabilities with learning opportunities. Internships should be such organized that benefits the intern as well as the internship providing organization. Following are the intended objectives of engaging undergraduate students in internship for employability and research internship programmes:
- Integration of workshop with workplace: To see the internship in a broader, integrated and holistic manner where the delivery of the classroom is aligned with outcomes of the workplace.
- Understanding of the world of work: To provide undergraduate students with an opportunity to improve their understanding of the experiences, challenges, and opportunities of the real world of work, as well as to set their expectations and behaviour in accordance with the demands, culture, and values of current and emerging jobs.
- Hybrid model learning: To broaden learning opportunities by combining physical and digital modes of learning while working in industry, corporate, research & development organizations, workplace, within or outside HEIs, blended with a mentor or research expert and as per the need and convenience.
- Developing research aptitude: To create and facilitate conditions that allow students in their quest for knowledge, its discovery, learn, understand and sharpen research acumen, familiarizing with analytical tools and techniques with appropriate usage, research methodologies, data analysis, integrity, ethical behaviour and their application in solving research /real life problems.
- Exposure in emerging technologies: To provide exposure to emerging technologies/automation and how it can support, facilitate, improve and reinforce work processes/culture/job roles/art and craft, including the traditional areas of art craft/heritage skills, agriculture, etc.
- Enhance entrepreneurial capabilities: Understand how organizations/ enterprises are formed for sustainable progress so that start-ups and entrepreneurial capabilities are strengthened among students, and they are encouraged to be job creators.
- Development of decision-making and teamwork skills: To facilitate the development of problem-solving and decision-making skills, enable teamwork & collaboration culture to promote research, academic and professional developments.
- Cultivate a sense of social imagery and citizenship responsibility: To develop a sense of social imagery (issues) and philanthropic versatility among the graduating students that will facilitate towards the development of an attitude towards citizenship responsibility.
- Stimulate collaborative influence: To promote HEIs collaboration, industry- academia partnership will be developed to provide collaborative internships, apprenticeships, and research opportunities to the students in the predefined areas of importance which will lead institutions, universities, organizations, academicians, and students to collaborate on how to learn with one another.
- Enhancing professional competency: The internship should not only focus on employability or research capabilities; there is also a need for professional principles, ethics, values, integrity and dignity of labour which will enable them to gain perspective, practice, develop as competency and perform professional tasks in the way that the employment market demands.
The employability of graduates can be improved by developing practical experience and exposure with the required right kind of attitude for the workplace. The internship is one of the important apparatuses that help in improving these employability skills and can help in generating competency, capability, professional working skills, expertise, and confidence among the students for employability and developing interest/passion for research. The interns can understand the application of theory in the workplace.
The undergraduate internships can be classified into two types:
1. Internship for enhancing the employability
2. Internship for developing the research aptitude
1. Enhancing Employability
Employability refers to the certain attributes of an individual that enable him/her to perform any job opportunity in line with the set standards of performance to meet expectations for the expected job. Employability is a set of skills and attributes developed through a range of experiences at workshops and workplaces. It states that when a student can demonstrate skills on the job. Individuals need to develop such competencies which reduce the obstacles as job seekers and also increase their potential as job providers.
The internship programs build capabilities/aptitude/skills of our undergraduates/researchers/faculties for development of project and its execution, decisionmaking, confidence development, working/coordinating in a team, creative and critical thinking and problem-solving, ethical values, professional development, understanding of government/local bodies work, reference of resource persons in the field, development of online/simulation-based module for a virtual research internship, understanding the nuances of building a deep-technology start-up, study certain entrepreneurs, study of the enterprises, farmers, artisans, etc.
2. Developing Research Aptitude
Research aptitude refers to the attribute of inquiry/investigation, analysis and interpretations in a scientific and objective method that facilitates to uncover facts and present an individual viewpoint in an organized manner.
Research internship aims at providing hands-on training to work on research tools, techniques, methodologies, equipment, policy framework and various other aspects in pursuing quality research. Research internship will mainly be helpful for the students of Single Major programmes under Scheme C who want to pursue Honours programmes or Masters programmes.
Apart from gaining relevant research experience, the interns would learn the following, through research professionals/mentors:
- Ideation and conceptualization of a research question/problem
- Learning about new tools and handling of equipment
- Experimentation and collection of data
- Simulations and development of models
- Preparation and presentation of reports
Research Internship experience can be gained by working with faculty/scientists/mentors in HEIs, research institutions, universities, Industrial research labs, nationally and internationally reputed organizations, farmers, and entrepreneurs, using local experts through recognition of prior learning models and individual persons distinguished in specific fields. The integration of research, innovation and technology development is the foundation of Atma-Nirbhar Bharat (Self-reliant India). Institutionalization of internships at undergraduate levels is expected to play a pivotal role in catalyzing the inter- disciplinary/multi-disciplinary/trans-disciplinary and translational research culture embedded in NEP-2020.
An internship provides learning experiences related to a student’s interest or discipline of study. It also gives an opportunity of acquiring new skills. College will have an important role in exploring internship providing organizations, making students aware, arranging internships, assessment of internship for their students by a set of the instructions in this policy document.
1. Internship Cell
College will establish an internship cell with the following composition:
- Chairperson/Principal/Director/Dean
- Internship Coordinator
- Faculty Incharges of different UG programmes
2. Incharge of Internship Cell
The concerned Chairperson/Principal/Director/ Dean of the college will be the overall Incharge of the Internship Cell. The Chairperson/Principal/Director/Dean will appoint a senior faculty member as Internship Coordinator, Faculty -in-charges of different UG Programmes and Internship supervisors. This cell may be constituted separately or may be associated with the existing placement/entrepreneurship/skill development/R&D cell of the College.
3. Internship Coordinator
College will have an Internship Coordinator who will be responsible for the overall management of internship course in undergraduate programmes. The Internship Coordinator will coordinate all the activities of Internship cell. The Internship Coordinator will be responsible for identification of organizations where the students can go for internships and to have the way for going into MoUs with such organizations. She/He will ensure the timely notification of internship opportunities available with the internship cell through display of notifications on notice board/website of college. The Internship Coordinator will allocate the student(s) interested in internship to the respective Faculty Incharges of different UG programmes in college. The Internship Coordinator will also convene the meeting of the internship cell for the smooth conducting of the internship activities and will ensure the timely evaluation of internship reports and submission of awards in the internship cell. The Internship Coordinator will ensure the proper maintenance of records in the cell pertaining to internship.
4. Faculty Incharges of Different UG Programmes
One Faculty incharge from each UG programme of the college e.g., B.A., B.Com., B.Sc., BBA, BCA etc. will be a member of the cell. The Faculty Incharges of different UG programmes in college will coordinate with the Internship Supervisor.
The role of internship cell shall be to facilitate and to guide students for internship. The internship should be well-defined and with clear outcomes. It is important to explore, reach out to, and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with local businesses, Govt./Semi Govt./PSUs, research organizations, NGOs, HEIs, etc. as this will aid in training, research, employment, and start-ups. The cell shall also keep a record of students’ internship enrolment, place of internship, evaluation of internship and will submit the final awards of internship course on the portal.
Internship cell can enter MOUs with different organizations for providing internships on behalf of college.
Internship cell will also allocate internship supervisors depending upon the number of students and regular faculty members available in the college.
5. Internship Supervisor
A regular Faculty of the college shall be assigned the duty of Internship Supervisor to the student(s) for internship. The Internship Supervisor will guide, counsel, facilitate the students during the process of exploring the interest areas of internship and possible places for doing the internship accordingly. S/he will monitor and supervise the student(s) during the internship period. The Internship Supervisor will also keep the record of the consent of Internship Mentor and the organization, awards submitted by Internship Mentor and the report of the internship submitted by the student(s). S/he will also evaluate the internship reports of the students and shall submit the total awards of internship course to the concerned Faculty Incharge of the internship cell.
It is desirable that the Internship Supervisor should conduct a short duration formal meeting, either in online or offline mode, at least once during the internship with the Internship Mentor.
The internship can be done by a student to get the opportunities for active engagement in on-site experiential learning preferably in their respective discipline at an Internship Providing Organization (IPO) with the permission of the college. Internship Providing Organization is an organization, HEI, philanthropy, farmer, government organization, R&D institutions, research labs, enterprises, institution/person of eminence, cooperatives, corporates providing an opportunity to the student for Internship during the programme.
Different categories and types of the internship providing organizations are mentioned below:
- Local industry.
- Government or Private Organizations/Institutions.
- Business establishments (micro, small and medium).
- Local governments (such as Municipal Corporations, Zila Parishads, Block Smiti, Panchayats and Municipalities).
- Social organizations.
- Research laboratories.
- HEIs for doing survey studies regarding social, economic, agricultural, cultural, educational aspects.
- Placement cell.
- Libraries.
- Organizations working for adult education.
- Community service.
- Organization/enterprise/start-ups/corporate.
- Farmlands.
- Gig workers.
- Non-government organizations (NGOs).
- Research & development organizations, and
- Educational institutions
Training/Skill Development Certificate courses/programmes from Govt./Govt.
approved agencies/bodies, of equal duration i.e., minimum 60-120 hours will also be considered as internship courses.
Internships offered through Central/State Govt. portals for offering internship/apprenticeship/skill development/training programmes shall also be considered as equivalent to internship courses.
The internship cell will explore the possible internship positions in different areas in different organizations and make the students aware about the same through regular notifications, mentor-mentee meetings, counselling sessions and other such programmes organized at their college. Local organizations should be given preference for doing the internship. Students should be encouraged to choose the organization for doing internship and to seek the consent from that organization.
A suggestive list of possible areas of internship and the organizations. This list is not exhaustive but indicative.
The internship cell will invite applications for internships from the students in the prescribed format.
The Internship Mentor is an individual professional or owner or an employee working in an internship providing organization where a student wants to do the internship. The internship providing organization can be chosen by the student oneself through her/his own sources/network with the permission of college or as allocated by the college. The consent of the identified Internship Mentor shall be submitted to the Internship Supervisor by the student. The Internship Mentor will provide guidance to the students online/offline throughout the internship duration.
The Internship Mentor will validate the participation and performance of the student(s) after the completion of the internship and will issue the completion certificate. Internship Mentor will evaluate the student on the basis of attendance, punctuality, learning, meeting objectives and timeline.
Activities, Suggested Duration along with a corresponding number of credits of Internship Programme:
|
S. No. |
Courses |
Suggested Schedule |
Duration |
Suggested Activities |
Credits |
|
1 |
|
After (4th) Semester |
60 -120 hours |
Hands-on Training/Short, Research Project, Seminar attendance, Read assigned journals to prepare for seminars, Study certain entrepreneurs, Social projects, Study of the enterprises/ farmers |
02-04 |
|
2 |
4-year UG Degree (Honours with Research) |
8th Semester |
One Semester |
(i) college may adopt Research Methodology, Research Tools and Techniques, Research Ability Enhancement and Policy Framework Courses (ii)Dissertation/Thesis/Project Work/Research project |
08 12 |
Note: In 4-year UG degree (Honours) students not undertaking research may do 3 courses for 12 credits in lieu of a research project/dissertation as specified in CCFUP Document.
- The internship cell of the college will notify a list of different internship areas, internship providing organizations, internship positions, internship projects arranged by the college or where a student can apply for on its notice boards at the onset of even semester.
- The student shall apply for internship in response to the notice of the internship cell in the prescribed format. It is the responsibility of the student to apply for the internship well in time.
- The Internship Coordinator will allocate the received applications of internships to the Faculty Incharges of different UG programmes in the college.
- The concerned Faculty Incharge of the UG programme in the college will allocate the student(s) to the Internship Supervisors from the list notified by Chairman/Principal/Director.
- The Internship Supervisor will provide the recommendation letter (Appendix-V) in the name of internship providing organization to the student.
- The student will contact internship providing organization/Internship Mentor to get the consent for guiding internship and shall submit the same to internship supervisor along with the tentative schedule of the internship.
- The student will move for internship with the intimation to the Internship Supervisor.
- After completion of the internship, the student(s) will submit the internship report (including- introduction about the organization, objectives of the internship, details of the work done, observations and learning outcomes/experiences, other forms of presentation, if any) within 15 days of the completion of internship to the Internship Supervisor at the college.
- The student will collect the completion certificate duly signed by the Internship Mentor and shall submit the same along with internship report to the Internship Supervisor. Internship report without completion certificate shall not be entertained.
- If a student fails to get an internship in physical mode, then the host institute should have a provision for digital or group internship.
Application for Internship Programme
A. Enhancing employability internship evaluation
The evaluation of the internship shall be done by the Internship Mentor of IPO and Internship Supervisor of the college separately.
(i) Internship Mentor will evaluate the student based on regularity, punctuality, interest shown towards learning skills, dignity of labour, team participation, work experience and meeting internship objectives. The internship mentor will give the awards at the completion of internship in the given format.
(ii) The internship supervisor will evaluate the intern based on internship report and viva-voce. The internship report will be evaluated in terms of its contents and presentation in the context of relevant sections.
(iii) Internship awards in such cases, where a student undergoes an approved Training/skill development/certificate course, will be determined based on marks/grade awarded by the IPO providing such skill development/training/internship courses.
A student must obtain minimum 40% marks each in the evaluation by Internship Mentor and Internship Supervisor.
The Internship Supervisor will submit the cumulative awards and records to the Faculty Incharge of respective UG programmes in college for onward submission on the portal.
A candidate who could not complete or has failed in internship evaluation by the Internship Mentor, then s/he will get one more chance to repeat that part of internship during vacations/holidays. If a candidate gets failed in the evaluation of the Internship report, then she/he will submit the Internship report again and that revised report will be assessed again but the candidate need not to repeat the internship in that case.
B. Research internship evaluation
1. Internship offered by the organisation should be followed by one project report and the assessment on evaluation can be judged based on
- Innovativeness of Research
- Presentation and,
- Viva-Voce
2. The research project report shall have an undertaking from the student and a certificate from the research supervisor/mentor/Faculty incharge for originality of the work, stating that there is no plagiarism and that the work has not been submitted for the award of any other degree/diploma in the same Institution or any other Institution.
3. The viva-voce examination shall include both internal and external examiner. The college need to follow their examination structure for the conduction of the examination.