On Internships and Practice School

A short trip to Singapore made me see how much excess money was there. People just have too much money and are in a serious doubt about how to spend it.

But what really got me jealous were not the high rise buildings and the skimpily clad women folk, but the opportunities and exposure the students receive there. Internships where students are affecting the decision-making process, where you knew you were making a serious contribution to the organisation and what organisations Apple, Accenture, Google etc.

The Practice School Option of BITS-Pilani is one good effort made by the college in bringing the industry closer to the students but then again its lacking in many areas, especially PS-1, the compulsory internship after the students second year. First of all, most organisations don’t give you work and if at all you do end up working, the work isn’t anything substantial and in most cases than not you end up simply solving Sudoku puzzles.

True, one could argue that as such your lot does not possess any core technical skills (besides some people having some knowledge in the Computer domains) so you can in no way become an asset to the company in two months( in which time you could probably not even learn enough to contribute). But basics in a lot of mathematical & statistical courses have been established. As have in some basic level manufacturing processes. Maybe the introduction of more companies which can tap this resource would be a step in the right direction. Also, the students should at least be familiarised with the organisational structure of the company and made to show various levels of work. This could probably let the student assess himself and decide which area he would be best suited to work.

Other wise the whole PS-1 feature becomes futile.

1 comments :: On Internships and Practice School

  1. One of the top ranking universities in India, BITS Pilani introduced Practice School way back in 1973 as an integral component of the acdemic curriculum analogus to internship of medical students. Practice School I (PS1) for 2 months after second year of a 4 year curriculum aims at introducing the students to industrial work place environment while Practice School II (PS2) in the final year for five and half months aims at carrying out a project which is of direct interest and relevance to the host organization. Every work place offers a variety of learning opportunites and the challenge is on the student in PS1 and PS2 to convert the opportunity into a value adder to his career goals.