Academics and internships: Too close, yet so far

The industry looks for much shorter learning times for its recruits, and balancing it with internship can be tricky, writes A V Arunkumar

Academic institutions are tasked with carving out professionals through an academic structure that imparts holistic education and skills. The latter, skills, is something the industry has been looking for as it enhances the student’s employability.

To fall in line and to ensure that the students are placed with well-paid and reputed companies, universities have been performing continuous need assessments, forging partnerships with the industry, and creating placement opportunities for the students. The focus has been placement in well-established companies that can pay well.

Despite all measures, one may discern from the field that the industry partnerships have not yet reached their true potential other than in the ‘tier 1’ type institutions. Accordingly, the students sometimes lack the much-needed ‘industry-ready’ skills and exposure. Without industry orientation, universities and students have limitations in becoming ‘skill ready’ for the industry, even if they get a holistic education and impart traits of lifelong learning.

This has been an ongoing dilemma that needs to be addressed to take advantage of the skill orientation requirements of the New Education Policy. The recent Union budget for 2024-25 announced that one crore internships will be provided during the next five years. Does this nudge the industry to attract interns? We need to wait and watch.

What is the industry looking for?

The industry provides input on the curriculum in multiple ways, including the process of partnership building. The industry’s general point of view has been the distinguishable feature, the ‘skill set’ that the freshers must have. The skill set must be ‘industry ready’, which, of course, can vary depending on the recruiter and departments within the company.

Thus, the attribute ‘skill set’ can be considered a sensitive subject, which can only be addressed through a collaborative approach with the industry. The industry looks for much shorter learning time for its recruits.

Thus, to address the requirement of an “industry-ready skill set”, the industry and academics must sit together and discuss the relevant issues, ranging from partnerships, integrated internships, etc., that the students are skilful and industry-ready for today’s requirements.

A collaborative approach to co-creating values across the universities is a must. Such meetings are not frequent, and how this can be done is a matter of debate. 

Industries and internships

A closer look at the functioning of universities and governmental policy initiatives shows that academic institutions are more than willing to forge partnerships to ensure that their students are ‘placed’ adequately. However, considerable gaps exist in the scale of industry internships. Substantial possibilities exist for wider and deeper collaborations.

Other than a few leading entities, the most important inhibitions arise from aligning objectives: support in skill enhancement at the industry level does not have the same incentives and positioning as the corporate social responsibility initiatives. The industry does not receive any credits or recognitions for the enhanced intake of interns.

Resource constraints can perhaps be a hurdle for scaling up. Companies also do not want to risk their businesses’ confidentiality. Certain businesses are not convinced how the interns can contribute to their business strategies. The training costs can be substantial, and dedicated resources must be allocated to manage interns.

On the other hand, universities may not be able to impart several skills that will be mastered only when they join the regular workforce and work on the shop floor.

Unless these issues are addressed, enhancing industry internships at a scale may not be possible and would be restricted to a few leading institutions. This area requires much deeper discussions, analyses and policy directions.

What’s ahead?

From the perspective of imparting ‘industry-ready’ skills, the industry may be incentivised and encouraged through policies and programs similar to corporate CSR initiatives. Academic institutions must work wherever possible in collaboration with industry. Considering the emerging policy dispensations, they must not shy away from adapting their curriculum structure to the current requirements.

The companies may be happy to demonstrate a few success stories of interns who made it big in their lives. The need of the time is wholehearted efforts along with policy guidance. This would ensure that the graduates are skilled and ready for the job and that the universities can deliver skilled students who meet the industry requirements. Otherwise, we may not be able to address the issue of employability substantially for the large segment of youngsters.

(The writer is  an associate dean of a business school based in Bengaluru)