Many B Schools in India and abroad follow a system where in students are provided internships with top companies from the first year of graduation. However, amongst all the IITs, only IIT Jodhpur has adopted this programme inspired by various foreign universities. ‘Industry Immersion Programme‘ (IIP), is a flagship programme of IITJ to provide students with corporate experience from the beginning of their professional engineering course.
IITJ has collaborated with 5 major
companies; L&T, Tata Power, Mahindras, TVS and Tata Motors. Each company
hires the same interns for 3 successful summer breaks and trains them for 2
months each year. Thus, the chances of students getting final placements in the
same company also rise, since they have been trained according to company
standards for 3 years. Due to the rigourous application process, this year only
30 students out of a batch size of 130 were able to successfully complete the
first year of the programme.
However, what happens if the
student isn’t satisfied with the work environment or learning experience, after
the first year of internship? The institute has made it mandatory for students
to continue with the same company for the 3 year span. According to IITJ Director, Prof Murty, In case where students
wish to switch to another company or drop out of the programme, they need to
put in a letter to the Director stating the reason for their decision. Leeway will be provided
depending on the genuiness of reason.
As of now, not many students have
complained about the programme or the company they’ve interned with. However,
they are not quite satisfied with the experience aspect either. Shubham Shinde,
one of students in the programme, says, “The programme had flaws and there were instance where we had to compromise. We were only exploring the industry and the company’s projects. But
we hope to be actively involved in the projects in the next 2 internships.” Another
student, Yasharth Sahu, who interned with Tata Power in Mumbai, says, “We lived
in the company quarters and worked long shifts. We learnt to adjust to a
corporate lifestyle at the age of 19 years.”
The programme is seen as more
beneficial to students in the Electrical or Mechanical engineering department. According
to Shubham, who interned with L&T, “Mechanical engineering students find it
difficult to work on live projects within the college campus. With L&T, I might get opportunity to work on their Defence & Aerospace sector in which I am interested.”
But how does the company benefit
from this collaboration? After hiring students in the 4th year, they
have to spend less time and resources on training them, since students have
already adjusted to working in the company in the 3 years of internship.
Students haven’t grasped much
knowledge or experience in the first year of internship, but hope to have
better hands on experience with company projects in the coming years. The
student turnover rate in the programme will only be visible when students will
realise the true amount of learning in the next 2 years.