AICTE makes internships must for engineering students

COIMBATORE: All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has finalised its policy on the internship for engineering students, mandating 600-700 hours for BE/BTech and 450-500 hours for diploma courses. It has also created a separate website to help students get internships.

For a degree, 14-20 credits (1 credit is equivalent to 40-45 hours of work) should be earned through internship and for a diploma, 10-14 credits. Students can also earn credits for entrepreneurial activity/project work/seminar and inter/intra-institutional training, says the AICTE policy report on internship.

Internships have been mandated to ensure that technical students get exposure to the industrial environment, current technology relevant to their subjects and opportunities to learn, understand and sharpen real-time technical and managerial skills. Internships are also expected to help create conditions conducive to the quest for knowledge and its applicability in work.

All AICTE-approved institutions are also required to have a dedicated Training and Placement Cell (T&P Cell) headed by a Training and Placement Officer (TPO). They should allot one per cent of the total budget for the cell’s functioning.

It should arrange internships for students in industries or relevant organisations after the second, fourth and six or seventh semester, or according to guidelines of the AICTE/affiliating university. They can also create an online system to arrange and manage internships.

AICTE has also made it mandatory for students to earn ‘Activity Points’, over and above their academic grades. It has also formulated a mechanism to earn them. While those doing regular four-year degree programmes should earn 100 Activity Points during the course, diploma students need 75 of them during their three-year course.

This is being done to help them become successful professionals, which needs excellent soft skills, entrepreneurial and leadership abilities, team spirit and societal commitment, besides expertise in their chosen fields.

On Tuesday, the AICTE launched a separate website to help students get internships (www.aicteinternships.in). In addition, to help students find attractive placements and industries to get suitable candidates, it has also launched a job portal (www.ictacademy.in/aicteilp/) in association with the Chennai-based ICT Academy.