All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has formulated rules of internship for engineering students wherein they have to complete 600-700 hours of Internship / Entrepreneurial activities / Project work / Seminar and Inter or Intra Institutional Training in order to earn 14-20 credits allotted for the same in their engineering degree. On the other hand, diploma students need to do 450-500 hours of internship equivalent to 10-14 credits.
Each credit is worth 40-45 hours of work. Until now, there were no specific rules governing internship for engineering students. However most top engineering colleges in India encouraged them to let their students have better industry experience, exposure to market practices, and get an opportunity to develop soft skills – all of which play a crucial role in bagging good job offers at the end of engineering degree.
Internship Duration and Academic Credential
Full time as well as part time internships are allowed. AICTE, in its AICTE Internship Policy says, ‘AICTE has taken various initiatives to connect AICTE approved institutions located in a particular district with nearby villages for technological intervention and networking for holistic transformation of the rural population by identifying the possibilities of localized employment, convergence, cost reduction, Youth and Women empowerment etc. Keeping this in view, AICTE Rural/ Social Internship Programme has been proposed. It is proposed that if a student chooses any of the suggestive activity under AICTE Activity Programme, devotes 6 months (required Internship duration) and achieve significant goals, during his degree programme, his credit requirement for the internship will be considered fulfilled.’.
Training and Placement Cell In Colleges / Universities
It is mandated now that all AICTE approved institutes should have TnP Cell headed by TPO. The Training and Placement Officer shall play an important role in boosting the career of engineering students.
It will also be the role of Training and Placement Cell to design and implement internal curriculum, take classes, arrange experts, arrange agency for student’s Personality Development, Improve Communication Skills, Vocabulary, prepare students for Resume Preparation & Email Writing, Group Discussion, Interview Skills, Aptitude Training & Practice Tests, Technical report writing, presentation skills, Foreign Languages proficiency.
Institutes may keep aside 1% of total budget for TnP Cell.
Internship Guidelines
Arranging internships shall be a 7 step process.
First step will be where TnP Cell of college will send request letter or email to industry for allotting 4-6 weeks slots during summer vacation. A sample of letter containing interest areas and other details is provided in the internship rules.
Second step would be where industry confirms training slots. TPO will allocate students on basis of slots provided by the industry.
Students join training in concerned industry in third step and submit joining report.
Then in fourth step, students undergo industrial training. Faculty members may evaluate student performance in between by visiting the organization.
Fifth step is where students submit training report. Then in sixth step, industry issues training certificate. Finally in seventh step, students who have completed internship get included in such a list by Training and Placement Cell.
The complete document is given below.
Click here to download AICTE Internship Policy.
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