On Tuesday, Human Resource and Development Minister Prakash Javadkar said it will now be mandatory for the engineering students to undergo at least three internships during the course of their academic year.
“Every student in technical institute should undergo three internships each spanning four to eight weeks before completion of his/her under-graduation course. The responsibility will be on the institute to help students find a suitable industry for the internship,” Javadekar said.
Not only students will have to attend three internships but teachers of the respective discipline will also have to appear for the annual refresher course.
"Every teacher in each of the technical discipline shall mandatorily undergo an annual refresher course through SWAYAM portal (Massive open online course), encapsulating all advances in their field of study," said the minister.
So far, only reputed institutes are known to help students in their summer internships which leaves majority of the engineering graduates with the lack of experience, which is a great disadvantage in today's time.
It was also announced in the late march by the minister that only 40% of the engineering graduates are considered employable after graduating from the college. The reason for such low employability was considered the huge gap in the industry requirements and skills of the fresh graduates. The main aim of the ministry is to raise the placement level of the engineering graduates to at least 60 percent.