According to the University Grants Commission(UGC) guidelines, which have been shared with the higher educational institutions, the companies where the students will do internship, will provide them a fixed amount of money.
UGC Guidelines: In a significant move, students, who will be able to bag research internships in any industry in the fourth year of their undergraduate programme, will get a stipend, insurance and academic credits. According to the University Grants Commission(UGC) guidelines, which have been shared with the higher educational institutions, the companies where the students will do internship, will provide them a fixed amount of money.
Higher educational institutions must appoint nodal officers responsible for coordinating research internships and negotiating agreements with various companies for the program. Additionally, these institutions should explore opportunities for group internships. The research internship is scheduled for the fourth year of the Four Year Undergraduate Programme. Each student will be assigned an internship supervisor to assist them in successfully completing their projects within the specified timeframe.
For deciding on a research internship, a survey will be conducted by the educational institutions
As per the news agency IANS report, For the draft of these guidelines, the UGC had sought suggestions from it stakeholders. UGC chairman M Jagdish Kumar said that as per the National Education Policy 2020, it has implemented credit framework at the undergraduate level. He said that the internship has been made mandatory to increase the employability of the students, IANS reported. For deciding on a research internship, a survey will be conducted by the educational institutions regarding the requirement in the local market. Based on the survey and courses being conducted, Internship projects will be prepared.
The educational institutions will have to publish information about internship project and mentors for the purpose. The Commission is of the view that joint research project should be encouraged at the university level and University colleges should have student career counselling cell. The career counselling should have also have representatives from the industry, it further said. For the implementation of professional and skill developmental programmes, professionals related with the industries should also be roped in.
‘Academic bank of Credit’
According to the Commission’s guidelines, a cluster of state-level universities, colleges and industries should be created for facilitating students of higher educational institutions doing joint research. The students scores will get collected in ‘Academic bank of Credit’ implemented under the NEP. On the recommendation of the company in which they are doing internship, the tenure of the programme can be increased. The UGC chairman said that the higher educational institutions will have to make arrangements on their portal for API integration so that experts from companies or agencies can register on it. Internship projects will be linked to students’ skill development courses.
(With IANS Inputs)