Maharashtra: State Borrows Page From Int’l Edu; Internship To Become Mandatory For Degree Students

Undergraduate (UG) students in Maharashtra may now have to undertake six to 12 weeks of internship as part of their course, while those pursuing Masters may spend anywhere between four and

six weeks working with government, private or non-profit organisations. The colleges will likely be tasked with finding work opportunities for their students.

Draft released by state higher & technical education department

These requirements have been spelled out in a recently released draft prepared by the state higher and technical education department. The document seeks to provide a framework to

incorporate practical work experience in the academic curricula, as envisaged in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The government has shared the draft with university

vice-chancellors and principals of autonomous colleges for feedback.

The NEP is being introduced incrementally in the state's higher education institutes from this academic year. The government has released an illustrative NEP-aligned course framework for

traditional courses as well as engineering programmes. The new course structure provides for a flexible and multi-disciplinary curriculum that includes extra-curricular activities, project

work, internships, skill-development and value-enhancement courses. So far, the new framework has only been adopted by autonomous colleges, 62 of which are affiliated to University of

Mumbai, with non-autonomous colleges expected to adopt the changes by next year.

The state has prescribed several activities under internship, including industrial training, academic and industry research projects, entrepreneurship, seminars, community engagement and

working with government, micro-small-medium enterprises and non-profits. 

Those enrolled in technical courses such as engineering are expected to undergo some form of full-time internship for the entire duration of their final semester. They can simultaneously

pursue online courses, though.

The draft provides for setting up an internship cell at all higher education institutes consisting of the head of the institute, a nodal officer as well as faculty and student coordinators

to facilitate apprenticeships. The body will look for projects available with local industries and enlist students for them. It’s also supposed to work towards personality development of

students, improve their communication skills and help them prepare for interviews.