Internships, inductions mandatory for engineering

Mysuru: Campus placements in engineering colleges have decreased drastically in the last few years since many IT companies do not prefer to hire fresh trainees. Most companies find students lacking in hands-on-training and other pre-requisite skills. Recruiters want students to be well versed in artificial intelligence and machine learning, among other things.

So in an effort to improve this state of affairs, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has revised the curriculum of engineering courses, shifting the focus from theory to practical, making internship and induction programmes compulsory. From the next academic year, engineering students will have to undergo three internships in the industry from their second year. Induction programmes will assist students in understanding the fundamental aspects of technical education and also improve their linguistic and communication skills. Certain colleges have also set up incubation centres where students can launch their start-ups.

B. Sadashive Gowda, Principal of Vidhyavardhaka College of Engineering, Mysuru, said that the college had tied up with smaller companies in order to train the students in the required skills. Collaborating with educational institutions for training students in specific skills proves beneficial for both parties because the software required for the training is highly expensive. Instead of companies buying it at high costs to train their recruits, institutions buying the software would be much more relatively cheaper.