PhD students in IITB to get a first-hand industry experience

In a survey conducted by senior doctoral students,almost 90 per cent of the institute’s PhD students had said ‘industrial collaborations through internships’ should be included in the PhD programme to improve academic and research output. Following the findings,a proposal was mooted around four months back and was approved last week. However,internships for Mtech students is currently under consideration.

“The institute,so far,had practical training or internship for its Btech students. However,there was no formal system of internship for the PG students. The PG students were allowed to go for exchange programmes in universities abroad or they would mostly work on the research projects coming to the institute through the Industrial Research and Consultancy Centre (IRCC) under their respective thesis guide’s supervision. But the whole system was very adhoc,” said VSK Murthy Balijepalli,general secretary,academic affairs,post graduate programmes,IIT Bombay.

“Further,as internships were not a compulsory component of the PhD programme,not all students went for it. Now,everyone will get the chance to work in the industry and subsequently get exposed to the challenges they will have to face outside. They will experience the real-life problems first hand and their expertise will grow,” he said.

Various factors like the interest of the students and relevance to their current research work will be considered while exploring internship opportunities for the doctoral students. The PG internship cell will be maintained by the students who will coordinate with the office of the dean of research and development,the placement cell and the office of the dean of academic programmes. The cell will start operating from the coming academic year.