Hyderabad: Engineering students are all set to go the way of medicos from this academic year with regard to internship. State universities will implement “mandatory internship” in all its affiliated engineering colleges for students taking admissions into BE/ B.Tech courses from this academic year as per the directions of All India Council for Technical Education, to improve employ-ability skills among engineering graduates.

The state has the worst employability record with less than 10 per cent engineering graduates finding employment from the thousand of engineers being churned out by over 700 engineering colleges. The internship period will vary from 3 months to 24 months in the final three semesters, depending on the branch of study.

Unlike medical students, there is no such provision for mandatory internship for engineering students in the state. Some colleges have been adopting “industry-oriented projects” for students pursuing third and fourth year to help them secure jobs in good companies during campus recruitment drives.

Since this is being done on an ‘optional basis,’ only few city colleges with good track record have been giving hands-on training to students. “The mandatory internship is being introduced from this year as per the directions of AICTE issued in May this year.

This will be applicable to students in fifth, sixth and seventh semesters which will vary from 3 months to 24 months depending on the branch of study. The aim is to enhance the employability of students,” said Prof N.V. Ramana Rao, registrar, JNTU-Hyderabad.

He said the initiative is being undertaken as part of the AICTE’s National Employability Enhancement Mission. AICTE is also planning to launch its own job portal.

Source : DC