Responding to this need, several B-schools have extended the duration of the internship from three to six months, in order to help interns understand the functioning of the company and enhance their chances of being absorbed as employees there.

However, it’s not just the students who would gain by an extended internship but even the firms benefit as they get sufficient time to evaluate the students’ aptitude and competence.

The concept of Industry Internship Programmes (IIPs) is actively gaining ground within the corporate world and academia. IIPs normally last for six to seven months, during which period the students work as full-fledged members of a team and are given stipend.

After the completion of the internship, students get a certificate and are invariably absorbed in the organisation.

IFIM-B Business Service vice president Neha Pai says, “When a student completes his course, he will not only have a degree but also six months of work experience,” adding that the school also gets to know the skill and inclination of the student. IFIM is one of the B-schools, which had pushed for extended internship. IFIM-B dean U K Ashoke Rao adds that in two-year MBA course, the students go through the regular course during the first 18 months and the remaining six months are allotted for an internship. Most companies absorb students during the internship, but in some instances students who do not like the firm they have interned in can participate in the recruitment process again.

 XIME is another B-school which plans to extend the internship programme.

Institute president J Philip said that they plan to extend the internship programme to three months. “It’s only one third of the students who have some work experience. Freshers need more time to understand the functioning of the corporate world and two-months internship is not sufficient,” he said. Currently, XIME has two internship programmes, one with social organisations to develop social consciousness among the students and the other a corporate internship.