Karnataka makes internships must for diploma students

Bengaluru: The Department of Technical Education has decided to make internship mandatory for diploma and polytechnic students who are in the 6th semester of this academic year (2025-26).

In the C-25 curriculum, the department has published that a 13-week internship is mandatory in the industry or to complete a project with industry.

The internship is optional in the existing curriculum for diploma and polytechnic students.

According to department officials, the mandatory internship makes them job-ready.

“We have designed the C-25 curriculum in consultation with industries and during the discussion, industry representatives stressed about the hands-on experience. Hence, the internship has been made mandatory,” said an official.

The department has released the draft C-25 curriculum and invited feedback from stakeholders.

The state has 107 government polytechnics, including 43 aided and 150 private ones. The total strength of students at these colleges is more than 50,000.

The previous BJP government had introduced the C-20 curriculum and was criticised by the faculties for removing some core subjects, including Mechanical and Civil.

The C-25 curriculum focuses on communication skills, coding, and web and app designing.

Environmental Science and the Constitution are mandatory subjects in the first year of the course.