500 college students in J&K to undergo internship at IITs, IISERs

Jammu: Five hundred final year students undertaking professional courses and pursuing science streams in colleges in Jammu and Kashmir will undergo two-month internships in various IITs and Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) across the country.

Higher Education Secretary Talat Parvez along with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with four IITs and three IISERs for a two-month internship of 500 final year students for the 2020-21 academic session, an official spokesman said on Wednesday.

The objective of the MoUs, which was signed in New Delhi, are to provide internship opportunities to students of J&K for empowering, inspiring and enhancing their employability, Parvez said. During the internship, the students will be working on cutting edge research in the field of science and technology under the guidance of faculties from the premier institutions, he added. Students from any of the science and engineering disciplines of the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes are eligible to apply for the internship, he pointed out.

MoUs in respect of IIT Guwahati, IIT Ropar, IIT Pune, IIT Bhubaneswar, IISER Orrisa, IISER Pune and IISER Kolkata were signed under the presence of the Union HRD Minister, the spokesman said.

Under this first-of-a-kind internship initiative, the travelling expenses of students will be funded by the HRD ministry through AICTE while the hostel and tuition expenses will be borne by the host institutions.

The applications will be invited online for merit-based selection from all colleges and a short-list will be prepared by April 15, 2020. The training is scheduled to begin from May 15 to July 15, 2020 and for a month in December 2020, the spokesman said. Also, IITs and IISERs are likely to extend a similar offer to help J&K Higher Education Department to provide much needed exposure to quality enhancement and research opportunities in state-of-the-art technologies, he said.