Civil engineering students to intern with NHAI – Times of India

To avail the internships, students can apply on the internship portal of AICTE by July 15, 2022. BTech students with a minimum of 7 CGPA would be given a monthly stipend of Rs 10,000 per month, while the students pursuing MTech will receive Rs 15,000.

Speaking to
Education Times, MP Poonia, vice-chairman, AICTE, says, “The internships will give first-hand exposure to the vital segment of infrastructure development in India. The interns will work in domains such as road designs, construction and mechanical processing of roads.”

This will help students learn teamwork in various other departments including Chemical, Electrical and Mechanical. “A six-month-long internship would earn 18 credits. One credit would require them to put in 30 hours of practical training,” adds Poonia.

Internships were made compulsory in the Engineering curriculum in 2017 and currently, 50,000 industries are associated with AICTE to provide internships. In this year’s budget, even the union government had announced increasing internships to align the students with the emerging needs of the industries.

“At present, there are roughly 8 million Engineering students in India. If students pursue internships, it gives them a working experience which is essential before they start working. Now we have made it mandatory for the institutes to have a collaboration with at-least five companies. This helps in acquiring internships for the students and helps in getting an extension from AICTE,” informs Poonia.

We have even tied up with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) which will provide internships to 20,000 students, further adds Poonia.

AM Rawani, director, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Raipur, says, “Internships help in enhancing skills and this increases the employability of fresh engineer graduates. The employability of Engineers has been low due to the gap between the knowledge that is imparted to the students and the skills they acquire.”

Through internships students would get to know how new technologies. In 2019, we announced a mandatory semester-long internship for the students. “NHAI will review our curriculum and also suggest some modifications in keeping with the emerging realities in the domains. Our faculty and scholars will visit NHAI sites and would also suggest possible improvements in road condition,” adds Rawani.