Onkar Singh
Prioritising internships over classrooms has become a new norm in higher education. Present students continue to search for internships to strengthen their credentials, even while they are pursuing their full-time educational programmes in higher education institutions (HEIs), with little concern for the likelihood of a learning gap in the programme curriculum. Sometimes, when internship engagements clash with classroom activities, students are seen opting for internships on the premise that they will acquire the class knowledge on their own and seek permission to merely appear in examinations for the subjects without attending classes. Such instances of sacrificing academic learning from on-campus classes to pursue internship are increasing and setting a culture of class redundancy. This paradigm shift is primarily attributed to one or more of the factors, such as uncertainty due to reduced job opportunities, inadequate quality of learning in on-campus classrooms, declining interest & creativity in experiments in educational programmes, and the role of micro-credentials through internships, helping in quicker employment.
Employment uncertainties and micro-credentials
The higher education system is considered the gateway to getting good employment and a decent livelihood in the country. But, over a period of time, the inability of students to secure jobs after acquiring certain qualifications has led to the declining relevance of the respective qualification(s)/degrees. Undoubtedly, this could be because of one or more of the factors like incompetency of learners due to teaching-learning-examination in HEIs not being up to the mark, the lesser involvement of student(s) in academic activities, lack of involvement in experiential learning in academic framework, absence of aptitude of student(s) for respective qualification(s), insufficient number of employment opportunities, etc. This is often viewed as the non-employability of Indian graduates/postgraduates through the prescribed curriculum, and a push for internships has emerged for better hands-on training. These internships, which could be in the core domain related to the educational programme pursued by the student(s) or not, but the on-job training, exposure, and credentials earned help student(s) in securing job(s) in the bandwidth of internship domain without major concern to the prevailing knowledge gap in formal qualification. A new culture of getting employment through micro-credentials is propagating fast because of the huge number of aspirants and uncertainty of jobs due to lesser opportunities. Further, the socio-economic conditions of the country do indicate the urgency of jobs to youth for their immediate survival. As a result, the HEIs in the private sector vigorously push for internships and earning micro-credentials for the earliest landing into a job, which makes their employment statistics better and attracts more admissions in the coming sessions.
Also, the industry and organisations do look for students to pursue internships or on-job-trainings at their places for capitalising their creativity and potential without much cost and some of these culminate in better employees too after the completion of their formal education. Thereby, the industry/organisations are nowadays interested in exploiting the uncertainties prevailing in the minds of students in higher education and hooking them up for short-term internships or other engagements, either paid or unpaid.
Quality of learning
The students opting for internships or on-the-job training in between the on-campus full-time programmes could be offering a better proposition to the industry/organisations, but the discontinuities in the prescribed learning processes yield learning deficits. From the perspective of getting a job, such arrangements of internships/on-job-trainings could be good, but the neglect of the learning in educational programmes leading to knowledge gaps may be of consequence during the expansion of the employment domain in the longer run.
Delving deep shows that HEIs have classes with some students pursuing in-session internships while remaining and attending the classes and completing their educational journey in the conventional manner. Both types of students, i.e. one who attended classes and the other who did not attend classes, but rather stayed out for internships, appear in examinations together. Irrespective of the outcome of the examinations, the learning levels of the two sets of students are going to be different from the curriculum and experiential learning points of view. From the academic perspective, theory and laboratory classes are essential in the formal education system. The HEIs must ensure a high level of rigour in teaching in classrooms, along with the conduction of stipulated laboratory classes for experiential learning and practical application of theoretical knowledge. The increase in quality of learning in classrooms and arrangements in HEIs to provide opportunities to practice the application of knowledge will improve the competence of students attending classes.
There exists a risk of substandard internships/virtual internships and the off-campus assessments of internships cannot be standardised as well. In general, the HEIs have little control over such activities, and the breach of integrity in off-campus activities is unavoidable. An impact assessment of skipping classes for internships is required to strategize higher education.
Student issues
Usually, the students with better networking background get internship opportunities and create new professional networks that help them grow better compared to others who could not do it. While those from rural or humble backgrounds with no networking are unable to get them. The access and equity in securing in-session internships is a cause of concern.
Also, the differential treatment of the students attending classroom education vis-à-vis those out of HEIs for internship at the same time points to multiple aspects to be looked into. If internships are critical and worthy over the learning in classrooms, then why shouldn’t all students be made free from classes and asked to pursue internships instead of the same happening for a few students? It is important for HEIs to facilitate the uniform availability of in-session internships to all students alike.
Way forward
Indisputably, the culmination of education must be to empower the learners to survive and thrive, for which getting employment is essential. Nevertheless, the fast-pervading culture of in-session internships focusing solely on securing employment calls for holistic introspection from an academic perspective as well. The purpose of formal education is to imbibe individuals with certain knowledge and abilities for contributing to furthering the knowledge based on it, which must not be ignored. There is a need to sensitize the students in context to enhance their knowledge and competency, and not go for higher education with the sole purpose of getting a job. It is imperative for academics and it’s regulators to contemplate on the issue across HEIs and reiterate that internships or on-job training must not happen at the cost of regular on-campus learnings. If the real-world learnings are essential in educational programmes, then HEIs must remodel the curriculum appropriately to provide equal opportunity to all learners and prevent the occurrence of learning gaps or privileges to anyone acquiring a formal higher education degree.
(A professor of Mechanical Engineering at Harcourt Butler Technical University, Kanpur, the author is former vice chancellor of Veer Madho Singh Bhandari Uttarakhand Technical University; views are personal)
