Under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, internships will be made mandatory for both UG and PG students, and all colleges and universities in Maharashtra will now be required to have a dedicated Internship Cell. In accordance with NEP 2020, the state's Higher and Technical Education Department has designed and released an Internship Policy for all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
Apart from making the Internship Cell mandatory for all HEIs it also defines structure of the cell and different types of internships; along with its various responsibilities and proforma for evaluation of students including sheets for attendance, performance review, feedback and other data management. Draft of this policy has been released by the department seeking suggestions from the HEIs. As explained in the draft policy, for every HEI, the Internship Cell shall be led by the Internship Governing Council composed of the Vice Chancellor or Dean or Principal. There will be a Nodal Officer and Assistant Coordinators.
The Cell will also have Faculty Coordinators at the Departmental level. Furthermore, Student Coordinators from each Department will be appointed by the nominated Faculty for effective student outreach. The Cell will work to identify projects that are relevant to both local and global industry needs, as well as to create a pool of available internships.
Given the diverse nature of courses, each requiring a unique set of experiences, the state has prescribed a number of activities that can be considered internship opportunities. These include regular industrial or government company internships, working with NGOs or MSMEs, entrepreneurship or innovation experience, participation in industrial and academic research projects, including those led by faculty members, community engagement or rural internships, and so on.
