Students’ Speak: Summer internship at IIM Visakhapatnam bridges gap between corporate world & education

Post Graduate Program (PGP) at the Indian Institute of Management, Visakhapatnam (IIM-V), requires students to do eight weeks internship with a recognised company in a managerial role.

The Summer Internship Program is intended to cross over any barrier between the real business world and scholastic establishments. It is a re-enactment of the business condition and empowers students to encounter the rigours of a business association. These opportunities have reinforced the relationship between the companies and the students and have likewise made students ready for final placements. This internship is counted as a three-credit course and is often considered a golden opportunity for students to earn a Pre-Placement Offer (PPO) with the company.

Every course in an IIM requires participants to complete a Live-Project associated with it, which comprises 25-50 percent weight of the overall evaluation criteria for the subject. All the projects are associated with a real-life or an ongoing challenge in an organisation that helps students to simulate and understand the world with a vision of a business student. Some of the projects that we have done before going for summer internships were in the field of Marketing, Operations, Human Resource Management, Corporate Finance, Research in Marketing Decision, Managerial Accounting, Micro and Macro Economics.

During the summer internship, each student is assigned to senior-level management and works closely with the team. Most of the projects that students work on is an ongoing challenge or an opportunity for the firm. The students are evaluated at the end of eight weeks by the senior team in the organisation on several performance criteria, and commonly, they are rewarded with a PPO in case of excellent work. 

At the flag end of the internship, we are required to submit an evaluation form to the reporting manager. The Manager writes an in-depth review of the student and his project performance, which is sent directly to the placement office.

Summer Internship is a golden opportunity for students to have hands-on experience in management before stepping in the shoes of a manager after final placement. Many people often choose to go for a startup during the summer internship to understand all the workings of different verticals in a flat hierarchical system of an organisation. Very often, they discover a new interest during this venture, which they have not thought of.

Here, in IIM-V we do not have any off-campus summer internship activity, but some interested student does a work-from-college Live Internship with firms to apply and enhance their knowledge and build resume point for them.

About the Author:

Tanvir Singh is pursuing MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Visakhapatnam. He is majoring in marketing with a minor in strategy. At present, he is the senior coordinator of Media Cell and Public Relations club at IIMV. His interests range from football to corporate business competitions. He has also been recognised as the best intern of the year during his summer internship period.