Internships for one-year MBA students: IIM B finds a way out

By Shikhar Mohan

One aspect of the one-year MBA that requires urgent attention is the lack of an internship in this format of the course. 

The logic behind having no internships in a one-year MBA, whether you pursue the course in Europe, USA or India, is that one-year MBA candidates have substantial work experience (most students have 5-10 years work experience) and don’t stand to gain much from an internship.

This logic ignores two-crucial factors. Firstly, it fails to take into account the fact that many students hope to change their domain after the MBA and an internship can provide the students new skills and equip them for the new role.

Secondly, the logic ignores the reality that internships are a major pipeline for hiring in large companies: an internship allows a student to experience a potential workplace and provides the company a glimpse of the candidates’ caliber.

The lack of this channel makes life tough for everyone involved: company HR has to magically take the right call in a one hour interaction during placement season, students undergo huge pressure to ace every campus interview and B-schools have to work hard to get the companies on campus.

That said, adding an internship module to a one-year MBA is no easy task – the students pursuing the course cover almost 80% of the workload in a typical two-year MBA in just one-year, and a month off from studies would make covering credits tough for students.

B-schools such as Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta are already worried that their students have no time for all-rounded development and so IIM C has decided to reduce credits in their one-year MBA course.

Turns out that IIM B has an innovative workaround.

IIM B has come up with a programme called ‘Shikshu’ (apprentice in Sanskrit) specially for the one-year MBA participants at the B-school. As per the B-school, Shikshu, which is now in its second year, is a unique engagement initiative, between IIM B Alumni & IIM B’s one-year full time MBA (Executive Post Graduate Programme) students.

The programme gives EPGP students an opportunity to experience first-hand how a CEO’s office works. 

Several of IIM B’s alumni, who work at the top echelons of various reputed organizations, mentor the EPGP students, who spend a day at the offices of the alumni, attend meetings and interact with the senior most executives at these offices. 

If this was all there was to it, one could mistake Shikshu for a feel-good initiative that makes the right noises but accomplishes little – after all one-day in the CEO’s office will not magically transform  a student into a management whiz. B-schools such as Indian School of Business (ISB) have also experimented in this space by engaging in initiatives such as ‘shadow a CEO‘.

Thankfully, Shikshu is not just a one day picnic in corporate India. The initiative allows the one-year MBA students to collaborate with and learn from the mentor on a assignment over a much longer time frame.

To start with, the alumni-mentors spend a whole day with the candidates in person and chalk out an assignment that the student would work on, under the guidance of the mentor. Once the day has ended, the mentor remains in touch with students to provide feedback and guidance.

As per IIM B, the student participating in Shikshu “has an opportunity to talk with his or her mentor, develop work scenarios that are effective and productive, and seek feedback about improving his or her skills and knowledge. Ongoing conversations about the work help the student better appreciate the roles others play in their success. It also helps them strengthen their own judgment and stretch their thinking skills.”

Now this, mimics more closely what an internship may look like for a candidate pursuing an internship at a two-year MBA in USA or Europe.

While IIM B does not say it explicitly (in-fact an IIM B internal note on Shikshu discourages students from looking at the internship as a gateway to a job), the initiative is of course a huge potential channel for placements. If a candidate participating in Shikshu meets the company’s expectations, it would make immense sense for the organisation to offer him a role on graduation.

The good news for students at IIM B is that Shikshu seems to have made an impact and seems all set to grow. The program was launched in 2013-14 on a small scale with 7 alumni-mentors and 14 students who participated (2 students per mentor).

Mr. Rakesh Godhwani, Head of Alumni Offfice, IIMB, tells us that the institute plans to grow Shikshu substantially because of the response from students and the enthusiasm of the alumni-mentors. 

Who are some of the new Mentor’s he wants to bring on board? The names under consideration include Sameer Suneja (PGP94) CEO Perfetti Worldwide; Ashish Pandey (PGP02) Altisource; Ushasri (PGP81), Country Head (India), Manhattan Associates; Sonjoy Chatterjee (PGP94) CEO Goldman Sachs India; Shashi Sinha (PGP81) CEO IPG Mediabrands India and more.

What do the mentor’s have to say about the initiative? If one has to go by the words of Bhargav Dasgupta, CEO, ICICI Lombard and alumnus of IIM B (PGP’92) the mentors seem to be enjoying the new role. Dasgupta says, “Shikshu is a wonderful initiative. In fact, I wish that it were there when I was a student at IIM B! I hope we at ICICI Lombard could provide a practical viewpoint of running a business to the students who participated.”

The author is Founder & CMO of Oneyearmba.co.in, the world’s leading resource for news, analysis and guidance on one-year MBA programmes