Students intern with Ashoka University

August, 2016: Internships are a productive way to spend summer vacations as they provide students an opportunity to take their learning experiences beyond the classroom. Not only does working with an organisation prove to be a significant aspect of the students’ learning, it also ensures that they develop a variety of skills during their education. During the summer break at Ashoka, while many students went out and hunted for internships, a few of them chose to stay at the university and understand that how the institution works.

As the second undergraduate academic year at Ashoka came to a close, along with the large number of opportunities that organisations offered to students, Ashoka University invited interns as well. This year, students interned with nine offices and centres at the university- Admissions and Outreach Office, the Career Development Office, the Centre for Sexuality and Gender Studies, the Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy, the Centre for Entrepreneurship, the Genpact Centre for Women’s Leadership (GCWL), the Office of Student Life, and the Trivedi Centre for Political Data.

Yearning to apply their classroom knowledge in practical fields, the students enthusiastically  merged their academics with the corporate world to prepare reports, develop policies, write articles, run campaigns, amongst many . When asked why they chose to intern with Ashoka rather than any other company, one of the interns at GCWL, Kavita Sunil said, “Being a part of GCWL’s first leadership lab was rewarding in many ways, and so I saw this as an opportunity to give back and help develop the centre further.” Students at Ashoka University are a part of its administrative inception. Consequently, they have formulated integral policies, schemes, and projects for the University.  “For me, Ashoka is like a startup; it will yield greater returns only if we make the effort of making it better. I chose Ashoka for multiple reasons––being able to start projects from scratch, meeting with brilliant minds, and experiencing a warm work environment,” says Rhythm Banerjee , an intern at the Office of Student Life.

Students joining Ashoka’s internships have shown a keen interest in having a positive community oriented influence.  Kavita says, “what is most important to me is knowing that we do work that will have an impact––all the research conducted and information compiled is set towards influencing current policies and practices to provide women with better footing no matter what they choose to do.” Furthermore, the interns were driven in the idea of ‘giving back’ to the system; as Rhythm explains, “imagine being a part of a dream and being able to build upon it through your work. This is once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Ashoka’s summer internships have received an overwhelming response. The students were given profound research opportunities and projects to begin and handle. As a result, they garnered the experience of building their own space of startups  through Ashoka’s support. Overall, the internship experience at Ashoka University has been described as rewarding, as well as dynamic.