MDI 'forces' students to accept low-profile summer internship
When Kanika Gupta (name changed) left her job for pursuing a two years management programme at Management Development Institute (MDI) here, she didn't know that she would be at the receiving end of the highhandedness by the premier B-school.
When Kanika Gupta (name changed) left her job for pursuing a two years management programme at Management Development Institute (MDI) here, she didn't know that she would be at the receiving end of the highhandedness by the premier B-school.
After completing almost a year of the programme, Gupta, who worked as a computer engineer at an MNC, was 'forced' to take up summer internship in a small company in Rajasthan.
“The placement committee which is run by students doesn't divulge the details of big companies to every student,” Gupta alleged.
“They resort to favouritism and many competent students are even not informed about the visit of several MNCs,” she added.
“It's strange that they couldn't get me placed in any good company but when I tried to use my personal contacts, I was threatened with dire consequences,” Gupta said.
The price she paid to the B-school for this kind of treatment is a whopping R9.8 lakh as the programme fee.
Another girl of the same batch, who has worked with one of top IT companies for more than two years, had to settle for a summer internship at a coaching institute where she is not offered any stipend.
Another student has joined a public sector bank for a paltry stipend, even though he has worked with a leading financial services firm before he took admission in MDI.
When asked, he rued: “This is forced on us, we can't take any other offer on our own even if it's from Microsoft.”
When HT contacted MDI's dean (placement and corporate relations), NR Bhusnur Math, he agreed to the prevailing rule of ‘forced internships’.
“Students have to be the part of system. Either they are the part of it, or they are out of it,” said Math.
However, he denied any misdeeds by the placement committee.
“This is not true. There are two professors in-charge of the placement committee who ensure fairness in the system. When a company confirms its (representative's) visit to the college, the news is circulated through intranet among all the students,” he said.
After all, “placement is a students-run activity,” concedes Math.
