Brand Building Through Internship - Infosys's InStep Program

Driven by the need to go truly global, some Indian IT companies have initiated an internship programme for international students, in the hope that they will be unpaid brand ambassadors.

IT major Infosys has put in place a structured programme for global internship since 1999 and it has been tremendously successful in helping the "brand Infosys", while taking care of global recruitment needs too. The programme is called InStep which provides a platform for students from top academic institutions around the world to work on live technical and business projects, ranging from application development to business consulting in Infosys' offices worldwide.

The other benefits of the programme, apart from the stipend, include airfare, accommodation in a fully furnished apartment, food, and transportation within the city.

InStep interns work on diverse live projects, ranging from application development to business consulting, in practices that include corporate planning, education and research, enterprise solutions and software engineering and technology labs. These are projects that represent and impact the Infosys core practices.

Interns have been part of various groups that have worked on high-end projects. Some of the interns have even authored papers on their work at Infosys and their papers have been accepted by internationally reputed journals.

125 interns

This year, Infosys Technologies, as part of its Global Internship Programme, is taking 125 interns at its Bangalore campus.

In keeping with academic cycles across different countries, these students will arrive on the campus in a staggered manner all through the year.

The intensive eight to 24-week internship programme gives select students hands-on experience on developing latest software services and solutions in Infosys' global development centres.

InStep, which began with 300 applications for 14 positions six years ago, received over 12,000 applications for 125 positions this year, from about 80 prestigious universities across the world including those in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, South Korea and the Philippines.

The InStep programme is now increasingly being endorsed by placement faculty and professors from leading schools.

Enriched for life

Antoinette Schoar, Associate Professor of Finance at MIT Sloan, validated the Infosys experience, stating, "Most students are keen to experience globalisation and its business benefits firsthand. Infosys is today seen as an internship destination of choice since it allows students the opportunity to undertake challenging assignments that allow them to gain an understanding of emerging markets.

"InStep also uniquely combines an experience of in-depth corporate learning with the opportunity to learn from the cultural ethos of India. This leaves students enriched for life."